Ride Day 20: Thinking about Halifax

Today is probably our longest ride of this whole trip -- nothing amazing, just about 120 km, but it was a beautiful ride in perfect weather through a very agricultural valley on roads with virtually no traffic. Hard to complain about that.

  

Before we left Wolfville we stopped by the farmer's market and grabbed a scone or two for the road. The market was just kind of opening up and the scones hit the spot. 

The Farmer's Market in Wolfville. It would have been fun to explore but we had to ride

Our route wound southward through the Annapolis Valley and we had about 30 km on gravel roads. Actually they were kind of like gravel super highways because they were great surfaces that allowed us to ride just as fast (actually, just as slow) as we would on asphalt.

Another day without wind

By mid-afternoon we had arrived in Bridgetown. We are staying at a farm AirBnB just south of town and the place is absolutely great. They have 14 or 15 Icelandic horses, about 50 Cashmere goats, numerous Icelandic Sheep Dogs (really cool dogs) and lots of other critters. And they are just very nice genuine people -- she being German and he hailing from BC.

Cashmere goats (they're very curious)

Some of the Icelandics -- they have three foals this year

A very well behaved buck

Several kids in the group

The kids were really shy

We are using this place as a base for our ride south tomorrow to Annapolis Royal. We are hoping to score some "Digby" scallops, which are said to be the best scallops in the world. Our timing does not allow us to make it all the way south to Digby, but word on the street is that they can be found in Annapolis Royal. We hope so. The weather doesn't look very good tomorrow but that won't stop the quest!

A Rest Day in Wolfville

 Wolfville sits in the middle of the Annapolis Valley, a rift that runs between coastal mountains and a small inland range about 25 km away. It is a fertile area with a temperate climate that makes it ideal for growing grapes, and for a rest for 2 tired cyclists. We have over 1000 miles under our wheels and we both needed a break. Yesterday was an excellent start.

The warm weather continued and we decided to explore the valley a little. So we rode to the west toward Kingsport, just to look around. The locals here have a saying: "In Nova Scotia you're never more than 50 km from the sea." I think that they are right and at every little river crossing you can see the amazing influence of the 45 foot tidal swings.

And still the tide was not yet low. When high, the water level is at the top of the bank

Lots of agriculture in this valley

We couldn't figure this one out...

We got lost a few times. Nothing new in it.

We stopped by a couple of wineries and tasted their wares. Great stuff, but having only a bike makes it easy to not buy anything. That logic held up for a while, at least.

First we stopped at Blomidon winery where they specialize in growing a grape variety called Baco Noir. 

A grape well-suited to this climate

Then we hit a coffee shop in Canning, a lovely little town. We had a nice chat with a local cyclist who gave us invaluable local knowledge about which roads are best.

Canning, NS

After we rode by the tidal flats at Kingsport we chanced upon a farm that is making cheese. We bought some gouda and had some gelato (never too early for that)!

The tide is well and truly out at this point

Pretty quiet at the fromagerie

Then came the big stop of the day, a winery called 1365 Church. We had read about this little winery and it sounded fun. Run by a Dutch guy who planted the vines only 6 years ago and who festoons his vineyard with bikes as a tribute to his Dutch heritage, it sounded fun.

We knew that this must be the place

1365 Church Vineyards and Winery

I won't go on to long about our afternoon, but after trying a couple of their excellent wines we met the Dutch guy who runs the place, John Eikenboom. He is one of those guys who has such an overwhelmingly huge personality that he just takes over the entire conversation, the entire room. In a delightful way. We ended up hearing his stories (which are remarkable in enormous ways) and touring his tiny cellars and tasting the wines that he thinks are the best that he's ever made. He used his wine thief to let us try his cab franc that will be bottled next month, his chardonnay that has only seen stainless and no oak, and on and on.

Trying the chardonnay. The cellar is very tiny but well equipped

His pride and joy, a young cab franc

John wanted to know about our travels and we ended up mentioning that we'd bought some gouda from the fromagerie down the road. Oh, he went ballistic and said that we need to throw the "slechte" away before we tried it (we took "schett" to be a Dutch version of shit, but having Googled it, it means "bad cheese"). So we ran upstairs to sample three huge wheels of gouda that he'd taken deliver of just yesterday. These were the real deal from a friend of his in Holland and wow, the cheese was amazing.

We stayed far too long but it is funny how time flew by with such an amazing and engaging new friend. If ever you are in Nova Scotia, stop by this winery. You'll have fun for sure. And of course he wouldn't let us leave without a bottle. I didn't even complain about the added weight; we'll huck it to our next stop.

All wines are from estate grown grapes.

It was hard to leave but as night was approaching we needed to get out of there

Today we continue south in the Annapolis Valley to a small area around Annapolis Royal. This area is said to be the scallop and oyster capital of NS, so we're hoping to enjoy some good seafood. The ride is probably our longest, so I need to stop typing this early morning and get on the road.