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Nova Scotia in the Summer????

AAAltered468

AAAltered468

Tuned and Synch'ed
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
96
Can any of my northern friends tell me what weather I could expect in NS in July?

I am in the planning stage of putting together a two week ride from NJ up the coast to NS. Leaving around July 3rd, with about 14 days to burn.

I know the temps up there should be about 72f during the day. How about at night? Also how much rain? I found info that on average they have 15 days of rain per July? That could make for a crappy trip. Maybe its just showers, not continual rain?

Whats the deal?

Thanks for any input.

Ed in NJ
 
Hey Ed, a small group of us did that trip back in '00... also in late July. We went up through New Brunswick to witness the extreme tides... and came back on the high-speed catamaran from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor. I recommend the same.

The Northern end of the peninsula is where I'd spend the bulk of the time. Nova Scotia is a impoverished area, and not much in between the towns. Most "towns" being an intersection and a closed gas station or two... though this was almost ten years ago already. Halifax is the closest thing that resembles a true *small* city. We stayed mainly in B&B's, and I'd recommend it.

Weather is all over the place. We had some nice sunny days (of 10), and a few overcast misty days. Only one day of real rain, so we felt lucky. Be happy to help you with any other questions.
 
Actually Todd since you've been there -

I plan on tent camping and motels/B&B. Do I need reservations, or will I find a place as I go? I want to keep a *loose* itinerary.

I am looking at one of these possibilities:
- Ride all the way there, ferry back to Portland, ME
- Ride to St Johns and ferry to Digby. Back- ?
- Some other vague ill-formed plan/plans.

Thanks for any/all tips!

Ed
 
No reservations for camping necessary. Plentiful, clean and cheap to very reasonable. We found the Provincial ones the best. Make sure to stop in to the visitor centers. The folks running them are incredible and will even make calls to campgrounds or hotels and make reservations for you for the night. You'll love it.
 
AAAltered468 wrote:
I plan on tent camping and motels/B&B. Do I need reservations, or will I find a place as I go? I want to keep a *loose* itinerary.

I am looking at one of these possibilities:
- Ride all the way there, ferry back to Portland, ME
- Ride to St Johns and ferry to Digby. Back- ?
- Some other vague ill-formed plan/plans.
Click to expand...

Ed, sorry, just caught your reply... per WCB above, you can leave it pretty loose, but I'd recommend making reservations at the B&B's early in advance.
Ride there, Ferry back is a good way to go... that's what I/we did. We took the high-speed Cat back though, and it was a nice closure to the trip.
We didn't go to St. Johns. A lot of flat there I heard, so I didn't bother.
Again, spend a good deal of your time, exploring/riding/site-seeing the Northern end. Then mosey down the coast(s) and check out Halifax. Leave just enough time to travel to the tip and board the boat. Not much else down there from memory. Hope that helps.
 
We took the highspeed cat up and back so that we could maximize our time in Nova Scotia. Plus "The Cat" is an awesome ride.
 
I'll chime in as I used to live in Halifax - although I'm 4500 km west of there now.

The Yarmouth to Bar Harbour ferry is for american tourists in winnebagos, take the Digby (NS) to Saint John (NB) ferry accross the Bay of Fundy, highest tides in the world. That way you can see the Annapolis Valley which is worth it IMHO.

If you're coming from Maine, you can enjoy St Stephen and Saint John in NB - (the Saint John river vallev in NB is pretty) and then go around the Fundy into NS, loop through NS and nack to Saint John via the Digby ferry.

By the way, the city in New Brunswick is "Saint John" - on the Bay of Fundy. Home to the largest oil refinery in Canada, a big paper mill etc. It's got a very smalll quaint old downtown section but otherwise isn't too interesting. "St. John's" is the Capital of Newfoundland & Labrador - on the North Atlantic, closer to Dublin than to Toronto - a totally different place, with the best Irish Pubs in the world (perhaps even including in Ireland). Completely worth a trip, but an 8 hour ferry ride to the north. The two are spelled differently - as is St-Jean, a city in Quebec where there is a large military base (with my son in it). All of those cities were founded on June 24, which is St-John the Baptist day, patron saint...

NS is divided into 5 parts:
1 - "the Valley" (Annapolis), on the bay of fundy side - a wonderful spot - a veritable garden. Which explains why Samuel de Champlain chose it for the site of the first permanent european settlement in North America.

2- "the City" (Halifax) which may be small by odd's standards but at about 450k population is something like the 10th biggest city in the country. Very historic, lots of great pubs and bars etc. The old port area is fun. Lots of B&B's - book ahead in the summertime.

3- the South Shore. Lunenburg, Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay, etc. The Atlantic side south and west of Halifax. Pretty touristy, the coastal road is fun, but packed with american (and canadian) winnebagos in the summer. Rocky rugged shores, big bays, a few small towns.

4 - the eastern shore - the atlantic coast northeast of Halifax. Very rugged, very remote, hilly rocky windy coast road with a few gaps (with ferries). Not much in the way of towns for a couple hundred km but well worth the trip.

5. The north shore is along the northumberland strait and the Gulf - Beaches, warm water, vinyards (yes, vinyards!). Pictou is very historic - moving north it gets more hilly - Antigonish - home of St-Francis-Xavier University (alma mater of 2 of our last 2 prime ministers). There are great riding roads in Pictou and Antigonish counties

6. Cape Breton Island (there's a causeway across a narrow strait) - very rugged and hilly - give a pass on Sidney - a former industrial city that 100 yrs ago had the largest steel mills in the British Empire but has been in a very long decline and decay. But a ride around the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park is definitely in order - except for all those darn winnebagos in the summer.


Camping - Provincial Parks are always the nicest - private campgrounds in Canada usually aren't too nice. There are a couple of nice National Parks as well - Kejimikujic in the southwest and especially Cape Breton Highlands on Cape Breton Island.

Weather - there is a lot of rain, especially on the atlantic side. In the Valley and on the north shore the weather tends to be better...

All in all - if I were going for a ride through NS, I would avoid the summer and go in late september or around thanksgiving (early october in this country) - in summer there are just too many winnebagos to pass - and for camping, there are fewer mosquitos, balckflies, deerflies, no-see-ums, horeseflies, sandflies....

and a last word to american riders - don't ride at night anywhere in canada except perhaps in downtown montreal or vancouver - there are not only many times more deer than you're used too, there are also moose, elk, etc. Just not worth it!

Enjoy!

ian
 
I have rather fond memories of the places we visited in the Gaspésie (tempted to spell that Gaspoésie ;) ), but I reckon that's a bit out of the way.
't was summer, and yes, there were mosquitoes :S
 
Hey I just got back from NS, NB, PEI, and Q on my 2 week tour on the Griso. Twelve straight days of rain! Temps varying from 12 to 20 during the day. A bit of glorious weather on the West side of Cabot Trail but treacherous fog and rain on the East side. Weather from Hell but wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Bike speedo hiccuped from wet sensor, the rubber gasket on the kick stand "handle" disintigrated. Also developed a bad vibration at 4K RPM and especially noticeable in 5th and 6th ... but she got me home safely.

Hope you had a nice trip too.

Tom.
 
I did have a nice trip.

I left 7/3 and returned 7/10. The first four days were wet (but not constant rain) and the last four were glorious, if cool. Yea 20 - 21 was the high I saw too. Made the Cabot Trail on a beautiful day, but others I talked to hit that fog the previous day.

All in all a great trip!

Ed in NJ
 
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