She's the Peg of a great many people's hearts, not just mine. Her face, from every angle, is a familiar sight in many regions of the world, and meeting her in person is the dream of thousands upon thousands of eager travellers. And that's just the point where the problem comes in. But anyway... if you haven't guessed yet who this "Peg o' My Heart" is, here's a photo to give you a hint.
Okay, now we're all up to speed, right? Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. According to Wikipedia, the name most likely originated from the use of Peggy as a nickname for Margaret, since the cove opens off the larger ocean inlet of St. Margaret's Bay.
As you can see in the above photo, it's a very narrow cove with a very narrow outlet to the ocean. Why, then, would fishermen choose to set up shop here? This map gives a hint.
Peggy's Cove is neatly located on one of the outermost edges of this rocky southern coast. This location gave the fishermen a clear edge in getting out to the best fishing grounds as soon as weather allowed. Since the weather on this shore can be both violent and capricious, being located that much closer to the fishing grounds was a huge advantage, whether getting out fast when the weather cleared or getting back just as quickly when storms threatened.
Peggy's Cove has been renowned for well over a century as a place for artists, photographers, and tourists who flock here to see the weathered old fish sheds in the harbour, and to visit the famous lighthouse out on the rocks.
But change inevitably comes. Peggy's Cove is not a museum reconstruction, but a living, working village. In the course of time and bad weather, old buildings crumble and must be rebuilt or replaced. Fishing neither can nor should be restricted to the techniques of the nineteenth century for the sake of picturesqueness. And the unending and growing swarm of visitors poses its own problems. This post focuses on the changes that have come, and are still ongoing, to help Peggy's Cove deal with its own popularity.
The narrow, twisting road into the village climbs a short hill, drops down a steep grade to pass around the inner end of the cove, and then climbs steeply up again to the parking lot around the Sou'wester Restaurant and gift shop, and the iconic lighthouse. Just over the crest of that first hill, there's a new visitor's centre on the left side of the road, with public toilets next door, and a sizable parking lot. I recommend parking here for one simple reason. The parking lot up by the lighthouse is half closed off by the current expansion project, which (when complete) will include more parking and an accessible viewing deck.
Right across the street from the centre is the Fishermen's Memorial, carved by William E. deGarthe on the 32-metre long rock outcropping behind his house. It's now a provincial park.
On the day of my visit, the lighthouse lot was a madhouse of cars going around and around, hoping for a space to open up, while the lot by the visitor centre was half empty -- this on a Monday morning in late September. Also, there are currently no spaces at all for motorhomes and trailers up at the Sou'wester. The visitor centre lot is the only choice for them.
What's that you say? You want to be "close"? The visitor centre lot is actually a lot closer to the famous picture-perfect views of the cove itself and its fishing sheds. And Peggy's Cove is not a big place. I spent 20 minutes walking from the visitor centre down past the cove, then up the hill, around the restaurant and the lighthouse view, and back. That's a 20-minute round-trip with numerous photo pauses. Do yourself a favour -- park by the visitor centre and save yourself the hassle.
Also, the lighthouse itself is currently under repairs and so not accessible.
To help with all of the above walking, a nice broad sidewalk has been added along the road to connect the two parking lots. It's about 4/5 done now, the last stretch up the hill to the Sou'wester being the next item on the work order, I think. Some parts have been made of close-fitted, squared wooden timbers where the walkway is at or near the water's edge. Walking around Peggy's Cove just got 99% easier and safer thanks to this improvement (view from the visitor's centre down into the village).
And now, a photo gallery of a few more pictures from around this legendary fishing village.
By the way, this is only the second time in seven or eight visits that I've seen Peggy's Cove in the sunshine, without either clouds or fog. That was a result of the perfect weather: northerly breeze blowing from the land to the ocean, high pressure, moderate temperature.
Other helpful hints for visiting the Peg o' My Heart:
[1] Go early, before all the other tourists in Halifax are awake.
[2] If you want to eat at the Sou'wester (and it is good), make an advance reservation.
[3] Give yourself an hour to get there, and an hour to get back.
[4] Highway 333, like most Nova Scotia secondary highways, has very few warning signs for sharp curves. Keep alert to all the bends. If they do put in a warning sign, they really, REALLY mean it! And don't try to beat the road just to get there a minute or two earlier. Peggy's Cove isn't running away any time soon.
[5] The safety signs on the rocks towards the ocean aren't just bureaucratic impositions. They are there because other Darwin Awards candidates before you have lost their lives on those rocks -- and almost always when they didn't expect anything to go wrong.
Finally, a nice little bit of comedy intruded with an ironic but funny street sign about halfway back to Halifax. The street, by the way, is a closed loop that connects to Highway 333 at both ends.
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Well, dear readers, this concludes my Maritime adventures. By the time you read this, I'm already back in Ontario. It was a great trip. I covered over 2400 kilometres in my trusty Kia Soul rental car, and took many hundreds of pictures, of which over 300 were worth saving. I put myself outside of a whole series of memorable seafood meals, and didn't touch a slice of pizza since I left home (although I did think about it on occasion). Hope you've enjoyed my travellers' tales. If you have, please share the blog's address with your friends. And remember, all these blog posts live here permanently. Use the index of key terms to go back and look at my former travels, from European river cruises to Caribbean ocean cruises, from Hungary on the east to New Zealand on the west.
In closing, I want to say that this whole trip has been hugely therapeutic after a year and a half of Covid-19 lockdowns. Getting out and travelling is only half of it. Getting back in the saddle of photography and blogging, sharing where I've been and what I've learned with my readers, that's been just as important to my well-being. Hope all of you stay safe and well until the next time I'm on here!
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