Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
Maritime Bus services stop at Bloomfield Centre at St Francis Xavier University.
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Pomquet
About 16km east of Antigonish, this tiny Acadian community is on a stunning
beach
with 13 dunes that keep growing; waves dump the equivalent of more than 4000 truck-
loads of sand on the beach each year. Many bird species frequent the salt marshes behind
the dunes.
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Cape George
It's a pleasant day cruising this 72km route that loops up Hwy 245 from Antigonish to
Malignant Cove and around Cape George. It's been dubbed a 'mini Cabot Trail' but
really the two routes are quite different; Cape George is much less mountainous and for-
ested and has more beaches.
From a well-marked picnic area close to
Cape George Point Lighthouse
, a 1km walk
leads to the lighthouse itself. It's automated and not that big, but there are lovely views to
Cape Breton Island and PEI. Signs at the picnic area point to longer hikes through forests
and coastal areas, including one 32km loop.
You can also start exploring these trails from the wharf at
Ballantyne's Cove
, one of
the prettiest communities in Nova Scotia. To walk from the wharf to the lighthouse and
back again is an 8km trip. Also stop in at the
Ballantyne's Cove Tuna Interpretive
Centre
(
902-863-8162; 57 Ballantyne's Cove Wharf Rd;
10am-7:30pm Jul-Sep)
for
displays on both the fish and the fishery. A fish-and-chip van parks nearby.
THE ACADIANS
When the French first settled the area around the Minas Basin, they called the re-
gion Arcadia, a Greek and Roman term for 'pastoral paradise.' This became Acadia
and by the 18th century, the Acadians felt more connection with the land here than
with the distant Loire Valley they'd come from.
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