Nova Scotian Adventures

Fifteen nights in a motorhome round Nova Scotia, and the second half of it is one of the great coastal drives on the continent.

Halifax opens it, with the star-shaped Citadel above the town, a long waterfront boardwalk and the seafood that is the point of being on this coast. The Lighthouse Route then follows the shore southwest to Peggy’s Cove, where a squat white lighthouse stands on wave-scoured granite boulders above a working fishing village. It is said to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world and still manages to be worth the detour, though the rocks are genuinely dangerous in a swell and people are swept off them most years.

The route works on around the province’s coastline, which is almost entirely indented bays, fishing villages and spruce coming down to the water, with Lunenburg and the Bay of Fundy within reach depending on the days chosen.

The Cabot Trail is the finish and the highlight. It loops around the northern tip of Cape Breton through the highlands national park, climbing over headlands with the Gulf of St Lawrence on one side and forested mountains on the other, and it is routinely rated among the most spectacular drives in North America. Autumn is the season for it, when the hardwood on those slopes turns. Canadian Affair include the flights and the motorhome, with campground fees, fuel, insurance and meals separate. The price is per person, and at 2,018 pounds for fifteen nights it is good value for a first Atlantic Canada trip.