Camping at Lake Rossignol

It’s a holiday weekend in Nova Scotia (and in many of the other provinces).The holiday is known by a variety of names in different provinces and municipalities, including British Columbia Day in British Columbia, New Brunswick Day in New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan Day in Saskatchewan. In Alberta, Heritage Day is an “optional” civil holiday, having been downgraded from a statutory holiday following the introduction of Family Day in 1990.

The holiday is celebrated as Natal Day in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but is not an official holiday in either locale.

Unlike most holidays, there is not much of a reason for the Civic Holiday to exist, other than its timing. Between Canada Day and Labour Day there are no recognizable holidays, one of the longest stretches on the Canadian calendar without a holiday. Thus, this contrived holiday was placed roughly halfway between Canada Day and Labour Day.

Cameron and I decided to spend part of the long weekend camping at Lake Rossignol. Lake Rossignol is the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia and is located in the south-western area of the province.

The lake was quite choppy in the afternoon so we spent our time setting up the tent and establishing a fire pit. Come evening the wind had died away and the lake was lovely and calm. Our first thought was to jump in for a swim but this is as far as we got…

Although the lake is large and shallow the water wasn’t very warm. We decided to take the canoe out instead. After a paddle we cooked dinner and spent a pleasant evening by the camp fire. We had however managed to set our tent up over some serious tree roots and hence we were awake by 5:30am! It was lovely watching the sun rise whilst being out on the water canoeing.

We decided to have breakfast before heading back to civilization.

The road to civilization:

First Ever Canadian Camping

For want of something better to do this weekend just past, we decided to pack up the canoe and head off for an over night trip.

We settled initially on Shingle Lake, 30km west of Bridgewater, however on arrival I had a change of heart and much to Cameron’s annoyance refused to even consider canoeing here. The reason: access to the lake was via a stream, involving an upstream paddle, landing (I’m not sure where), pulling the canoe over some rapids, re-entering the canoe, and continuing to paddle upstream until lake access was achieved. Sounds tricky huh (remember I’m just a beginner)? Anyway my flat out refusal ended in a domestic, tears and my refusal to go anywhere other than home.

After heading in the wrong direction (i.e. not towards home – Cameron was driving), my curiosity got the better of me, and we decided to call a truce and continue on with the camping adventure. Next port of call was The Christopher Lakes (near Caledonia) – a succession of lakes joined by various portages.

We loaded everything into the canoe and entered the water easily via a boat ramp. We paddled the full couple of km’s to where the camp site was marked on the map and stopped for lunch.

Lunch

We snacked on homemade cider, tuna sandwiches and cookies before jumping back in the canoe to explore some more. On the way up the lake we had bumped into a couple of other canoeist who had told us about a cabin where we could stay. The journey would involve carrying the canoe up one of the portages.

View

We eventually found the portage but decided it was too long a carry and also too dangerous to come back down the connecting stream as it was pretty rocky. We decided to look around the lake and see if we couldn’t find a good camping spot where we were

Update…

I thought I’d treat you all to a little up date of life in Nova Scotia.

It’s now April (the Easter bunny comes next weekend) and we’ve now been in Canada for 6 whole months! Scary how the time passes.

I’m still waiting on my visa, not working, staying home reading endless nursing material and making cakes. Oh and now I’ve got a new hobby..

xbox 360

Although the picture says it all… I hardly ever get to play and when I do I’m only told I’m doing it wrong (‘cos you’re a girl’) huh!

We’ve also made a few news friends – our own age – which is nice and in turn they are introducing us to other people.