Nova Scotia 1

The “Not Since Moses 5K and 10K” run

After arriving in Nova Scotia and getting set up in our camp, we proceeded to the number pick up for Saturday’s “Not Since Moses” 10K race.  The weather was beautiful at packet pick up but, alas, race morning we were expecting rain to start around 10 AM, which coincided with the race start time of 10 AM.  The race start for this run is directly dependent on tide tables and is run at the intertidal seafloor of the Minas Basin in the Bay of Fundy.  This race course only becomes available/visible with an extreme low tide, in excess of 50 feet.  It was just open bay when we picked up our race instructions.  Since the inhabitants here are  primarily of Scottish ancestry, we had a bagpiper serenading us at the bus loading area.  We sere bussed from the parking area to the start line, about 6 miles away.

Note: Run-related pictures are from my phone, I did not want to risk taking my camera out in these conditions.

I rode the short bus with other runners, some from New York, a “Thirsty Irishman” and his wife in front of me and a fellow runner from NS sitting with me.

It was a short walk in to the beach, culminating with a long, steep staircase down to the newly exposed beach.  The tide was still rapidly receding at this point.

Waiting for the tide to go recede completely, I managed to take these shorts of the start area.

At 10 AM, we started the run.  We first did an out and back, (through about 1 mile of very thick, slippery and sticky mud) to the start area (about 1.5 miles RT) then continued on to the finish. This was one of several deep cut canyons along the route.  One even had a natural bridge.  We were about 50 feet below the high tide/treeline:

Just before rounding the point and seeing the first and only aid/water station, I took these shots, looking forward and backward, of the course.  We had deep mud, sand, water, rocks, barnacle encrusted sandstone and kelp covered slick rock to contend with, about as varied as you can get.  Somewhere, maybe in the mud, I did manage to pass both of the ladies in black.  The last couple of miles tended to become a blur with the rain, the wind and the mud, the bloody mud,  kinda like the “Mariah” scene from “Paint Your Wagon”. . .

Rounding the corner, at about the 4 mile mark, we came across our first and only water station.  As there was absolutely no way to get any kind of vehicle down to the intertidal seafloor, support staff arrived and departed by boat.  You can see the water coming back in, about 200 yards beyond the boat, and they assured me they would be motoring back to the dock shortly, on the incoming tide.

It rained constantly, adding to the mud and water flow.  Here we are crossing a thigh deep, swift flowing, unmapped rain runoff area.  I used this opportunity to stop and rinse off the thick mud from my clothes and caked in my shoes. We had just crossed a mile long, knee-deep mud field created by a 0.6 km² detour around the protected breeding ground of the Atlantic Mud-pidcock (a very small bi-valve).  I craved steamed clams after this, just to get even . .   I partnered with an other man to cross extended this mudhole, in what we described as “post hole” running, just hoping to keep our shoes on.  Many runners lost their shoes and more were stuck,  slipping and sliding, and completely covered in mud.  Luckily, we did not fall . . .

Making it to the finish line in the driving rain.  The mud here was green? and very slick. I understand that several runners slipped and fell here, just before finishing, in the green slime behind me.  I was slipping and sliding sideways but was pretty determined to not fall.. My sister Barbara participated in the 5K version and was at the finish line (soaking wet) to take this photo.  The mud field is obscured by the rain and fog but is in the background, across the tidal flats . .

I met Moses after finishing. He was a little shorter than I expected.

The Northnumberland Shore Drive

After relaxing the rest of the day, we drove to the Northumberland Shore, the “north” coast of NS in the morning.  We visited the Jost Winery and Vineyard near Malgash and picked up several bottles of Nova Scotia wine:

Next, we stopped at the Lismore Sheep Farm, in River John.  There was an author there (white tent) selling books (local, children and light history), a farmer selling berries and vegetables (red tent) and a woodworker tuning out objects in maple on a lathe (blue tent)  red, white and blue? hmm . . missed that the first time around.  There was also sheep sausage that Cathy tried, I was too “sheepish” to partake.  Inside the barn were a myriad of wool items, including some pretty impressive Scottish Clan blankets and throws.

We continued on to the historic port city of Pictou.

In Pictou, we spent time at the Hector Heritage Quay, which included a three-story museum and a replica of the Hector.

The museum was built in 1991/1992 using native spruce in its Post and Beam construction.  There were no nails used (we did see wood dowels used to pin to beams in place) and is one of the tallest of its kind in Eastern Canada.  The Hector was a Dutch cargo ship that left Loch Broom, in the Scottish Highlands in July, 1773 with 189 passengers representing 34 families, a third of them being under the age of eight.  They left Scotland with 13 weeks of provisions and arrived in Pictou Harbor in mid-September, after suffering from storms, food shortages and illness,  minus 18 passengers, mostly children.  Between the museum and the ship, we went through the unoccupied but open buildings containing the wood carving, blacksmith, rigger and shipbuilding/maintenance shops.  No OSHA regulations here to stop us from exploring!! We saw a keel that was mostly complete, several masts that were being reworked, lots of netting and raw wood that was being used in the restoration of the ship.

This is the replica of the original converted cargo ship, which took ten years to build.  It was launched on September, 2000.  It is 123 feet long, has a beam of 22 feet, a height of 110 feet and displaces 200 tons.  Pretty small, actually VERY small and cramped.  We could not imagine being cooped up on this vessel for two and a half months with 180+ other passengers.   The beds were allocated one to a family and were stacked three to four high. Even the rats felt cramped . .

This is a view from the stern of the boat.  It was reportedly the “dining room” but I would have to doubt that.  There was room for maybe four persons here.

A couple of the old buildings downtown. The buildings resembled those that we had previously seen in Boston.

We had to stop and pick up some shortbread for snacking.  How about Lavender Lemon?

In our continuing quest to witness curling first hand, we came up short again . . . closed for the season.

This morning we left for the Eastern Shore (Halifax area) and stopped by the Halifax International Airport to let Barbara off.  She will be back in California by this evening but does have a layover in Toronto.  Maybe she will pick up some French while she waits . . .