Day Eight was not a pleasant day outside. A cold, blustering wind blew and there was an ever present threat of rain when we headed out to Arisaig Provincial Park to look for fossils along the beach. The cliffs are like giant pieces of baklava composed of millions of layers of rock phyllo. The layers easily come apart in your hand and the fossils can be easily damaged. Canadian law prohibits fossil hunters from removing fossils from the cliffs themselves without a permit. Fortunately, there are tons of rock the weather and waves have worn away so you can rummage quite happily at the base of the cliffs and in the notches between the larger boulders. The rocks and fossils here date from 448 to 401 million years ago. According to the Nova Scotia Museum’s web page: “They represent a continuous record of conditions in a warm, shallow, storm-frequented sea from the Late Ordovician Period through the entire Silurian Period to the Early Devonian Period.” (Read on …)

Sorry for the long delay between posts, things have been a little hectic out here. Anyhow, back to the story. Day Seven was another travel day with our destination being Pictou and the ferry to Prince Edward Island. After the labor day madness the campground was virtually deserted and we had a chance to shower and pack without dealing with the mob who was there over the weekend. Without regret we left the ice shack and headed out. But before we did, we had a visit from a most unusual guest. We believe that our friend was a black mink, but we may be wrong. Apparently this little one was living below the ice shack the whole time. He was quite friendly and bold as brass, so I doubt that we were the first to spot him. We planned a few stops along the way to keep us busy until we could check in to our next cabin. The first up was the Balmoral Grist Mill which up until recently was a working grist mill. When we arrived the mill was in the middle of a retrofit supervised by the new miller. The mill had fallen into disrepair after the old miller retired and no longer supervised the day-to-day operation. Off the beaten track and well past high season we virtually had the place to ourselves. The museum director took us around and showed us the operations. Piper got some hands-on experience by grinding some wheat with a hand mill (pictured at right). This type of mill has been in use for a thousand years and consists of two small mill stones stacked on top of one another like pancakes. As you spin the top stone grooves force the completed flour out along the edges. Fresh wheat is then dropped into a hole in the center of the plates.
(Read on …)