Digby Neck is a long finger of land sticking out of Nova Scotia’s Fundy coast.  The Neck itself is broken at the end by the addition of two islands, almost like joints of the finger.  The Neck is reached from the town of Digby, famous for its scallops, which we reached at about noon today after an excellent breakfast from Doug and Lorraine at the Pillowcase B&B in Berwick.

In looking at the map of Digby Neck, I envisioned a very scenic ride with ocean views on both sides of the road.  However, the Neck is wider than it appears on paper, and most of the road was through forest with the occasional farm and village to break up the trees.  We arrived at the ferry, at the end of the Neck, just as it was boarding; with no time to ponder or discuss, we just followed the flow of traffic onto the boat and it immediately pulled away.

The major attraction on Long Island is the Balancing Rock in the town of Tiverton, reached by a hike of about a mile in from the road; a hike which concludes with an elaborate staircase of 264 steps descending to the sea.

The view is spectacular from the staircase, looking off toward Nova Scotia’s Fundy coastline and Yarmouth in the distance.

And then you come to the Balancing Rock itself:

…..after which you get to climb back UP the 264 steps and hike the mile back to the road.

While waiting for the return ferry back to Digby Neck, we experienced a culinary first for us: a scallop roll.  This is the familiar lobster roll, but with scallops in the hot dog bun instead of lobster salad.  Unbelievably delicious, it’s easy to see why the Digby scallops are famous.  Unfortunately for us, however, the ferry does not keep to its posted schedule, and just comes and goes when all the cars are loaded.  So, I got to eat half the scallop roll, and then stuff the other half under the Vespa seat in a rush to get the bike onto the ferry; I finished it on the boat.

It is possible to continue to the end of Long Island and then take another ferry to the last island in the chain, Brier’s Island.  However, we were running out of time, and the fog appeared to be covering whatever views might be there to be seen.  So, returning to Digby proper, we shopped for some souvenirs and then enjoyed a proper dinner of sauteed scallops with corn on the cob, salad and rice.  There followed a two-hour ride through encroaching fog to Yarmouth, where we are ensconced for the night at the Harbour’s Edge B&B, built in 1864, destroyed by fire in 1990, and renovated in historically accurate fashion by the current owners, Esther and Gil Dares.  A lovely place, it will serve as the launching pad for our return to the Novastar ferry tomorrow and the ride home.