Pollys Cove - Nova Scotia
En route to its more famous sister 'Peggys Cove' during a trip to the east coast in September 2014 Sarah and I stopped at a very small roadside parking area with space for about 3 cars, located 2.5 km east of the Peggys Cove turning. The car park is unmarked and sits on the coastal side of a bend in the road, from here an obvious trail leads you to the seclusion of Pollys Cove.
it's a level trail all the way to the coast where it plunges down a steep sided outcrop to reach the sea. All along the way the area is strewn with huge boulders deposited by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago, some are perched on top of others and many simply stand surrounded by heather and bog plants.
It is advisable to stick to the main path or rock tops as erosion is an issue here with very little soil covering smoothed rock outcrops which is easily disturbed and damaged.
There area number of side trails to be followed leading to various little viewpoints along the way, the side trails are lightly trodden and narrow in places but a push through the foliage of the overhanging trees usually shows why that little trail exists. This little hump of rock allows open views of the small coastal islands to the east
it also allows a clear shot of Peggys Cove to the west (this is a zoomed shot, Peggys Cove is over 2 km away from here) We can see the area around Peggys Cove covered in cars and people, our little area has nobody but us exploring it, which is worth stopping for on its own.
on reaching the ocean the trail takes a steep drop through tightly packed trees, it very quickly becomes a single trail and if wet would be much more of a challenge than it is today.
as we drop down further the trees begin to open up and provide a glimpse of the North Atlantic Ocean below, I should add that there is no requirement to drop down this tight trail, it is possible to follow small trails along the flat tops above, but that doesn't get you to the ocean.
After a tricky little descent we are welcomed to the rocky beach by an inukshuk (that little stone thing in the lower right hand corner of the image below) These are used throughout Canada and serve the same purpose as cairns back home. They are a marker, sometimes of a trails start or end, sometimes of a turning point. I've added a number of these to the Canadian wilderness myself but not this one, he was already here.
it is fantastic to find ourselves beside the ocean again, being born and raised on a very small island leaves an almost constant yearning for the ocean and life in Calgary couldn't be further from it. Our closest ocean from Calgary is the Pacific coast to the west at Vancouver, a 12 hour drive away.
We explored the rocks around the small beach area and took dozens of photos some of which are in the small gallery below, click any image for a quick slideshow of these.
after playing around on the rocks and getting a few shots we climbed up the cliffside along a narrow trail to head west along the coast for a while. We had no particular target in mind we were just following the trail .
We weren't the only ones enjoying the ocean at Pollys Cove after all, but we were the only ones on terra firma. This guy clearly knew the area as he darted through the small islands with no speed reduction or depth check beforehand.
To the west Peggys Cove lighthouse can be seen on the small spit of rock poking out into the North Atlantic, but closer to us we see a lovely white sand cove tucked away back down at sea level, obviously we were going to have to descend again.
We made another steep descent along something like a goat trail and pushed through the bushes and trees to return to sea level right beside the little cove we had seen from above
It was immediately obvious that some paddling was going to be taking place, the white sand swept out into the water in a long shallow band and the water itself was so clear we could see the bottom as far out as we cared to look.
We decided to explore the rocks that protruded from the ocean before any paddling took place and we set out across the smooth surface of the glacier carved creations in earnest.
The rocks are easy enough to walk on and hold numerous pools that provide perfect reflecting surfaces for photos, the pools opens up the 'dead' dark space in the crevices and makes for a beautiful simple image.
We climbed to a high spot and sat for a while just looking out at the sea and the surrounding rocks, we could see Peggys Cove lighthouse in the distance and looked forward to seeing it close up, but not yet, right now we had our own cove all to ourselves and we were in no hurry to leave it.
After enjoying the tranquil setting in the wonderful sunshine it was time to get those shoes and socks off and test the cool waters, even if that means adopting some unusual stance to avoid falling as you cross the seaweed.
Once in the water we found dozens of hermit crabs and sea snails, we watched two shoals of small fish moving through the water like a cloud and being pursued by a pair of kingfishers who seemed to prefer fighting each other to actually fishing.
The zip off legs of my hiking trousers certainly proved useful for the occasion and though we are both smiling and loving the ocean...it''s pretty damn cool in that water.
After enjoying our paddle we circled around even further west to avoid the scramble back up through the trees on the goat trial. We came up into the boulder field surrounded by standing stones and followed the obvious path through them back along the coast toward the car park trail.
As we made our way back we were again treated to a distant view of Peggys Cove, our next destination. I did contemplate hiking all the way there along the coast which would have been fantastic but we had such a short time in the area we really needed to make the drive and get on with the day. Having been to both sites now, I would strongly suggest that if you take a trip to Peggys Cove you should also visit the more isolated Pollys Cove and enjoy this incredible coastline in tranquility.