Halifax sits on one of the great natural harbours of the world, and most of its history is a story of that fact. The British founded the city in 1749 as a naval base to counter the French fortress at Louisbourg, and the star-shaped Citadel on the hill above the harbour is its monument, with a view across the water that explains the choice at once. Today it is the largest city in Atlantic Canada, with about 360,000 people in the municipality, and Dartmouth across the water adds another hundred thousand. A ferry has linked the two shores for more than two centuries, and a ride across costs very little and gives the best view of the skyline.
The city has seen its share of disaster. In December 1917 two ships collided in the narrows of the harbour, and one of them, loaded with explosives, blew up, devastating the north end of the city and killing nearly two thousand people. It remained the largest man-made explosion in history until the atomic bomb. Fairview cemetery holds the graves of many victims of the Titanic, whose bodies were brought here for burial. Pier 21, on the waterfront, was the arrival point for a million immigrants and is now a museum.
The riding begins outside town. The usual route to Grand Pré goes north-west on the 101, through the Annapolis Valley, a fertile strip of apple orchards, vineyards and farms between two ridges, then drops down to the Minas Basin, where the tides of the Bay of Fundy, among the highest in the world, rise and fall by more than ten metres. Grand Pré, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, preserves the dykes and farmland made by the Acadians, who were deported by the British from here in 1755. The memorial church and statue are quiet and moving.
Halifax is well supplied with fuel, shops and restaurants. Try fresh lobster rolls, steamed mussels or the local oddity, the donair, a spiced beef wrap with a sweet sauce that is the city's official food. Weather is changeable, with sea fog rolling up the harbour in the morning, so carry a waterproof. Traffic through the downtown core and across the two harbour bridges can be heavy at rush hour, and some of the older streets are steep, so take it slowly. June to September is the most reliable season, and the Annapolis Valley is spectacular in blossom in late May.