Why this ride
Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Old Town Lunenburg.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Lighthouse Route
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 103 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 31
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check provincial road reports, wildfire closures, ferries and fuel range. Specific flag: fog; seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
May-Oct
Scenic road chapters
Chester → Lunenburg
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 19 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 19 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Halifax
Halifax is a harbour first and a city second, and every part of its history follows from that. The British founded it in 1749 as a naval counterweight to the French fortress at Louisbourg, and the big grassy hill in the middle, Citadel Hill, still carries a star-shaped fort with kilted guards and a noon gun. The harbour below is one of the largest natural ice-free ports in the world, which made the city a base for convoys in both world wars.
Read the complete Halifax write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Halifax sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Chester.
2. Chester
Chester looks like the kind of place where sailors have retired to tinker with boats for a century, and that is more or less true. It sits on a protected corner of Mahone Bay, with hundreds of small islands scattered across the water in front of it, and wealthy New Englanders began building summer houses here in the nineteenth century after settlers from the American colonies founded the town around 1760. The result is a handsome village of white clapboard and tall trees, with a few shops, a playhouse and a yacht club that organises Chester Race Week every August.
Read the complete Chester write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chester comes up 37 km in. Next is Lunenburg.
3. Lunenburg
Lunenburg is the most colourful working fishing town you are likely to ride into. The old centre, laid out on a grid in 1753 by British authorities settling Protestants from Germany, Switzerland and the French-speaking Montbéliard region, climbs a steep hill above the harbour, and every wooden house seems to have been painted a different bright colour. UNESCO recognised it as a World Heritage Site in 1995 as the best surviving planned British colonial settlement in North America. Many houses have a small projecting dormer above the front door, known locally as the Lunenburg bump.
Read the complete Lunenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
103 km in you reach Lunenburg.