Why this ride
414 km from Halifax to Halifax, about 6 h 05 of riding. It goes by way of Old Town Lunenburg, Landscape of Grand Pré, back through Landscape of Grand Pré and back through Old Town Lunenburg. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Halifax day out · Landscape of Grand Pré
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 414 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 05
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Halifax → Old Town Lunenburg
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 87 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 88 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Halifax
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.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Old Town Lunenburg.
2. Old Town Lunenburg
Colour is the first thing that hits you in Lunenburg: wooden houses in mustard, barn red, teal and white, climbing the slope from the harbour in tidy rows. The town sits on Nova Scotia's South Shore, on a peninsula facing the Atlantic, and it is one of the best-preserved examples of a planned British colonial town in North America. It was founded in 1753, and the grid of streets laid out then is still the grid you walk now. The first settlers were largely Protestants from German-speaking lands, along with some Swiss and French, which is why you still hear names like Zwicker and Rhuland.
Read the complete Old Town Lunenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Town Lunenburg comes up 50 km in.
3. Old Town Lunenburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town Lunenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
100 km in you reach Old Town Lunenburg. Next is Landscape of Grand Pré.
4. Landscape of Grand Pré
The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and at Grand Pré the sea comes in and out of the Minas Basin with a rush that can move the waterline across mudflats the size of a small town. Behind that shifting edge lies a broad, flat, green meadow that was not always land. The Acadians, French settlers who arrived in the seventeenth century, built earthen dykes with wooden sluice gates called aboiteaux to keep the tide out and turn salt marsh into rich farmland. The work took generations, and the dykes still protect fields today.
Read the complete Landscape of Grand Pré write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Landscape of Grand Pré, about halfway.
5. Landscape of Grand Pré
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Landscape of Grand Pré write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Landscape of Grand Pré sits at 200 km, about halfway. Next is back through Landscape of Grand Pré.
6. back through Landscape of Grand Pré
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Landscape of Grand Pré write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Landscape of Grand Pré comes up 249 km in. Next is back through Old Town Lunenburg.
7. back through Old Town Lunenburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town Lunenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
299 km in you reach back through Old Town Lunenburg.
8. back through Old Town Lunenburg
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town Lunenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Old Town Lunenburg, late in the day. Next is Halifax.
9. Halifax
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 414 km.
Leg by leg
Halifax to Old Town Lunenburg
Halifax → Old Town Lunenburg is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Old Town Lunenburg to Landscape of Grand Pré
Old Town Lunenburg → Landscape of Grand Pré is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Landscape of Grand Pré to back through Old Town Lunenburg
back through Landscape of Grand Pré → back through Old Town Lunenburg is 111 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Old Town Lunenburg to Halifax
back through Old Town Lunenburg → Halifax is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Lighthouse Route · 103 km
- Old Town Lunenburg and Joggins Fossil Cliffs · 776 km