A ride through time
Wolfville mayor bikes 110-km trail; describes cultural significance, economic potential
Jeff Cantwell rode 110 kilometres through history recently.
The 68-year-old Wolfville mayor didn’t take the road. He biked from Annapolis Royal to Grand Pré along the Harvest Moon Trailway that he says connects not only two national historic sites, but the past to the present.
Annapolis Royal Mayor Bill Macdonald was at the trailhead by 9 a.m. to welcome Cantwell and eight other riders and send them off on their day-long cultural journey. A few hundred metres away was Fort Anne and all around them were some of the oldest European-settled communities and agriculture land in North America.
Culturally, and from a tourism and economic development perspective, the trail is important, Cantwell said.
“I see this trail, especially for Mayor Macdonald’s area from Annapolis Royal where the French arrived, to Grand Pré, the other National Historic Site where they were interred and deported, is culturally significant,” Cantwell said. “We’ve kind of informally been referring to this as the Acadian Camino de Santiago.”
The reference to the Spanish network of pilgrims’ ways has been made several times before in regards to Harvest Moon. And Cantwell can see the walk or ride through the historic Annapolis Valley as a reflective and meditative journey.
Linking Communities
“I’m very excited to be here this morning as sort of a send off of Mayor Cantwell and all the cyclists with him,” said Macdonald. “As he said, this trail is really important linking Grand Pré and Annapolis Royal. The citizens of Wolfville and the Citizens of Annapolis Royal are great friends, but this is just another way to kind of link our two communities together, in fact, link all the communities in the Valley between Annapolis and Grand Pré together. So part of what we’re doing here, this morning, is reenforcing just how important this departure is.”
Cantwell said that at the opening of the eastern leg of the trail Annapolis Royal Mayor Bill Macdonald was at the Harvest Moon Trailway last Wednesday morning to greet his friend Wolfville Mayor Jeff Cantwell. The two talked about connecting communities and the significance of the trail before Cantwell and eight other riders started their seven-hour bike ride to Grand Pré.
recently, there was talk of making the 110-kilometre ride.
In awe
Jeff Redden of Windsor rode with Cantwell in the seven-hour trip. He was in awe of the trail and described parts of it, especially along the Annapolis River, as “absolutely stunning.”
He said the transition of terrain from the river in Annapolis County to the pines in the Kingston area, and up through the farmlands in Kings County was impressive, the new bridges were beautiful, and for the most part it was easy passage.
“The weather was wonderful,” he said, “a sunny day and it showed the trail really, really well.”
He loved how the old rail bed wound through the towns and along the farms, peat bogs, cranberry bogs, and blueberries. “It’s a beautiful showcase of the Valley.”
They met walkers, Atvers, people on horseback. They stopped in Bridgetown. Some stopped at the Green Elephant in Kingston, and the riders pulled off the trail for lunch at Mike and Brenda Trinacty’s home in Berwick.
Redden likes the concept of connecting a region from one end to another, not just recreationally, but from an economic perspective.
“It’s going to attract people from all over the world,” he said. “This trail is giving back to the Valley what the (Highway) 101 took away.”
He said there’s the Avonport missing link, but when that bridge is replaced, it will extend the trail to Windsor, connecting even more communities.
Reflection
Cantwell bikes a fair bit, and when he does, he thinks about things.
“You do a lot of that when you’re on your bike for a long ride,” he said. “You tend to do a lot of reflection and thinking about what you’re doing. I think it’s going to help draw both of our communities (Annapolis Royal and Wolfville) more tightly together and allow people to experience the cultural significance of the entire Valley area.”
He believes the potential of the trail is big and agrees with Redden that it will give back what the highway took away. He believes it can bring back new life to the Annapolis Valley. He said it’s important to get people locally to recognize what they have, and welcome people to their communities.
“We’re going to explode,” he said. “We going to bring more people to area.”
The next day
“What a fantastic day,” Cantwell said from his office in Wolfville the next day. “To be truthful, it exceeded my expectations.”
He described it as a no brainer for development, especially trail side, with bike shops, B&BS, and other businesses that could cater to the trail walkers and riders.
Next year, he’s going to do the trip again, but this time as a tourist, from Grand Pré to Annapolis Royal but staying at an inn or B&B halfway. Then, the next day, he’ll bike the rest of the way and stay overnight in Annapolis Royal to catch the tiny town’s famous Farmer’s and Trader’s Market in the morning before loading the bikes on the bike rack and driving home.
“I bet I know two dozen people who are going to do that next year,” Cantwell said. “It’s going to be huge. This thing is going to help lift us up, one of those pieces in the infrastructure, a cog, that’s going to make this area just take off.”
Macdonald likes that, and in the meantime, expect Annapolis Royal to develop its trailhead area to better accommodate all those visitors.