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Travel
An e-bike revelation in Nova Scotia
Riding alongside his nearly 80-year-old father, Robin Esrock reveals an accessible new way to explore the province’s trails, towns and coastline
- Published Aug 27, 2026
- Updated Aug 28
- 1,924 words
- 8 minutes
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Discovering a destination from a bicycle saddle has its benefits. The slow pace allows the landscape and culture to seep under your skin; the challenge is rewarding, and it’s great for your physical health. That said, any multi-day bike trip can be an undertaking, especially if you’re unfit, lack the experience, equipment, or mental and physical fortitude to conquer long days and steep hills.
As he approached his 80th birthday, I wondered whether there was a different mode of transport for my road-trip-loving dad to explore the 10th and final province on his Canadian bucket list. It’s been years since he was on a bike, and his health could certainly benefit from the exercise.
We last travelled together on the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland, shortly after he recovered from cancer and a heart attack. Planning his first visit to Nova Scotia, I once again turned to Ottawa-based Great Canadian Trails, a tour operator specializing in active outdoor adventures. Catering to Canadians, Americans, and increasingly international clientele, they understand that the very idea of multi-day cycling, hiking and paddling can feel overwhelming. To make it as easy and accessible as possible, Great Canadian Trails removes the logistical guesswork by arranging your itinerary, accommodation, shuttles, and on-the-ground support, allowing their guests to focus on remarkable Canadian destinations. Guests like my dad, who thought their bike-riding days were over.
“There’s nothing to it,” explains Sarah Craig, Great Canadian Trail’s friendly local fixer responsible for our bikes and shuttles. “Just push the arrow buttons to shift between the three power settings, and the pedalling gets easier. You can see your speed and battery range, which will easily cover the day’s itinerary, even at full power.”
E-bikes have revolutionized personal transportation, both for urban transit and bicycle touring. With powerful batteries and impressive range, today’s e-bikes allow you to pedal uphill with minimal effort while rekindling the joy of cycling. With an easy-to-follow route app and suitcases shuttled ahead to homely inns, e-bike touring becomes an enticing multi-generational proposition.
There should be a YouTube channel devoted to people’s first e-bike rides, especially parents who thought they’d never ride again. My father’s face lights up like a school kid who just fell into a pit of candy. The instant boost of power and speed is truly joyous. “Whoa!” was his initial response as we set off through a tree tunnel on our introductory ride to the fishing village of Blue Rocks.
Having stopped for the unmissable Peggy’s Cove on the way, our week-long itinerary began in another iconic Nova Scotian destination, the UNESCO World Heritage townsite of Lunenburg. It really doesn’t take long for the province to trap you in a lobster net of memories: the bright-painted historic houses, the fresh seafood, and that famous maritime hospitality infusing every interaction.
We strike up conversations with everyone and anyone: a couple from Toronto celebrating their anniversary; a retiree who’s returned to her childhood home in Chester; an empty nester testing a backpack as she prepares to hike the Camino de Santiago; an army veteran selling delicious homemade hot sauce at a farmers’ market (shoutout to Nurple Hot Sauce Co); a couple from Louisiana discovering their Acadian heritage. Even if you’re not as naturally chatty as my father, something in the sea air expands your personal boundaries, inviting spontaneous interactions.
Having eaten the first of several lobster rolls and admired the Bluenose II, we depart Lunenburg on the Rum Runners Trail, a 119-kilometre multi-use pathway built along a former railway line through the province’s South Shore. Our saddlebags contain a bike lock, repair kit, sunblock, water, and little else. We stop for lunch in Mahone Bay, with its three adjacent churches, and continue through dense mixed forests of red maples, black spruce, balsam fir and white pines. With pedal assist, cycling is effortless, even when we encounter a rare hill or divert off the trail.
Living on the West Coast, my dad is unaccustomed to the long and eventful history in this part of Canada. He keeps pointing out old churches and graveyards with cracked and faded tombstones. Maritime history provides plenty to discuss over well-deserved craft beer and local wine at dinner. The distances each day are not excessive, while this particular itinerary, the Best of Nova Scotia by Bike, offers ample time for rest, walking around, or cycling additional kilometres if you’re up for it. The flexibility makes it particularly popular with couples, families, and groups with varying levels of cycling ability.
It’s a 40-kilometre ride to Chester, where we toast on the sunny patio of Fo’c’sle, a pub that claims to date back to 1764. Collected from our B&B, we’re shuttled north to the former Acadian heartland of Grand-Pré, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s a sweeping landscape of low-lying marshland and fertile farmland, with a story of deportations and heartbreak. We visit the Memorial Church at the Grand-Pré National Historic Site, and learn about the history and significance of the region for both Acadians and the Mi’kmaq.
The blue August sky lights up that rust-red earth synonymous with the Bay of Fundy. We continue our ride alongside the lush orchards and vineyards of the Annapolis Valley. Our base is Wolfville, a university town with an alluringly relaxed pace of life. Our hosts at the Stella Rose B&B on Main Street, Neil and Robyn, offer a garden sanctuary and scrumptious home-cooked breakfasts.
We take our e-bikes through the hilly campus of Acadia University, and into the countryside to taste chilled glasses of Tidal Bay (Nova Scotia’s signature white wine appellation) at the award-winning Gaspereau and Benjamin Bridge vineyards. All the while, our e-bikes conquer mighty hills as if they were speed bumps. The third power setting on our Norco bikes, using a Shimano electric system, turns us into turbo-powered Lance Arm…em, Tadej Pogačars. I explain to my dad that Pogačar is the current king of the Tour de France.
The longest ride of the week is 52.3 kilometres from Wolfville to Kingston, following the Harvest Moon Trailway across the valley through communities including Kentville, Coldbrook and Berwick, the province’s apple-growing capital. A farmer waves to us from a tractor in a farmland scene straight out of a tourism commercial. We pedal alongside sprawling fields of corn, wheat, apple orchards and onion bulbs, before entering a rough gravel trail where the power of the e-bike really comes into its own.
After lunch and beers at Kingston’s excellent Roof Hound brewpub, we’re shuttled to a historic inn in Annapolis Royal, a waterfront town whose European history dates to the French settlement of Port-Royal in 1605.
Facing the bay, Fort Anne, Canada’s first administered National Historic Site, is dazzling and largely empty at sunset. This was the earliest European settlement in Canada, with the region enduring centuries of conflict between the French and the British, as well as attacks by privateers. Today, Annapolis Royal is an eclectic town of galleries, restaurants, bookshops, old inns and brilliant Atlantic sunsets. We explore the waterfront boardwalk, cycle across the bay to Granville Ferry, enjoy old photos in the Sinclair Inn Museum, and stroll the busy summer farmers’ market.
“This is beautiful country,” exclaims my father at a waterfront picnic, devouring our best lobster roll yet courtesy of Margaretsville’s Luminous Moose. “I didn’t expect all the history — the food and wine have been amazing, and I think these are the friendliest people I’ve ever met.” As for the e-bikes? “If you’ve been a cyclist all your life but reach my age and health, the e-bike is a revelation. It’s really inspired me to carry on cycling,” says my dad, beaming.
Our visit to Nova Scotia has inspired me to continue travelling with my parents, figuring out new ways to keep them active, engaged, and curious to explore new destinations, one pedal-assisted day at a time.
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