Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

For the second day in a row, photos are refusing to upload so this episode will be text only - too bad cuz we have some great photos to accompany this.  C'est la vie!

66 days into our trip and we are still having fun!  We pulled into Lower Bras D’Or tonight, will have an prep day tomorrow then catch the ferry to Newfoundland early on Tues.  Due to ferry mechanical problems, our reservation has been changed from 11:30 am to 7:30 so we have to be at the ferry docks by 5 am!!!

I see that we have been ‘out of touch’ since Aug 14^th.  Since then, we have explored part of Nova Scotia, mainly Cape Breton Island – great scenery of mountains and seascapes and lighthouses!  The highlight was a night of ‘free camping’ beside a lighthouse at Cape George.   Another family had the same idea so we weren’t all along up there above the sea with the wind howling but almost.  Lovely to wake up in the morning and look out at the sea – we both did some yoga before breakfast.  I could get used to that life – in the summertime! 

  Watching the light play on the ocean was delightful!    Before reaching the lighthouse, we had puttered around the old town of Pictou, established in the 1770s, then endured an incredibly heavy rainstorm – had to pull over and wait it out as we couldn’t see!  Had dinner beside our trailer on the wharf at Arisaig, a tiny town on the coast, then had an ice cream cone at the little concession in the lighthouse there before driving to Cape George.   The rain stopped and the sun fought through the clouds for some awesome scenes there.

Note to everyone – don’t dispose of plastics that can end up in the ocean!  At the Bluefin Tuna Interpretive Centre in Ballantyne’s Cove, we saw a large piece of plastic that had been found in the stomach of a 700 pound tuna. It would have killed him if he had not been caught by a fisherman first – either way, it was ‘death by human’.

We then spent some wonderful, and not so wonderful, time in Cape Breton Highlands National Park and drove the world renowned Cabot Trail.  Hard to believe it is rated as one of the top ten cycling trips in the world when you see how steep and narrow some parts of the road are through the park but it is a spectacular place!!   The first night howling wind and torrential rain kept us awake wondering if the trailer would be blown apart – we survived totally intact – and the sun came out the next day so we could enjoy the scenery on the drive.  In 2004, rain and fog obscured the views so we were happy to see them this time!  We hiked a few of the shorter trails in the park and stopped at some of the ‘lookover’ to enjoy the views.  On a bog walk, we saw pitcher plants for the first time – carnivorous plants that ‘eat’ insects.  Walked into MacIntosh Falls along MacIntosh brook, named after an early settler in the area – sunlight playing on a babbling brook was a highlight of that walk. 

We were met at our campsite that night by a curious chipmunk and half a dozen vocal blue jays (not our Stellar jays from BC).    The next day, we walked more trails, stopped at more lookovers and enjoyed meeting the locals at Neil’s Harbour, a small community of maybe 500 whose festival had called everyone ‘home’.  It was like being at 10 or 12 family reunions at once – everyone greeting everyone with hugs and tears and ‘my, how you have grown’ comments.  Fun!  We had a drink, enjoyed people watching, chatted with a few ‘naitives’  and listened to the homegrown Celtic music talent.    That night, after dinner at the campground, we drove to the Keltic Lodge, a beautiful old place on the water, and listened to more local talent over a drink in their lounge – a place where the wealthy stay and play! 

We are excited about heading to Newfoundland and hope that it is as good as everyone says it is- the absolute best place to visit.  More next time!