A summer day on the Cabot trail.

It was a chilly 47 degrees when we got up.  But the sun was shining and the temperature quickly went up to a balmy 78 by afternoon.  It was a great summer day to drive along the "world famous" Cabot trail (I had never heard of it, but it could be that I'm just not wordily enough).  It goes along the edge of the North side of Cape Breton Peninsula and is indeed spectacular.  The first half, on the East side,  is on the Atlantic coast and heavily influenced by it's Scottish heritage.  All the signs are in both English and Gaelic, and the only Gaelic university in Canada is there.  

On the way, we stopped for a hearty breakfast of lobster egg Benedict! Even with a long hike in the afternoon, it kept me full till dinner....

The drive is lined with beach trees, and A LOT of wild apple trees.  

This is a very isolated part of the world, and yet, we had to stop for school buses..

 

 

As we continued up North, we stopped a pretty beached and grand overlooks.  Too many  to stop at all, or take pictures everywhere  Here is a (small) sample.

 

 

We then decided to veer off the Cabot trail to go to the very northern part of the peninsula, at Meat Cove, the northern settlement in Nova Scotia.  You REALLY have to want to go there as the winding road is unpaved for the last 10 miles.  But we REALLY wanted to go for two reasons:

1) Because it's there.

2) Joe had driven with a friend to Nova Scotia while in college, and they had talked about going there and it stuck with him.

it was worth the detour.  

 

 

People do live there though.  Which must be tough in the winter! 

we continued along the trail, stopping at the most interesting points of views, along mountain winding roads.

 We then stopped at the Skyline trail, the most popular trail on Cabot road.  Like all Canadian National parks, the trail is manicured and easy to follow.  BUT:   Also, like all trails in the parks, the information about it is sparse and/or misleading  In this particular case, the "skyline" part of the trail is a spectacular boardwalk overlooking the ocean and the cliffs.  You can either go to it and back in 4 miles, or do the loop which is 5 1/2 miles.  Look at the map:  can you tell which end the spectacular part is?   I couldn't either. (it's the one on the top left if you need to know)    So I did the loop, which I wouldn't mind in general, but Joe was waiting for me and I was trying to keep it short.  Anyway.  It is indeed worth the hike!

As we continued on the drive, we got to see the same hill, but from the  other side.  can you spot the tiny people on the top??

All along the drive and the hike, they kept warning us about moose, but this is the closest we got...... 

Driving on the West side of the Peninsula, both the landscape and the culture change dramatically.  This is part of Acadia, and the Acadian flag (French flag with a star) flies everywhere.  It is milder and more protected than the other side (maybe the French that settled there were smarter than the Scotts??)  All the signs are now in French instead of Gaelic, and the churches take this typically catholic look (rather than the white protestant churches).

Coming back around the loop, we stopped at a pretty beach where people where swimming (the weather was VERY mild), and took the obligatory picture of a lighthouse.