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 worldly 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 eggs Benedict! Even with a long hike in the afternoon, it kept me full till dinner....

The drive is lined with beech 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 at pretty beaches 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, to Meat Cove, the northernmost 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 for views, along winding mountain roads.

We then stopped at the Skyline trail, the most popular trail on the Cabot loop. 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 Scots??).  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.

Back in Nova Scotia

    We are back in Nova Scotia, for the last leg of our trip, exploring Cape Breton Island. We started the day driving to Wood Islands to take the Ferry from PEI, through more pretty landscapes.  

As I said yesterday, all of PEI is pretty. Even the ferry terminal area is pretty, surrounded by a bay where herring gulls swim ( these are common, but new to me, so I was excited!). We arrived early (what a surprise!), so walked around the three lighthouses at the point (one of which is still working. The other two stopped being used in 2007 and were moved to this site to form this cute little family. 

  

 

 

 

Again, the day was great for a ferry ride (we have been so lucky with the weather!), and we continued onward, along beautiful highways going through forested and farmland areas. 

Our goal was Baddeck, at small town on the shore of the Bras d’or Lake. This large lake cuts Cape Breton in half, has a small opening to the ocean, making it half fresh  and half brackish water as well as tidal. This makes its ecosystem unique, and, for instance, you can catch both trout and cod in it.  It is a UNESCO unique ecosystem designated area, and is very pleasant. The top picture is the view from our little chalet.

 Out room was not ready when we arrived, so we did something very unusual for us on such a sunny day. We went to a museum - The Alexander Graham Bell museum. Bell spent a lot of time in Baddeck, where he had a summer house, and a lot of his later work was done here. It was very interesting. Two things I learned that were a surprise:  Before inventing the telephone, he was a dedicated teacher and speech therapist to the deaf. He founded and taught at several schools for the deaf, including an integrated one (both deaf and hearing students), and developed ways for deaf people to communicate. Indeed, the invention of the telephone was a side effect of these studies. He had realized that sound could travel along wires, and was wondering how this could help deaf people.

The other thing I learned is that he built the first manned aircraft in Canada, shortly after the Wright Brothers (see picture of full replica above).  Our hotel, the Silver Dart is named after that plane.

 

So there! We should go to museums more often, because you learn interesting things!

 

 

The weather is continuing to be glorious, we had dinner at the tiny harbor (crab cakes and smoked salmon - we are back to our sea food only streak).

Tomorrow, we go around the Cabot trail, which goes along the entire to peninsula and into the Cape Breton Highland national park. The weather is supposed to be great again!