Today, it felt like I climbed to the top of Nova Scotia. Starting off in Baddeck this morning, it was cool and raining, so breakfast seemed like a good place to start. The Yellow Cello makes a wonderful bacon and eggs breakfast - with lots of bacon (real bacon, that actually tasted like smoked bacon). A quick top-up with gas, and it's off to the Cabot Trail. The weather is supposed to improve by noon, but the tops of mountains are still shrouded in cloud at 10:30 a.m.
As we approach Margree Forks the sun comes out and it is instantly warmer. The hills are multi-coloured, with splotches of dark green - the evergreens, the dark brown buds of the hardwoods, and the bright green buds of the birch and softwoods. There is soon evidence of many logging operations, and signs for "quality hardwood lumber" on the occasional laneway. The one that strikes me most is the ads for "good larch" - what the heck is larch? I'll have to look that one up.
As we go further west toward the other side of the island, the sun gets stronger, the hills get higher, and the scenery more beautiful every kilometer. I'm pretty sure that by the time we get to Cheticamp, I'll be gaga (no, not Lady). And I am. And it just keeps getting better. In Cheticamp though, it drizzles briefly and clouds over, so it's a good time to Timmy Me. We stop for a tea and muffin, then off we go again.
The goal is to find a good place to picnic, and boy do we ever find it. But first, we have to enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Just before we get there, my travelling companion jokes that someone should be charging for the beautiful scenery. Then we come across the gates that charge to get into the park. Thankfully, we're a few days early - still off season for another five days - and we get in for free.
A bit further into the park, and we find our dining spot. A little hideaway right on the coast, with a couple of cool birds drifting by, a picnic table that has not yet been spoiled by too much bird poop, and some fresh air to make our Pop Chips, fruit, and sausage sticks taste fab.
Another couple of lookouts later and we come across a traffic light - in the middle of nowhere. Whaaaat? Turns out that they are repairing the road. Looks like a good chunk out of the one lane has been completely eroded or washed out, or slid down the cliff into the ocean. Whoa. Fortunately, the wait is only a few seconds, and off we go. And the next lookout is THE lookout of the Cabot Trail. Even though it's still gray and completely clouded over, it's amazing. My companion thinks the sun will come out shortly, and it does. So we take a few more pictures, and then proceed to find more and more beautiful places.
At one point, we realize that on the next point, a few hundred feet above us and across the inlet, we can see people walking along the top of a cliff. We need to get up there! Winding up the road, away from where we saw them, we start worrying that we won't figure out how to get over there. Then we see the sign for Skyline Trail, and check it out. Sure enough, it's a 4.7 mile hike in total, we've got several hours before we have to check into the B&B, and lots of sitting and driving to work off.
And it really does take us out to the end of the cliff, and what feels like the very top of Nova Scotia - it's 250 meters up from the ocean, and the birds are flying around way below us. We've met a young family on the trail that are originally from England, but now live in Toronto (small world!). They appear on the boardwalk shortly after we arrive, and it's a joy to see their young daughter skip down the steps to see the edge of the bluff.
Finally, we hike back to the car, passing the many moose tracks (both footprints and moose poo), and feel revitalized by the weather, the holiday, the exercise, and the scenery.
But now, we're hungry. It's not far into Pleasant Bay, and the only place around for miles that is open for dinner on a Monday night in early May is MidTrail Motel. So, we check it out. The whole motel is painted pink and blue, like some weird nursery, but the menu is chock full of seafood, and it smells good. My friend orders seafood chowder and the Atlantic grey sole, and I get the salad with house dressing and a lobster dinner. Wow. Everything is homemade - for real homemade - and it's the best lobster I've ever had. The freshest for sure.
Better get to the B&B, especially if we hope to make it to Meat Cove, which is at the far north end of the island. The B&B is easy to find, and the hostess is extremely friendly and helpful. She says we have enough daylight to get to Meat Cove, and it's worth it. Wow. 8 km of gravel and potholes, dangerous dropoffs, and fantastic scenery, but yes, it's worth it to say we got to the most northern point of Cape Breton Island. There's an island off the coast, no idea what it is at the time, but we find out later that it's St. Paul Island - the Graveyard of the Gulf. Interesting.
Now, relaxing with some more Nova Scotia wine, the Leafs just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and tomorrow is said to be rainy and cold, another good day to drive - this time to Charlottetown PEI. Hopefully, they'll have lobster...
As we approach Margree Forks the sun comes out and it is instantly warmer. The hills are multi-coloured, with splotches of dark green - the evergreens, the dark brown buds of the hardwoods, and the bright green buds of the birch and softwoods. There is soon evidence of many logging operations, and signs for "quality hardwood lumber" on the occasional laneway. The one that strikes me most is the ads for "good larch" - what the heck is larch? I'll have to look that one up.
As we go further west toward the other side of the island, the sun gets stronger, the hills get higher, and the scenery more beautiful every kilometer. I'm pretty sure that by the time we get to Cheticamp, I'll be gaga (no, not Lady). And I am. And it just keeps getting better. In Cheticamp though, it drizzles briefly and clouds over, so it's a good time to Timmy Me. We stop for a tea and muffin, then off we go again.
The goal is to find a good place to picnic, and boy do we ever find it. But first, we have to enter Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Just before we get there, my travelling companion jokes that someone should be charging for the beautiful scenery. Then we come across the gates that charge to get into the park. Thankfully, we're a few days early - still off season for another five days - and we get in for free.
A bit further into the park, and we find our dining spot. A little hideaway right on the coast, with a couple of cool birds drifting by, a picnic table that has not yet been spoiled by too much bird poop, and some fresh air to make our Pop Chips, fruit, and sausage sticks taste fab.
Another couple of lookouts later and we come across a traffic light - in the middle of nowhere. Whaaaat? Turns out that they are repairing the road. Looks like a good chunk out of the one lane has been completely eroded or washed out, or slid down the cliff into the ocean. Whoa. Fortunately, the wait is only a few seconds, and off we go. And the next lookout is THE lookout of the Cabot Trail. Even though it's still gray and completely clouded over, it's amazing. My companion thinks the sun will come out shortly, and it does. So we take a few more pictures, and then proceed to find more and more beautiful places.
At one point, we realize that on the next point, a few hundred feet above us and across the inlet, we can see people walking along the top of a cliff. We need to get up there! Winding up the road, away from where we saw them, we start worrying that we won't figure out how to get over there. Then we see the sign for Skyline Trail, and check it out. Sure enough, it's a 4.7 mile hike in total, we've got several hours before we have to check into the B&B, and lots of sitting and driving to work off.
And it really does take us out to the end of the cliff, and what feels like the very top of Nova Scotia - it's 250 meters up from the ocean, and the birds are flying around way below us. We've met a young family on the trail that are originally from England, but now live in Toronto (small world!). They appear on the boardwalk shortly after we arrive, and it's a joy to see their young daughter skip down the steps to see the edge of the bluff.
Finally, we hike back to the car, passing the many moose tracks (both footprints and moose poo), and feel revitalized by the weather, the holiday, the exercise, and the scenery.
But now, we're hungry. It's not far into Pleasant Bay, and the only place around for miles that is open for dinner on a Monday night in early May is MidTrail Motel. So, we check it out. The whole motel is painted pink and blue, like some weird nursery, but the menu is chock full of seafood, and it smells good. My friend orders seafood chowder and the Atlantic grey sole, and I get the salad with house dressing and a lobster dinner. Wow. Everything is homemade - for real homemade - and it's the best lobster I've ever had. The freshest for sure.
Better get to the B&B, especially if we hope to make it to Meat Cove, which is at the far north end of the island. The B&B is easy to find, and the hostess is extremely friendly and helpful. She says we have enough daylight to get to Meat Cove, and it's worth it. Wow. 8 km of gravel and potholes, dangerous dropoffs, and fantastic scenery, but yes, it's worth it to say we got to the most northern point of Cape Breton Island. There's an island off the coast, no idea what it is at the time, but we find out later that it's St. Paul Island - the Graveyard of the Gulf. Interesting.
Now, relaxing with some more Nova Scotia wine, the Leafs just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, and tomorrow is said to be rainy and cold, another good day to drive - this time to Charlottetown PEI. Hopefully, they'll have lobster...
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