To Ingonish and back - the long way around

Friday morning dawned cloudy and cold.  No surprise considering the storm the night before.  The sun makes some attempt to appear, but is unsuccessful.  Ann has planned a full day for us, first to Louisburg, then the Cabot Trail to Ingonish where we will stay for the night at her brother's home.  On the way, two trails that she has found to be great hiking opportunities for both of us and beautiful photo opps for me.

Louisburg is fascinating.  I had always thought it was a completely preserved or restored village  It has actually been rebuilt, almost from scratch, and it continues to be built.  It appears to be very authentic, from the community water well to the governor's house.  I wander for ages, taking lots of photos (which I will post later after I've had a chance to review and edit on my laptop), and do a Facebook live 360.  Because it is no longer tourist season, however, only a couple of rooms and buildings are open to the public, and we can only see so much from the outside.  

Next stop is the Lousiburg Lighthouse, the first lighthouse in Canada.  The original stone foundation of the lighthouse keeper's house is still there, as well as the outline of the original stone lighthouse.  The current lighthouse is uninhabited and automated, and appears to be in sad repair. Still it's interesting to capture this Maritime treasure. (Again, more photos later, I was not thinking straight and forgot to take anything with my Samsung cell).

We crossed the waterway to the Cabot Trail at Englishtown by ferry - a 2 minute ride or so - and landed on the Jersey shore (not really, but almost - Jersey Cove) and quickly found our way to the Trail.  It is, thankfully, still full of colour, despite the storm from the night before.  Some trees have lost all or most of their leaves, but most others are still in full colour, with some still showing green.  The range of colour and height of trees is astounding, and I've already decided that I need to return another year, a week earlier, and take a full 2 weeks to explore the Island.  

Middlehead trail is our first hike, and it's about 4 km in total.  Lots of climbing over tree roots and rocks, and we are warned before heading out that there could be coyotes.  Ann grabs a good stick to flail should we meet one, and off we go.  We encounter ground squirrels and a fluffy bunny, but no coyotes.  Great views, lots of photos, and a great workout.

The Freshwater Trail almost evades us, due to poor (non-existent) signage. But we do find it, just in time to grab some great golden hour shots right before the sun goes down.  Film at 11.

We reach Ann's brother's place in Ingonish in time for a wonderful dinner, thanks to Wilson and Joan, and a joyful evening of jokery and conversation.  A great night's sleep and we're greeted with a forecast of 50 mm of rain.  Hopefully we can get to the Skyline Trail before that starts.

After a quick breakfast of english muffins and wonderful crabapple jelly, we part ways with our hosts and head out to drive the rest of the Cabot Trail, and hopefully hike the Skyline Trail.  Ann has heard the Skyline has been closed off and on for the past couple of weeks due to "agressive moose", so we shall see what the status is when we get there.  

We find a couple of good spots to take some more photos, get through Pleasant Bay where we start heading south, and eventually make our way to the Skyline Trail.  Unfortunately, today, it's closed.  We're both disappointed, although it's still pretty chilly out, and very windy, so maybe it's for the best, moose or no moose.  

This also leaves us a couple of hours to explore some other places and hopefully find another trail that is open.  In the meantime, we decide to have lunch in Cheticamp, about the only place with a population and an open restaurant on the west side of the Island.  The host tells us that the special today is "halibut cheeks", and since neither of us has ever tried this we both decide to have it.  It is absolutely amazing.  They really are the cheeks of the halibut, and the server (who is decidedly older than we are, and in a wheelchair, which we love because it means we can talk with her at eye level, and agree this should happen way more often) tells us that they ask for them from the boats when they come in.  I love this lady's accent, so "down home", and ask if these cheeks are easy to find.  She says no, they have to ask for them special, they might have them at the fishery in Glace Bay or North Sydney (Ann is happy about this), but I probably will not find them in Kitchener.

At any rate, we rave about them all afternoon, so mild, don't taste anything like fish, and have a texture more like scallops.  So tender and just melt in your mouth delish.  The rest of the west coast has been remarkably (for the most part) less scenic than the first part of the trip, but we do find a couple of places to stop and grab a shot or two.  This time, I remember to get out my phone though, and get a couple of shots.

Especially at this beach we find by the trailhead for "Le Buttereau", which tells us that there are coyotes, moose and bear on the trail.  It starts to rain, Ann can't find a stick, and we decide it's not worth it.  We descend again (it's a fairly steep hill that we've started to climb), and chance checking out the beach - stony to be sure - and as the tide is fairly low, we get to see some rock formations that really display the nature of this amazing Island.  Colourful, grained, with quartz veins and lots of character, the rock wall stretches above us for several stories.  It would have been a magnificent view, had we kept climbing.  But the beach gave us a different view.

It starts raining a bit more so we opt to head out towards home, and although it never does get to that 50 mm rate of rain, the skies are so gray and hazy that there is not much of interest to capture on camera.  

The day ends with another amazing meal - Ann prepares prime rib roast, yorkshire puddings, and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  Divine.  Hockey night in Canada, and now it's time for bed.  Zzzzzz.....