24 July 2013 The Cabot Trail

Today we took a 10-hour, 230-mile ride around the Cabot Trail. The Trail was named after the Italian explorer John Cabot who reached the shores of the area in 1497. The trail begins about 15 miles east of Baddeck and circles counter clockwise the northern peninsula of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It ends about 5 miles west of Baddeck, a block from Adventures East RV Park, where we're staying. Our adventure took us through the lowlands of the Baddeck and the St. Ann's Bay Areas, the commercial Ingonish Area, the Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada, the Top of the Island and Pleasant Bay Areas, and finally, the Cheticamp and Margaree Areas. [The excellent Cabot Trail tourist map broke the drive into these areas.]

We left our RV about 10:30 a.m. and headed across the Baddeck Area and into the St. Ann's Area of the Trail. On one of the maps we have, there were listed North Gut St. Anne's and South Gut St. Anne's. We didn't see any of those marked on our road.

The skies were partly cloudy with several sun breaks and no rain--it poured buckets, barrels and tubs last night! We saw this interesting road sign and wildflowers along the way, as well as flower gardens.

Oregon Road sign on Cabot Trail

There are many artisan shops in the St. Ann's Area. We picked up a brochure listing 31 shops along the Trail, ten in the St. Ann's Area. We picked up some pewter items at Piper Pewter and some leather goods at the Leather Works.

Next we entered the Ingonish Area of the trail. This area has a large commercial area serving the wintertime skiing and snow-shoeing enthusiasts and the summertime golfing crowds. There are many sandy beaches along the ocean, full of sun and surf revellers on this warm day.

The Ingonish Area is the gateway to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada, which protects 366 square miles of highlands and coastal wilderness. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Animals protected in this park include moose, bears, foxes, and snowshoe hares--we saw none. We drove through the eastern end of this park on our way to the Top of Island Area. The coastline through this portion of the park has rocky shores, coves, and sandy beaches edging the Atlantic Ocean. We ate our picnic lunch along one of these rocky shores and saw a curious seal poking his head up here and there offshore We visited several other pull-offs and looked for more seals and maybe even whales, but alas, saw none.

Ingonish Area rocky beach

The drive left the park for a bit  and entered the northern portion of the peninsula called Top of The Island. Here is where Cabot landed in 1497. There are many whale-watching, deep-sea fishing, and kayaking tours available in the communities along the shore. In addition, there are many craft shops and eateries located all across this north coast--we stopped to get a picture of this lighthouse at Neil's Harbour only to discover it was an ice cream parlor. You guessed it--we had some ice cream--loved it on this warm and humid day.

Neil's Harbour ice cream lighthouse 

We turned southwest then westerly and re-entered the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, climbed in elevation to about 1,500 feet and passed through a magnificent mountains ridges and looked down into deep (very) valleys--a subarctic-like region of bogs, stunted spruce forests, and rocky barrens. The road then dropped down to near sea level and entered the Pleasant Bay Area of the Peninsula. This area supports a major fishing industry and the harbor areas are indeed. . . pleasant!

After leaving Pleasant Bay we started south toward the Cheticamp Area and passed through some of the most amazing seashore-and-hill terrain. While the scenery in Newfoundland was indeed spectacular in its own right, this was awesome. The road was cut into the side of shoreline cliffs with views up-slope to lush mountains and down-slope to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Road to Cheticamp cuts along the shore

The area has been shaped by glaciers and evidence of hanging glacier valleys and deeply incised stream valleys abound. At one viewpoint we could observe one of these valleys and its entry into the ocean.

Looking down valley to the ocean from viewpoint

Looking up valley from same viewpoint 

We decided it was time to take our formal trip pictures from one of the seashores along the road to Cheticamp.

Marge and Jerry 

Patrice and Phil

We reached Cheticamp about 5:30 and decided on dinner at Le Gabriel (French for The Lighthouse, and indeed, the restaurant was shaped like a lighthouse). Phil and Patrice had the best lobster ever! Jerry had ribs and Marge had chicken alfredo. Carlos had dog food in the truck. He was mostly bored with the trip, except when he was able to get out and walk around a bit.

After dinner we traveled south through the Margaree Valley Area. Here the Margaree River meanders through lush pastures and farmlands on its way to the ocean. 

Also marked on a map we have of this area are:  Margaree Forks, Margaree Harbour, Margaree Valley, North East Margaree, South West Margaree, and Upper Margaree. Amazing.

The farms in this area were gorgeous. All of the buildings were brightly painted and kept in top notch shape, including barns and sheds. There were no abandoned, falling-down barns, no junk in the yards, and no garbage along the roads. We enjoy seeing the "neat and clean" communities and roads. 

We arrived back to our rigs about 8:30 p.m., just as the fog was coming in and light rain began. What a great day!