Cape Breton Island

The Maritimes / The Atlantic Provinces of Canada Experiences: Part III

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Mothers’ Day, 2013 – We made our way toward the northernmost part of Nova Scotia.  Leaving the Halifax area we had a bit of rain and some pretty dense fog, but it only lasted a few miles. 

The region is referred to as Cape Breton; an island that is accessible by driving over a causeway (like driving over a dam) --- wow, more beautiful countryside was our treat today.  Our route took us about 220 miles – through roadsides that look an awful lot like the Pacific Northwest – miles of pine trees and some birch trees sprinkled in for good measure.  Our camp sight in Englishtown is probably the prettiest we have ever stayed at.  The location was right on St. Ann’s Bay – we had the place to ourselves, the campground didn’t officially open until Wednesday, but Mike called and got the owner to open it early for us (pretty convincing, guy).  The adventure for today was getting on and off the Englishtown ferry that crossed you to the campground – we got there at low tide and the pitch of the ramp onto and off of the boat was quite STEEP, bent the heck out of our hitch, oh well a relatively easy and inexpensive fix.

Joyful Journey Campground, Jesery Cove on St. Ann's Bay

May 13, 2013 – awoke to a gray but drying morning after a very rainy/windy night. Good news, no leaks detected (always a bit of concern in the middle of the night when you hear the rain pouring down).  We took the little Prius to see the city of Sydney today, not really much to see, so we drove onto North Sydney, there we saw the big ferry that would have taken us over to New Foundland, a nice drive though.  On the road we stopped at Gaelic College on St. Ann’s Bay.  They teach Scottish heritage classes in dance, drama, and music, including how to play the pipes.  Mike wants to return in the summer to learn the bagpipes.  Throughout the day the weather improved, we were able to sit out by the Bay when we got back to camp and enjoy some sunshine and warm air.

"Fiddle" Sculpture in Sydney N.S.

May 14, 2013 – Yesterday’s sunshine has turned its head on us, and we are back to the liquid form of weather.  It didn’t really slow us down, although it did cancel the boat trip we were hoping to take out to Bird Island to see the puffins that are nesting there.  We visited the local little community of Baddeck, where they have a nice looking center with information about Alexander Graham Bell;  sort of typical of our early visiting experiences, it was not open yet.

Alexander Bell, an inventor and aeronautical pioneer in Canada

May 15, 2013 – Today we set out to drive the much praised and often spoken of Cabot Trail that goes about 200 miles around the northern most point of Cape Breton. The road winds and climbs over the mountains along the Atlantic Coast. This route took us through a cute little town of Ingonish, with the most gorgeous golf course  (Jay Leno referred to it that way too). This was a great day of touring around and seeing some very beautiful ocean views and country-sides (the road is a bit reminiscent of Hwy 1 in N. California and 101 Oregon).

Keltic Resort and Golf Course

Coast view from the Cabot Trail, Cape Breton