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Published: September 15th 2013
Cap Stick, Nova Scotia
As far north as the road will go in Nova Scotia. September 14, 2013
Ceilidh Trail Said goodbye to Halifax and Dartmouth at 8:15 AM, nice cities but we're ready for some countryside. We crossed the Canso Causeway onto Cape Breton Island, one of the "must do's" of this trip. The island's roads are divided into themed "trails" by the tourism bureau. We started out on the Ceilidh Trail up the west side of the island. The focus of this trail is Celtic heritage and music and you hear it everywhere you go...in stores, in pubs and restaurants, and even from car stereos.
We decided to stop by the Red Shoe Pub for lunch in Mabou which is owned by the famous (not to us, though) Rankin sisters, an experience we highly recommend. At noon it was as lively as can be with loud conversations and Celtic music and friendly people happy to be there. Joe noticed the chalkboard with "Catch-of-the Day Special" written on it so he asked the cute pony-tailed waitress, "What's the catch of the day?" She looked at him like he was nuts and said, "I don't know, they're still out catching it." Guess it was too early for that. We ended up with the
best homemade beef and veggie soup we've ever had. There were many older men drinking beer and speaking Gaelic, in fact this town seemed to be full of white-haired men speaking Gaelic. After seeing a gaelic sign on a wall on a community building I wondered out loud what it could mean. Joe replied, "Mabou, home of the bushy eye-brows." He is surely correct. All road signs are in English and Gaelic and we learned that Gaelic is taught in the schools.
We checked out Mabou Harbor which might have been pretty had the sun not been in our eyes. The harbor up the road at Inverness was nicer and right next to Cabot Links, the first links course in Canada and that was gorgeous. We've seen so many beautiful golf courses this trip that we think Canada should be a major golfing destination, in the summer, of course.
Near Glenville we stopped at the Glenora Inn and Distillery, where North America's first single malt whiskey was created. We walked the beautiful grounds but didn't take the tour. We've been on distillery tours before and they're pretty much all the same.
Back on the road heading toward
Cabot Trail
Cape Breton Island, NS Cheticamp, we saw that Acadian flag flying on all buildings again and Joe remarked, "No wonder the British wanted the Acadians gone, they are everywhere." We did have to visit the Cheticamp hookers, women known for their hooked rugs and tapestries. I think another noun should be used. Maybe yarn pullers?
Cabot Trail Lonely Planet says the Cabot Trail is one of the most scenic destinations in the world. We had gray skies to see this part of it, but it was still pretty with tree covered mountains and cliffs leading to the sea. Every turn leads to loveliness. We walked two very short trails in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, The Bog and The Lone Shieling, both very nice and we learned something about plants and trees on both. As we neared the top of the island we decided we must drive as far north as we could so went out of the park to Cap Stick, the end of the road. It was definitely worth the few extra miles, even though it was raining at this point. So now we've been to both the southern and northern ends of the roads in Nova Scotia.
We
Mabou, Nova Scotia
Gaelic is everywhere. stopped at Cabot Landing Provincial Park, where there are plaques and a statue marking the place where Cabot is believed to have landed when discovering North America in 1497. Once again, we were the only people around.
When reading reviews of the place we are staying tonight we'd read that there was no food service and to take our own food. We stopped at the Corner Market in the almost non-existent town of Cape North because in addition to being a grocery store it advertised take-out food. We ordered two cheeseburgers and the gal came out behind the deli counter and led us to the packaged hamburger for sale in the market. Ok, a couple of days ago we picked our own lobsters to be cooked, but picking out a package of raw hamburger to be made into our cheeseburgers was over the top! I'm still laughing at that.
We are staying just outside the park on the north side of the island in a resort called The Markland and we wish we could stay a week here! We have a beautifully rustic (but with all the amenities) two bedroom cottage with a view of the sea. The
other people here is a group of people our age that are bicycling around the island and we've been having fun with them. Pretty sure Joe would like to join them on their trip. We are a long way from anywhere, I feel like I'm at adult summer camp. Hoping for clearer skies tomorrow, we will finish the Cabot Trail and hopefully do some successful birding along the way.
Sorry for so many pages of photos in this entry, but there is a lot I want to remember. If any of you have been to Newfoundland, we'd love some suggestions about seeing this province...what to see, what to miss. Our ferry leaves on Monday.
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Lois Settles
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So gorgeous, almost no adjectives to describe adequately.
Oh, how I am enjoying your trip. So much of this is so familiar. Wonderful pictures. Love the pictures of the Cape Breton Bog..The one with the dragon fly is a real winner. Anxious to hear (and see) Newfoundland since we missed going there. Any yes, the wind was truly strong when they called off all sailing over there. We had planned to take the hover craft over. Planned to stay a couple of nights.