Cape Breton Island

Yesterday we left Amherst, NS, and headed to Cape Breton Island.  Here we crossed the Canso Causeway over the Strait of Canso which separates Cape Breton Island from the rest of Nova Scotia.

We landed near North Sydney yesterday around 2:30 pm, in a little place called Little Bras D’Or at “Arm of Gold RV Park” (how appropriate). We’re about 6 minutes from the ferry terminal.  So that was great to be settled here and we had all day today to do what we wanted.  So...why not drive the Cabot Trail!  Perfect.

It took us about 8-1/2 hours in total, but that included stopping for lunch, a hike, 2 stores, various lookoff spots, etc.  Yeah, they call them lookoffs, not lookouts.

So here we are early on in the drive, stopped at a lookoff spot.

...and another...



A couple of people we saw along the way.

Then we stopped for lunch at a little place called Neil’s Harbour.  Neil wasn’t there.  But there was a lighthouse building from where they were selling ice cream, and they had a couple of picnic tables in the back, in the sun.  So we asked if we could eat our “brought from home” lunch, and we’d buy an ice cream later.  No contest there.  It was such a beautiful spot.  This is a shot of Neil’s Harbour.

I looked on the internet the night before and found this hiking trail I thought we would enjoy at White Point.  So we headed on up from Neil’s Harbour to that spot.  Truly a gem.

    

John was flying his drone there.  There was no one else around.

There is this gravesite for both an “unknown sailor” and a real person who recently died.

Judy and I decided to climb up a hill to get the view from the top.  It was gorgeous.  The day was beautiful and so was the sea.

We stopped at a “rest area” to use the facilities and saw this sign.  Can’t say as I’ve ever seen this next to hand sanitizer.  But I guess it makes sense.

Don’t be lighting any cigarettes after using this stuff!

There were so many beautiful spots we got photos of, but I can’t put them all here.  But this is an iconic scene for the Cabot Trail.  This picture doesn’t do it justice.  It’s absolutely beautiful, and the sea was sparkling in the sunlight.

After all our stops and the drive, we finally arrived back around 6 pm.  They have a fish and chip place here at the RV park, kind of set up like a chip wagon.  So Gerard and John went over and ordered 4 dinners.  They got a number and were told to be back in 45 minutes.  They had a booming business going on.  The line-up was crazy.  You know it’s good when all the locals come here.  So we chowed that down and packed everything up from outside.  We’re out of here and heading to the ferry by 9 am tomorrow morning.

Next post is from Newfoundland!