There was a beautiful sunrise and the weather was forecast to be sunny. This was the day! We were off to drive around the Cabot Trail.
And then it turned foggy...we were hoping it would lift and the sun would shine through.
Soon...
This was our planned route, starting at Cheticamp on the upper left and working our way around. Most tips advise doing it in a counter-clockwise fashion so that you are on the water side.
Love the signs in both English and Gaelic...
The fog lifted and it was a beautiful, sunny day...
Gorgeous scenery around every turn...
It amused me for a while to take photos of the signs...
How pretty is that!
Wheee...we had the road to ourselves.
I was trying to relate the Gaelic words to the English ones without much success...
It sort of worked here...
We were nearing the highest elevation, but sadly due to roadwork, we were led through by a construction pace car and couldn't pause to really enjoy it. They've been doing a lot of work around the trail.
Now we were in a line-up of cars, all doing the same route and driving Jim crazy.
We got out of the line and went to check out the Keltic Lodge with the highly acclaimed Cape Breton Highlands Links...
Pretty!
If you're not into golfing, there are plenty of trails to walk and explore.
Gorgeous views in all directions...
You can stay in the main lodge or one of these "houses" or cottages.
With that side trip over, we got back on the trail. The pretty, two-spired St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Ingonish...
The road was ours again...
Lots of little coves and wharfs...
And small communities along the way...
We stopped at this lookout...
Nicely developed with a boardwalk...
And more lovely views...
You can see our lonely car in the parking lot...
Brrr...the cold water wasn't bothering them.
Lovely asters...
Back on the road, we saw a sign that said washrooms. Never pass that up! We decided it was a good place to have lunch. Jim looks like he is playing the harmonica!
I have no idea why I took a photo of cucumbers. Maybe because I had already wolfed down half of my sandwich? Maybe I was trying to remind myself that I did eat something healthy during our stay?
Selfie alert...
There was a nice beach...
I finally figured out where we were at Black Brook Cove...
We decided we might do the "dramatic cliffside road to Meat Cove."
Carrying on...
I do love an old church. We had noticed the red spire on this one from farther away.
The sign for Meat Cove...we were nearing the top of the island.
Heading off on our detour...we first went towards the right.
Before hitting the end of that road...
Lots of birds
A pretty little cove...pretty, but quite isolated.
St. Margaret of Scotland church...
Beautiful countryside...
A million dollar view...not a lot of neighbours though
Lobster traps...
This looked like the road might just drop off!
It wasn't long after that we realized we weren't going to make it to Meat Cove. It was taking a while and when we hit the gravel road before getting there, we admitted defeat and turned around.
Back on track and heading towards Cheticamp...
We saw some of the nicest colours here...
Beautiful views...I circled the area we passed by with these geodomes in Pleasant Bay. We had looked at staying in them. It would be an amazing experience!
Wiggling along...37 km to go!
The MacKenzie River Valley...
By now, we were getting road weary and on scenery overload. I had jumped in and out of the car taking pictures so many times by now.
Heading home...
It takes a while to go 37 km in this area!
Back on our balcony...we agreed that next time we would stay in one area for a couple of days and then move to another section of the trail. That way you could do more exploring and less driving.
It was a perfect day...
We went to L'abri Cafe for dinner. We got a chuckle out of this glass. The food was amazing...deep fried brussels sprouts. Seriously the best!
One last sunset photo of a lovely day...
The next two days were rainy...and we do mean rainy. Listen to the wind!
We packed the car in gale force winds and headed for home. Good-bye Cheticamp! It was a great stay.
We stopped here for a photo and a video. I seriously had a hard time getting the car door open to get back in.
We had hail...followed by snow. Good grief!
They had enough snow that it stayed on their cars...
And back at the NS/NB border with sunshine!
We zipped right through the border, but the line-up going into Nova Scotia was several kilometres long. I have no idea why, but we were happy we weren't in that line.
Back in New Brunswick!
It was a great little getaway. I'm not sure where or when we'll go next. 2020 with the coronavirus has proven to be a year that no one could have predicted.
