The Cabot Trail is a famous (Canada famous at least) road circling Cape Breton island – unlike in New Brunswick, the directions were clear and google maps worked fine (even though most of the trail goes through a national park with a fee). Between shifting a day to New Brunswick, planning around the weather and work calls, and having a non-changeable ferry departure put us back on our “normal” pace with little downtime or flexibility.
The extra time in the Bay of Fundy not only cut out time, it also changed where we stayed and the time of day we travelled and combined with the weather, was a huge net plus as we ended up on the best part of the Cabot Trail at the peak weather.
Inverness
Nova Scotia means New Scotland in French and as we crossed from mainland to Cape Breton Island on the causeway the road signs changed from English/French to English/Gaelic. The Cabot Trail runs in a circle around the island and we went to the west coast with our first stop of Inverness (just south of Cheticamp). Sandy beaches, links golf courses, and very windy – like Scotland. I was able to find a rail trail which provided for the only non-hilly bike option – the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail which is 57 miles overall.
Cabot Trail – Western Loop/Pleasant Bay
We then headed further north and into the national park – spectacular scenery and very comparable to the Central Coast in California. Our objective for the day from to hike the Skyline Trail, but when we got to the parking lot, a cheery young lady came up to us and a new reservation system had been put into place last month, but she had good news that she had a QR code to make a reservation – earliest was 3 days ahead. Didn’t work for us. We could see people walking along the ridge and it looks like a great hike. We kept working our way up the coast and stayed in Pleasant Bay where we had a lobster and crab dinner for 2 for $50. Pleasant Bay seemed to be about 2 families running multiple business – we stayed within the MacTimmons ecosystem and took a whale watching tour the next morning with the dad and brother of the waitress from the night before before heading to the north side of the island.
Cabot Trail – North and East – Meat Cove, Dingwall, and Ingonish
On our original trip, we planned to stay in Meat Cove, but when we changed our schedule, there was no availability. But we went anyway to do a hike and it was a different type of dramatic coastline than the west coast. As we moved to our next place, it became clear there were not many places to eat so we ate at a nice family restaurant and it was closing at 7pm – at it was the latest place. Our next place was a “bunkie” – a two story tree house with no bathroom near Dingwall – worked fine.
We met a couple in NYC last winter from Nova Scotia and they suggested Dingwall as a place to stay and visit White Point. We had planned ot bike from the bunkie, but the topo was a bit overwhelming—8 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation—so we drove instead. We tested out the inflatable kayak, got it blown up, and made a loop of the cove with no incident. A bald eagle circled overhead; we briefly considered trying to capture it and bring it home to the USA—jk.
Our last night in Cape Breton Island National Park was supposed to be camping, but it poured, so we upgraded to a “pod,” basically a dry shed. We found the nicest resort in Cape Breton, “The Keltic Lodge”, did a hike and hung out in the bar for a bit. Sadly, much of the historic resort areas are in disrepair. We then tried the other place open past 8pm – “The Thirsty Hiker” and the locals they invited us to a beach bonfire—right as we walked down, the skies opened up again with rain. Our last two days in Nova Scotia were rainy, so we were extra glad we’d seen the west coast highlights while it was sunny. In fairness, we didn’t catch the east coast of Cape Breton at its best—the ocean overlooks were completely blanketed in fog—so it’s definitely worth a follow-up trip.
Boarding Ferry to Newfoundland
On the ferry, We had to get to the ferry loading 2 hours in advance so , since the rooms were sold out but I got another “pod” – private, bunk beds, no bathroom and it worked fine. Many people on the ferry just drank at the commual bar and then slept in the seats (which were much better than a plane). Pretty much buried in fog the whole ferry trip but well organized and we arrived the next day in Placentia, hit a Tim Hortons ance to reconnecd drove 1.5 hours to St. John’s.
On our last day in Sydney, it was another washout and we met the couple who had recommended Dingwall for lunch – it was nice to reconnect. We had a couple more hours to kill in the rain before our 16 hour ferry to Newfoundland so I went on quest to get another drone – ended up with a $40 option at Canadian Tire or an $800 option at Best Buy. I chose the former.
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