June 29-July 5 (Days 23 -28) Cape Breton is an island north in Nova Scotia connected by a causeway. The people have a lot of Scottish history and the northern part of Cape Breton is know for the Cabot Trail. Baddeck, (Ba Deck), is a small town considered to be at the beginning of the Cabot Trail. We arrived on Thursday evening and had a couple hours of beautiful weather and views on Great Bras d’Or Lake. Scot was writing the blog and Mary was working on the website…when the rain started and the cider was spilt…this time, NOT by Mary.
Friday, June 30th….our 34th anniversay! In Baddeck , we woke to the nightmares of the night before when Scot spilled his cider on the table at which he and Mary were working on their computers – writing the blogs and posting the pictures. We acted quickly; Scot’s computer got a little damp on its underside but not enough to cause any issues. Mary’s computer took the brunt of the wave, her underside getting exposed and causing it to shut down. We administered CPR – Computer Professional Resuscitation – blotting, towel drying, high-velocity air from a fan, ad a handheld hair dryer. We got it restarted and thought we’d been fortunate enough to avoid catastrophe (and divorce) – and we were for a time. Some keys stuck but that improved as the night wore on. It was in the morning when, after leaving it on all night, Mary opened the top of the laptop, and the machine wouldn’t start. It had died overnight. Mary found a computer guy, who was able to see her right away so off she sped to get answers. The answer was her CPU was kaput. She was able to buy a refurbished ThinkPad from the guy, so she was back in business – though somewhat disabled; no passwords or saved URLs. Oh the difficulties of not being connected!
That fiasco resolved, we decided we needed a hike to start our 34th anniversary celebrations. 10 miles or so away was Uisge Ban Falls, so we drove there. Though it was close, it was a bumpy ride with 1-lane bridges to get there. We took the trail which ran along the Brook River. It was very natural, suffering erosion in places and had a lot of water washed through in the last few months. It steadily ascended 300’ or so over a quarter-mile stretch, we passed over tree roots, around puddles and mud patches, to observation points twice, the 2nd with a posted warning of the trail maybe being closed ahead. We passed by that warning as the trail looked in as good a shaped as what we’d walked so far. Another 100 yards or so and a wooden bridge crossed the river, it offered a view of the lower falls, the upper falls still 100 yards or more away. It was at this point we had to turn back as posted on the other side of the bridge was a sign saying DANGER, active erosion on river-side trail’s edge in many places, and yard beyond the warning the trail was indeed eroded such that the tree partially blocking the trail had roots hanging a foot over so over the trail’s edge, no soil or trail below them, no passage wide enough between the tree and the rocky side of the trail to our right. We didn’t get to see the cataract but the lower falls and the beauty of this boreal forest made up for that.
We cleaned up a bit and headed into town to see what was happening, this being around 6:30pm. We strolled the streets like tourists, window shopping, people watching, ending up on the wharfs where the Bras d’Or Yacht Club was located and saw a place called the Freight Shed that sounded interesting and it too was on the wharf, with outdoor seating on said wharf. We ate the bounty of the sea once again and enjoyed it once again. Contented, we headed back to our site and had a roaring fire while drinking wine (Mary) and rye (BH Dark rum-Scot). It’s been a great 34 years! The night ended well.
Saturday – July 1 – we spent the day celebrating Canada Day with the Canadians. It is essentially their Independence Day from Britain when the Confederation of Canada took place. We met Benny and Karen in Baddeck and walked to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, which was free to the public for Canada Day from 9-5. A Farmer’s Market was also in one of the parking lots there. We toured the museum and learned a lot about AGB that they didn’t teach us in school. After an hour or two we wandered the Farmer’s Market for about an hour, but it was really more of a craft fair. There were no farmers selling produce or meats, or any kind of real food products – except the honey seller and wine-cider merchant which I don’t count as produce.
From there we walked down main street to the High Wheeler Deli and grabbed seats for lunch and prime viewing of the parade that would be passing by in an hour or so. Delightful bagel sandwiches, bacon and egg for me, same with cheese for Benny, Karen and Mary, along with generous slices of bumbleberry pie that were heavenly. Being on the patio eating, gave us prime viewing spots for the parade which rolled by in all its glory about 1:30 – 1:40. After it’s passing, we made our way to the (Canadian) Legion Hall on the waterfront for live music and carnival games (for the kids). We got seats on the 2nd floor deck where the MacQuarrie Brothers would be performing around 2:30 for 2-3 hours. They weren’t bad at all, local boys with the right voices for country rock, Tom Petty, Neil Young, old classics from John Prine and some local tunes as well. When they wrapped up around 5:30 we headed over to the “green space at the yacht club” according to the flier, but it had been drizzling pretty much all day, so we were sure the free live concert there from 6-9 was cancelled. We headed to the Upper Deck bar of the yacht club, open to the public, and found they were hosting live music all day long. We got drinks once again and settled in for some good rock and roll from the lone performer. He was a good guitar player, had a foot pedal e-bass drum and a harmonica for accompaniment and he sang well too. We spent another happy few hours here enjoying the music and conversation with Benny and Karen and the occasional local. We split up back to our sites. Mary and I had a fire for a couple hours to wind down the day.
Sunday, we drove up the east coast of the Cape Breton peninsula, on the (extended) Cabot Trail, to Ingonish to rendezvous with Benny and Karen. They were staying in the National Park, and the next 2 days we toured the trail. We drove it east to west so there would be less traffic and the passenger side would see the views from Ingonish to Cheticamp and the driver’s side the same on the return trip. About 20 miles into the trip, we had to stop at the Tartans and Treasures shop whose motto is, “If it’s nae Scottish..it’s crr-ap!” What good Scotsman could nae agree wi’ those words? The shop is Gaelic in flavor, offering Scottish and Irish paraphernalia. We can’t go past any such place without at least stopping if not buying something, which we did.
Back on the Cabot Trail we made it around to Petit Etang, the west side entrance to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, near Cheticamp, again stopping several times on the way at overlooks. After completing the trail around the park, we headed back to Ingonish, traveling west to east. We stopped about half-way back to Pleasant Bay, near French Lake Lookout and hiked the Skyline Trail to dramatic views of the Atlantic and a long, long staircase down to near sea level, with several rest/viewing areas on the way down. Too many steps for bad knees, legs, or backs to handle, not to mention the journey back to the top. Mary and I took the long loop, about 3 miles more than the short loop, and it was a good workout. The return trip was more bug filled but not horrible (we are both feeling the painful bites of some new insect we’ve never seen before for the last several days now). The views were well worth the effort (and pain) to see them.
Continuing along the Cabot Trail to Pleasant Bay we stopped at the Rusty Anchor for dinner on their outdoor patio, picnic table style. Good food, reasonably priced and a licensed establishment providing beer and cider, probably wine too. The place was perched on a natural outlook with warning signs about “actively eroding” cliff edges and staying behind the fence – a single strand of rope running between 4×4 wooden bolsters, about 2.5’ high. We cruised the rest of the way back to Benny and Karen’s site, arriving near dusk. After a few libations and conversations, we retired. Mary and I spent the night in Benny and Karen’s camper, so we didn’t have to drive home that night nor lose 2 hours the next day driving from Baddeck to Ingonish to continue our exploring the Cabot Trail…..And there were free showers at the National Park! Several sites we’ve stayed at have had coin-operated showers. Nice to be clean without paying extra for it.
Monday was soggy, it had rained overnight and left the morning overcast, damp and drizzling, and foggy, thin where we were at, but thick at other places we would pass that day. After a breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast with black currant jam (from the Farmer’s Market in Annapolis Royal), we cleaned up and made ready to seize the day. The weather drizzled rain on us lightly, on and off, for a few hours, when no rain was in the forecast. We went east again, up the Cabot Trail towards Neil’s Harbor and White Point, which are on a bypass road of the Cabot Trail Road, hugging the coast most of the way between points, a more scenic route. Neil’s Harbor was the start of the bypass road and the home of the Chowder House, a local diner recommended to us by other travelers we’d met at our current campsites in Cape New Breton. We marked the location for a return after more exploration.
We took a “wrong turn at Albuquerque” and missed the road to White Point, instead ending up in Smelt Brook, the next town on the bypass – we blinked and almost missed it. Another working port town with no concern for any tourist attractions, just the business of business. We got a great view of Black Headland, the cove where Smelt Brook was located. We made our way to South Harbor, Cape North and North Harbor before we determined that we’d totally missed the road to White Point. We continued north to Cape North on the Bay of St. Lawrence for some spectacular views of Cape Breton’s northern coast. We stopped at Cabot’s Landing on Aspy Bay for fantastic views and to learn a little about Cabot the man, the spot we were at being the accepted landing point for when Cabot first reached North America and what would become Canada. There are 3 historical markers to make sure one is not confused about where one is and who Mr. Cabot was.
We made our way south then east, back to Neil’s Harbor for a late lunch at the well-recommended Chowder House. Their seafood is caught each morning and purchased directly from the fishermen when they come in with their catches. Plenty of haddock, the requisite seafood chowder, beer and cider, and a great diner-vibe from the place. The ‘man’ running the show was a 16 (maybe) year old named Ty who took our order, directed the kitchen, bussed tables, served our food and drinks, handled the payment and seemed to do all the work except the actual cooking. The kid had a good work ethic and enough business acumen to be the ‘leader’ of the older ladies manning the kitchen. After gorging ourselves on the bounty of the sea, we lethargically headed back to Benny and Karen’s at the National Park.
The weather was starting to turn rainy and foggy, so we cut our time short and headed back to Baddeck before it would get too dark, or too dark and too foggy, but we didn’t quite make it. The bypass around St. Anne’s Bay and Harbor was socked in with fog, sometimes so thick we could only see a ghost-light of the brake lights ahead of us. Mary drove the route like a pro, and we emerged below the fog and low-lying clouds to rain and the darkness our headlights and fog light could barely cut through. We made it home without incident and checked off another (mostly) successful day of exploration. Then it started raining as we drifted off to sleep.
Tuesday was the 4th of July. After raining most of the night we awoke to soggy, boggy ground once again. It was lightly drizzling as we emerged from sleep and that would prove to be the bulk of the day, on and off drizzle to sprinkling rain with intermittent periods of not-rain. Our issue that day was with Mary’s debit card and an errant charge, that got resolved quickly, but led to her card being cancelled. I had not used my debit card yet, and now the moment of truth had come, and of course, my card wouldn’t work. Another 30-40 minutes on the phone and that was allegedly resolved, but actually wasn’t until the next day when started working properly. We’re “in the money” again!
As you might suspect, there were no celebrations anywhere of American Independence Day in Canada. With wildfires conditions still present, we did not indulge in our own fireworks, so we did the other thing Americans do on July 4th, we drank. We went into town to dine and walk around some but the weather wouldn’t cooperate. We worked on our computers trying to get this blog ready on a more regular basis, which we failed at considering that what you’re reading is 2 weeks old already. We did get packed what we could in between the periods of serious rain, hoping we’d be able to depart the next day without everything getting sopping wet. We got lucky. Though it rained overnight, the ground was not saturated with water, just damp. The sun was slightly visible through the haze of fog and low clouds and became sunny as we drove away, heading for Antigonish (Ani-gon-ish), a rendezvous with our children – The BrowningSmith family at the oldest Highland Games in North America.