Cape Breton Island and The Cabot Trail

camp walk

  Cape Breton Island is the eastern end of Nova Scotia. It's highest           elevation   is 1755 ft.. The Cabot Trail is the roadway encircling  much   of   the island. It is 298 km long. 1/3 of the trail passes through Cape   Breton   Highlands National Park, " where the mountains meet the   sea."  The park   has 26 hiking trails,8 campgrounds. There are several   spectacular look-offs   along Cabot Trail with interesting interpretive   panels about the geology of   Cape Breton, the flora and wildlife.

We made good use of the campground's Wi-Fi and didn't head out until after 10:00. We picked up the
Cabot Trail at South Haven and immediately climbed Kelly's Mountain (elevation 787 ft.) along St. Ann's Harbour.We made several stops at look-offs as we motored NE along the coast.

We stopped for a few groceries at a Freshmart in Ingonish,  and ate

lunch there. We walked one short hiking trail, "a leg stretcher" at Green Cove, a rocky granite headland  where we spotted seals in the water. At the Jack Pine Trailhead, we look the coastal loop in reverse. Kathy hiked much farther than I did.

We stopped in Neil's Harbour, a very picturesque fishing village. While I took pictures, Kathy visited the Chowder House  for take-out.

We checked in at Hide Away Campground and Oyster Market at the northern end of Cape Breton Island in Dingwall. We drove 153 km under partly cloudy skies. The clouds really added to the stunning vistas, I had a totally different perspective from my last drive of the Cabot Trail which was from the west in 2018. This time from the east.

Back To The Mainland

We had one last task to do before leaving the campground: bring our bikes inside to avoid the $71.81 additional ferry charge for the 2 feet the bikes added to Harvee Too's length. Jean would be proud of us.

We had only a 12 km drive to the ferry terminal. Total mileage in Newfoundland: 3,714 km in three  wonderful weeks of sightseeing and adventure. I felt a little emotional leaving Newfoundland and Jean behind. It was her last wish after all.

It was very foggy. We could see very little of the shore line.

 

Our ferry for the return crossing was the Blue Puttees,

twin ship of the Highlanders  which joined the fleet in 2011. It has nearly 3 km of vehicle deck lane space, We left 20 minutes late at 12:05. The crossing took longer,  6 1/2  hours to do the  183 km. The ocean was calm. We weren't superstitious at all, this  Friday the 13th.😊😊

While eating  lunch in the ferry's restaurant, we saw dolphins swimming with the ferry.

 

We docked in North Sydney in much warmer weather, 21º and mainly sunny. It was nice to gain 1/2 hour back in Atlantic time. We had only a 7 km drive to Arm of Gold Campground in Little  Bras d'Or where we checked in at 7:00 p.m. new time.

There were a few more rigs from the ferry just behind us. Total mileage on The Rock and in Nova Scotia: 19 km plus the crossing .
 

The Final Leg on The Rock

got it right this time

Gateway to The North RV Park had lots of sites available. A very refreshing 7º this morning...our last full day on The Rock with more great weather.

We left the campground around 10:00 and motored "west" on the TCH, a much better highway than the secondary routes we had been travelling. Driving in the reverse direction (not east) gave us a new perspective. More beautiful vistas. I was busy with my camera remote   the entire  253 km.

We stopped along the highway at an overlook of Corner Brook, made one more stop along the     highway for lunch and arrived at J. T. Cheeseman  Provincial Park around 2:00.

Corner Brook

We unloaded our bikes and rode the 2 km hilly dirt road from the campground to the ocean

  

There is also a beautiful falls right in the campground. 

A very nice park for our last night on The Rock.

Motoring South

Triple Falls RV Park after the rain

 It was one of those rare days where we made no sightseeing stops but did enjoy the scenery as we motored south.  It was mainly cloudy, a few sprinkles of rain to start and a cool 10º when we left St. Anthony taking a different highway, Route 432 down the interior of the peninsula for approximately 100 km before coming back out to the coast. Bad mistake. It was the worst highway yet.... terrible condition for much of it ...  pot holes, frost heaves where the pavement was cracked. We slowed often to  40 - 50  km/h.

Back on Route 430 S we stopped in River of Ponds  at a walking trail parking lot to have lunch. We made two more stops for gas: enough in Rocky Harbour to get us to the Esso station in Cormack on the highway. It was nice to see gas down 4 cents to $1.67/ l.

                                                                      

The  scenery was still stunning under mainly cloudy skies as we drove out of Gros Morne National Park. We returned  to the Gateway To The North RV Park in Deer Lake. We travelled 428 km. 

We had a bit of a mix-up in getting a site. We were told to pick a site in a certain row. We did  and were told after  we had set up that the site was taken for 4 nights  (the people  had left for the day) and we'd have to move. We were not impressed.😠 The  campground owner was very apologetic and brought us a peace offering of fresh frozen cod filets from his personal freezer. 🐟🐟

St. Anthony: Our Most Northerly Destination

 

St. Anthony, with a population of 2,500 is the hub of the Northern Peninsula. We were up early and back into town to the Fishing Point Municipal Park with a series of walking trails, boardwalks and lookout points. We started with  Cartier's View Trail, a .6 km trail to a lookout over St. Anthony Harbour and rugged coastline. Really stunning. The next trail was Whale Watchers Trail,  a series of boardwalks and short stairways  to a lookout over the Atlantic Ocean.  More breath-taking scenery. Kathy also took the Iceberg Alley Trail.  I didn't as I was taking so many pictures and video. 

We walked to the Fox Point Lighthouse, placed on the eastern side of the entrance to St Anthony Harbour in 1912. More photo opportunities. 

We returned to the Grenfell Historic Properties where we  learned that the Grenfell House Museum was closed Tuesdays . No one told us that yesterday ....most disappointing. Kathy did climb the Teahouse Hill Trail to the Grenfells' burial site.  The 2 km round trip trail was rated "moderate"  but not moderate enough for me. I turned back after 5 minutes of climbing.

We ate lunch at Fox Point at the Lighthouse Café. We both enjoyed the seafood basket of cod nuggets, shrimp and scallops...delicious. Kathy also had seafood chowder. There were binoculars set out at the windows for customers' use. Our waitress said there had been two whales sighted off shore the previous day. We each bought a few souvenirs at the Fishing Port Emporium, a craft/souvenir store. It was  their final day, closing for the season. We received 10% off.

Our next sightseeing stop was L'Anse aux Meadows. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1975 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. It is the only authenticated Norse settlement in North America. We watched a 10 minute video at the Visitor Centre and took an excellent  45 minute guided tour of the site which included the now overgrown ruins (archeological site from the1960s) , and reconstructed sod huts  of the 11th c Norse buildings. One hut had costumed interpreters role playing. The boardwalk over the bog took us past the sculpture Meeting of Two Worlds added in 2000 to commemorate   the 1000th  year anniversary of the settlement.

We drove literally to the end of the road to see the Leif Ericson 

Monument,  a 10 foot bonze statue of the Norse explorer placed

 there in 1932. Shadow wasn't sure what to make of it ....bark, bark, bark.
We returned to the campground  around 5:30, having driven 94 km. Another fabulous day of sightseeing. To quote Kathy: "Another 10." The sky threatened at times  but the rain held off until  we were back at the campground. 

 

The Northern Peninsula

We were on the road, Route 430 N under an overcast sky and drove through brief showers  for the first couple of hours. The highway follows the coast through many small communities all called ___  Cove. There was even one called "Nameless Cove." We stopped at a clearing  along the highway where RVers could boondock overnight. There was a short White Rocks Walking Trail which I took wearing my Dunromin bug gear.  Too buggy for  Kathy and Shadow. The trail circles a pond.  As displayed at the start, there were plants  growing in the deep crevices of the limestone                                                  rocks.

As we continued north, the sky cleared; nothing but liquid sunshine when we reached St. Anthony around noon. We checked in at Triple Falls RV Park for two nights, ate a quick lunch and drove the 8 km to St. Anthony to the Grenfell Historic Properties. The main museum tells the history of Sir Wilfrid  Grenfell, a doctor who came to northern Newfoundland in the 1800s  to aid the impoverished people of the isolated coast. We watched an informative 15 minute movie and found the numerous exhibits very interesting. The gift shop sells  beautiful locally crafted items which were also sold  at the time to raise money  for Sir Grenfell's work.

It was a long day, driving 217 km and spending a couple of hours at the museum so we decided to leave the Grenfell House Museum and Teahouse Walking Trail until the next day. As we drove farther north, there were fewer "Pot Hole" warning signs, only to be replaced by frequent "Rough Road for next  # km" signs.😒