7/10/14 – Not the most restful night – a bit warm and humid, compared to what we had been used to, and the tent sites were close, and our neighbors liked campfires – so we had to keep the rig mostly closed up. Showers refreshed us come morning, and we got an early start on the road north, stopping in Inverness, an old mining center. We started with a visit to the mining Museum, small and a bit of a work in progress, but our guide was enthusiastic and informative. Next we walked down to the coast in the middle of a pretty golf course and next to a small harbor,

then up to an artisan working with sea glass at Tears of Glass. She is pretty well known, having supplied her work to the Golden Globes honorees in L.A., among others, and had lots of lovely jewelry on display. We then drove on northward, joining up with the clockwise direction of the Cabot Trail, ending up in Cheticamp. There we stayed at a campground on Cheticamp Island – actually connected via a causeway – and took a stroll along the beach and then next to the wetlands across from town before returning to the rig to get ready for dinner.

We drove into town to the All Aboard restaurant for the evening’s music program. First we had a young lady fiddler and a young male keyboardist, both excellent, who played a few numbers to rousing applause, and later they were joined by a slightly older girl fiddler, who was superb, and the first young girl did a highland dance to the music. Later the keyboardist played an excellent fiddle while accompanied by the older girl on keyboard, and then she left and our original pair continued. Simply amazing these multi-talented musicians!

During this rousing recital, I laboriously consumed sumptuous local fresh snow crab, and Nancy thoroughly enjoyed her delicious baby back rib dinner.

7/11/14 – Left the campground, and took the dirt road turnoff to the north end of the island to see the lighthouse at the harbor entrance. Passed nobody but a hardy lady jogger and a curious cow over several miles, but a pretty and slow drive.

Back to Cheticamp and north again on the Cabot Trail, and shortly we were in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We paid our entrance fees, good until 4 pm tomorrow, then headed up the road…

… to the Skyline Trail, a 7.5 km loop walk. Nancy has sworn she will not leave Canada until she sees a moose, so we had high hopes for this trail, with several reviews reporting sightings. Sure enough, about 45 minutes out, in a small clearing in the woods, Nancy found her moose – a female unconcernedly grazing a few meters off the trail.

After that, we continued to where fantastic views of the mountainsides plummeting steeply into the ocean dominated our scenery. This included a descent of 285 steps and ramping boardwalk to a aerie viewing platform affording sweeping coastal views north and south.

Back at the rig by mid afternoon, we drove on north past Pleasant Bay and eastward to MacIntosh Brook campground. No services at the sites – matter of fact no real designated sites, just scattered picnic tables and a self-service pay station. However, nice restrooms with hot and cold running water. We set up camp and waited for friends Vivian and Cam to join us – they were on their own car trip to the Maritimes, touring the park in the reverse direction. They picked us up about 5pm, and took us back to Pleasant Bay, to the Rusty Anchor restaurant for dinner. Three of us had the lobster roll, and Cam had lobster putine, and we ALL agreed it was delicious – Vivian added it was the best one she had ever had. It was OUR first. They dropped us back at our rig and continued on, and we called it a night.

7/12/14 -  Back on our own schedule, we rose at leisure and took a hike from the campground to a pretty waterfall,

then headed westward in the rig across the northern part of the Cabot Trail. We stopped for a hike to an old sheephearders’ trail camp, through a 350 year old virgin sugar maple forest.

Continued west on the CT through gorgeoous scenery, but steep climbs and descents, down the eastern side of the park,

to the Keltic Lodge, and the Middle Headlands trail. This was the last stop in the park, and plenty of time before our 4 pm deadline to exit. A somewhat rooty, but easy trail out to a point where several gull species and Black Guillimots had their rookeries.

Can you see the pre-fledged baby gulls?

Back to the rig, we continued south on the CT until we reached the turnoff to the 205, which terminates at the ferry terminal in North Sydney, for the next leg of our trip – Newfoundland! Along that route we came to a very convenient KOA just off the freeway,

so pulled off there for the night and to check on ferry reservations. It turns out the next ferry we can get is Tuesday at 6 pm, so we book it, then look over our options for the next couple of days.

7/13/14 – We are due for a 5000 mi. oil change, what to do? Since it is Sunday, all we can do is research  possible options, and it seems there is a place in North Sydney, near the ferry terminal, that can likely do it, but will have to check early tomorrow. Luckily, there is a Walmart just down the street, where we can overnight. Meanwhile, we decide to head back to the Cabot Trail and head west to Baddock on the Bras d’Or Lakes, site of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Bell settled here and carried on much of his many experiments in aeronautics, hydrofoils, and developing methods for teaching the deaf to communicate and speak.

His was a mind more interested in pursuing the unknown than making a profit, but the invention of the telephone went a long way in financing his many endeavors. A truly fascinating man, who helped pioneer the National Geographic Society as well. The best museum visit to date! Following that we continued east around the lakes, took a small cable-drawn ferry across a 100-meter gap at the foot of the lake,

then back west to North Sydney. Walked around town to explore, and now settled at camp Wally for the eve.

7/14/14 – Walmart in North Sydney is a less than relaxing campsite. It seems the youth in town use the mall parking lot for rendezvous purposes, mostly while staying in their vehicles, speeding from group to group. Actually, it could be the inspiration for the cartoon movie ‘Cars’. Anyway, after midnight it calmed down, so we did get some sleep. In the morning I went across the street to arrange to have the oil change done at OK Tire, a 1 pm appointment. Meantime, time to post updates to the blog – Walmart’s free wifi has pretty good bandwidth, and all the stores seem to have it – the key is finding a discrete spot to access it, in this case a bench just outside the mall entrance. Oil change done and we left town for Arm of Gold RV Park, just off the 105, and a straight shot to the terminal. We took a walking path around the park and next to the Little Bras d’Or Lake, then came back to start organizing our Newfoundland trip.