Sunday, July 19

We drove over several huge mountains today, 400-500 meters, sometimes traveling over their highest crest for miles before heading steeply back down. Again, we stopped at every official viewing pulloff to take photos. We ended up at Corney Brook campground on the west coast of Cape Breton. Cold very windy. Was hoping to get some sunset shots since we are on the west coast, but it is cloudy tonight.. Plan to return to this area for sunset shots tomorrow or next day.

     Monday, July 20

Wow. The ol' camper was rockin' last night. 40-50 mph wind gusts off the ocean all night long. Didn't sleep much. People in tents were in nearby huts this morning and we watched one couple next to us struggle to pack up their tent, throwing themselves on it to hold it down and being knocked over. There is also a tent framework only draped over and fireplace by the bathrooms. Kirby doesn't like the beach because of the surf.

 Tuesday, July 21

Stayed at Cheticamp campground in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park last night and tonight. Cheticamp is a unique fishing town on the water. There is an island peninsula that we drove to where there are cows wandering in the road on the way to a lighthouse– see image in this post of the view back to the town.

Laundry and errand day. The bank to get some Canadian cash, the liquor store,the grocery store, the post office. Found a pub in the fishing town of Cheticamp that has a fiddler for entertainment tonight. We are going! Took a ride inland to Margaree. Small hills and some open fields. Vermonty.

 

After dinner we returned to the Doryman Pub and Grill for some fiddle playing. The place was packed and we sat with a nice couple from Philadelphia. Marc Boudreau from Halifax was amazing fiddler causing much foot stomping and clapping, and a couple of women stood up and did some step dancing. A real highlight of our trip. We are Facebook friends now so we can post some of the video Bill took so you may see it when I get home.

 Didn't get back to the campground until midnight!

Saturday, July 18 - Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Meat Cove was our next stop. It is the northern-most location you can drive to in Nova Scotia. And we drove to it – 8 kilometers on a narrow, steep, dirt road, with cliffs along the ocean side.

We arrived at the campground and secured site #15 which was on a cliff overlooking the beach. Freaked me out a bit., but Bill did his best to scare me even more. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well that night after a bit of seafood stew and mussels at the small restaurant at the top of the hill. The daughter of the man who owns this place worked at the restaurant and answered our many questions until we asked if any of her customers had gone over the edge. She avoided the question and days later we heard that one person went over the edge in the dark and died. Of course, we stayed up with our tripods and took a few long exposures lit only by a campfire of one of the tenters on the cliff.

This place is really remote. Like most places we have been there is no cell phone coverage at all, but they made a point to install great wifi. It started raining a bit as we started to turn in and I listened to the surf as I fell asleep.

Friday, July 17

Today we started traveling up the coast. Green Cove gave us vistas of more rocky breakwater and large, mostly flat rocks to walk out on. Breathtaking views. We met a guy with 810 and he gave me some advice about my camera strap. He had a 70-200 f2.8 lens on just like mine, but had an extender to effectively double the zoom. At one of the mountain crests we met a family from Switzerland biking the trail-Mom, Dad and boy about 4.

At Neil's Cove we met a young man who leased a lighthouse from the Coast Guard and sold ice cream. Of course, we had some and he gave us some fascinating information about the area. One place in the cove boasted a beach that had fresh water from a river running into the ocean, something that happens a lot in Nova Scotia. There were many children swimming in this warmer water. The water was an amazing tropical blue color.

 

Next stop was White Cove. Beautiful bright-colored boats in a remote harbor. 

 

 

At the campground that night we parked next to two young men from New Zealand tenting. Bill shared rum and ice cubes with them. There was a huge field beside us with a fabulous view. We hung around there with a lot of the campers and were entertained by a young couple flying a drone. Of course, Bill wants one. I took a bunch of sunset photos on that beautiful evening. Took 194 shots today.

Thursday, July 16

Today we entered the Cabot Trail. We decided to take the counter-clockwise direction (which benefits the passenger – most of the time me) and immediately began to experience breathtaking views.

 

As wove our way up the steep mountain roads, we found ourselves stopping at nearly every viewing spot. Bill is good at spotting side roads to explore and we found cove after cove to photograph.

 We entered the Cape Brenton Highlands National Park at Broad Cover and found a campsite. Our fellow campers were friendly and invited us to a group bonfire, but we were too tired.

Monday, July 13

Next stop Louisbourg, the location of the famous fortress. After finding a campsite at the Mira Provincial Park we headed to the fortress and spent the last hour of their day taking a quick peek and witnessing the final cannon shooting ceremony. Fifes and drums and a very loud bang. Wonderful. Plan is to go for the entire day tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 14

Today we spent the entire day from opening to closing at the Louisbourg Fortress. This wonderful place was built by and occupied by the French during the 1700.  It was a port primarily used for trade, principally for the cod caught locally. Louisbourg had to trade for nearly everything else for their use. 









The English fought for and took the fort twice during this period. It was not easy to defend against the warships and superior manpower. Each time the French reclaimed the area because of treaties. The last time the English destroyed most of the fort leaving nothing but foundations. However, the record-keeping regarding the layout and construction was so good that it was rebuilt in the 60s to replicate the original fortress. The area is very large but represents only 1/5 the original size. 

The best part was the people who dressed and authentically acted out the roles of the soldiers and other occupants of the fortress. They told fascinating stories of their life. 

Can you tell we learned a lot and had a great time?

Sunday, July 12

Today was a travel day and we put on a lot of miles trying to stay off the well-traveled highways and hugging the coast. One departure to our routine found us on a logging road up of a very large mountain. Very slow going. At one point I remarked to Bill that we were truly in the middle of nowhere, where no one else in the world knew where we were, where there is no cell coverage for 911 or AAA. A little scary but very liberating. 

The end of our day brought us into St. Peter where we found a campsite at the Battery Provincial Parks. We highly recommend these parks for large, beautiful sites and reasonable fees. The view from this site was spectacular – the huge Bras d'Or Lake (actually an inland salt-water sea). 

Sorry no photos! 

Saturday, July 11

Well, we didn't get far down the road from Peggy's Cove. Within a half-hour we had taken an hour long side trip down an interesting road which led us to Sober Island. 

 

Lovely ocean views and nice homes. Have googled and googled and cannot figure out the origin of its name. 

Soon after we pulled into a parking area to discover a very unique and wonderful place where the Indian Lake was ending, running like a small brook into the ocean. The lake water was so warm and even the ocean was much warmer than it is on the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Once again we chatted with many friendly Nova Socians who encouraged us to park the camper on the beach and stay the night, which we did. Saturday night was like a party as people who drove in and out stopped to chat. People from Nova Scotia love to chat. Love them!

Friday, July 10

Woke up at 5:00 am and headed out to shoot Peggy's Cove in the early morning light. Aside from a few early risers sitting quietly contemplating the Atlantic Ocean, we were the only ones there.

Today is dedicated to seriously heading toward the Cabot Trail via a long winding coastal route on the eastern short of Nova Scotia. We have ended up in a private, half-empty, quiet campground in Spry Harbor. The plan is to leave early and make our way up the coast for an overnight near Cape Breton. We have been given advice to make our way around the island counter-clockwise for the most spectacular views (especially for the non-driver.)

I am posting a few shots from this morning. Hope you enjoy them.

Thursday, July 9

Peggy's Cove Day!

Found a solution to the refrigerator problem. The starter for the propane does not work, but Bill found a work-around that is a slight pain, but better than heading to a repair shop.

 

Peggy's Cove is a picturesque little tourist village just below our campground. We took advantage of our photo-ops, but lost our good light as mid-day arrived. Went back to the camper for lunch and to review the shots we captured. Nice! 

Bill also got some good 4K video of bagpiper who was playing out on the huge flat rocks by the lighthouse. Sounded so haunting and wonderful in this very Scottish land.

The plan is to return to Peggy's Cove to shoot the sunrise and in the early morning sun. Let's see if we can get up at 4:00 am and sneak out of the campground without waking our neighbors. It is time to eat up some miles on our quest for the Cabot Trail.

Fisherman's' sculpture in rock