Cape Breton

Day 6: Cape Breton, Canso Causeway to Dunvegan .

Today we made a leisurely drive north along the western coast of Cape Breton. Beaches here are sandy and the water is similar to Nauset Beach in temperature and “mung” content. We camped on the ocean at McLeods (private campground) where the kids played all afternoon on the beach while mom and dad read books and collected rocks (dad only).

Day 7: Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay

The highlight of today's outing was a 6 mile "Skyline" hike to the sea. The trail ends a thousand feet above the Bay of St. Lawrence where we saw pilot whales playing with the whale watch tours below us. On the return, we took the path less traveled and passed within 20 feet of a female moose bedded down under a pine tree. It even let us snap some photos and video. A brief thunderstorm cooled us off just before returning to the camper.




Day 8: Pleasant Bay to Sydney

After a morning hike through old growth forest, we played on the beach where Cabot, an Italian explorer sailing for the English, first landed in 1497. The famous Cabot Trail we've been driving on for the last few days is named after him.
In the afternoon we took a swim in an alpine lake and then stopped to listen to Bagpipers at a local Gaelic College.
Before finding a campground we booked our travel to and from Newfoundland at the Sydney Port. Reservations were booked five days out but we were lucky enough to catch someone elses cancellation while in line. The only catch was that we had to pay extra for a cabin...Let's just say that Sue didn't mind.


Day 9: Exploring Baddock, NS then Ferry off to Newfoundland (6pm)