12th September 2022
Exploration of the Cabot Trail continues today, greatly helped by a briefing from our host at Maison Fiset House, who provided us with a map, advice and a presentation over breakfast on where to go and what to do.
Whilst the driving component of todays activity is less than 200 km, there is a strong focus on stopping to take in the scenery, and undertaking a number of walks to see the highlights of this region. We left our accommodation at around 8.45 am and headed towards the entrance to the Cape Breton National Park.
Our first task at the entrance to the park was to work out what we should do with regard to passes to get into the many National Parks. Like in Australia, there is an entry fee for each park, but there is a facility to buy a group pass for a group of up to 7 people travelling together. After discussion with the Park officials we decided to buy an Annual Discovery Pass, which for around $145 allowed us access to all National Parks in Canada and a number of other Historic Sites for the 4 of us.
Not far from the park entrance the great vistas began.
A short drive on along the Cabot Trail was our next stop, The Bog Trail. This was a much shorter walk, mostly on a boardwalk through a peaty bog wetland area that highlighted the ecosystem that the bog sustained. We saw great examples of insect eating plants, pitcher plants, orchids, and many plants that thrive in this wetland environment.
By now it was lunch time and we drove on to Pleasant Bay, where we stopped for lunch at the Rusty Anchor Restaurant. There are not a lot of eating options in the National Park and this place was a great find. Fortunately for us, the peak tourist season is over although this restaurant was still quite busy. The special of the day was a seafood wrap containing lobster, crab and scallops. It was fantastic !
There is much more to see, so we did not linger around and after lunch drove on to the next place we wanted to visit, Mackenzie Brook and Waterfall. It was one of the many recommended sites along this amazing drive. A short trail through the forest, mainly maple trees, followed the brook to a scenic waterfall at the end of the trail. It was only about a 15 minute easy walk each way and was well worth it.
Back in our SUV we continued along the Cabot trail, but diverted onto a coastal road through a town call White Point, at the recommendation of our host at our previous destination. The coastal scenery here is stunning, but the reason for visiting this particular spot was to arrive at a point where washed up sailors were buried by the locals. More about this later, as we somehow failed to find the location and found ourselves at Neil’s Harbour where the coastal road rejoins the Cabot Trail. Not to worry, we plan to backtrack tomorrow when have a bit of time on our hands. Neil’s Harbour is another pretty little coastal town with a large Fish Co-op, an old wooden lighthouse and a recommended restaurant called the Chowder House out on the point near the Lighthouse. We had already eaten lunch, but might give it a go tomorrow. We had a cup of coffee (or what they call coffee here) at the Chowder House which looks pretty basic, but comes highly recommended, so maybe the food makes up for the décor.
We are now only a short drive from our accommodation for the next 2 nights at a village called Ingonish. It is a very spread out and lightly populated strip that runs for several km along the seafront and around a large bay. We are at the very southern end in a place called the Castle Rock Inn. It is pretty isolated and used to have a restaurant. It is temporarily closed as the chef is away and from what I gathered is recovering from some ill health. They plan to reopen in the next few weeks. Not much help to us.
Procuring dinner becomes a high priority. There are limited restaurant choices in town, about 3, and they all close early at around 7 pm. None of them take bookings. So we headed into town at around 6 pm, made a quick stop at the government run liquor store to get some provisions, and wandered into the Main Street Restaurant across the road. It was already very busy but we managed to get a table outside on the deck. The food was amazingly good as was the service. It was one of those “not lobster again” moments, but John and I both had lobster tacos that were just outstanding with lots of big chunky pieces of lobster and a light spicy sauce. The girls hopped into a smoked hamburger which was equally good.
Back out our residence quite early, we had a nightcap of Glenmorangie before retiring. Tomorrow will involve more of a loical exploration and a bit of a backtrack on the Cabot Trail to find the place we missed.
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