Ingonish, and More Cabot Trail

 13^th September 2022

 

After a good nights rest and a relaxed breakfast we left to inn at 9.30 am to travel back along the Cabot Trail we covered yesterday, to take in a few of the sights we missed along the way. Our host at Castle Rock Inn has also added some input.

 

We retraced about 70 km to North Cape and took the turn off to Meat Cove, claimed to be a scenic but isolated little village worth a visit. It is also on the way to see a couple of other highlights we missed yesterday.

Meat Cove is not an easy place to get to, being right at the tip of North Cape, with about 8 km of dirt road to get final access. It is very scenic and very isolated. There isn’t much of a village but I can see it being very appealing to eco tourists.

Meat Cove camping ground

The facilities were basic

 

 

Of more interest was the nearby Bay Saint Lawrence, which had a small fishing fleet based in a little harbour with very narrow ocean access. 

Bay St Lawrence Harbour

The main made harbour entrance is very narrow

 

On the way back out to the main road we called in to Place where John Cabot Landed. There was a simple monument in a park fronted by a long beach. It was a big picnic ground with nice scenery but a surprising low key acknowledgement to such an important event.

Monument at Cabots Landing

The Beach at Cabots Landing

 

Once we were back on the Cabot Trail we went in search, once more, to find the area on White Point where a memorial to lost seafarers is located. This time we were successful and took an extended hike out to the point where the grave of the unknown sailor is located. The legend goes that because of the confluence of currents around White Point, lots of flotsam and Jetsam was washed up on beaches there. This often included the bodies of sailors, who lost their lives along this treacherous coast, who the locals gathered up and gave a proper burial to in the spot where the monument exists. There are no formal headstones, because the identity of the sailors was unknown.

The Bay at White Point

A small breakwall and wharf to one side of the bay provides shelter for fishing vessels

It was quite a hike out to the burial ground which is simply identified by a large white cross and a cordoned off area where the graves are located. Like much of this coastline, the scenery is stunning.

It was quite a long walk out to the monument

 

It is a simple monument to the many unknown sailors buried here

Stunning scenery

By now it was 1.30 pm and time for lunch. We had resolved to give the Chowder House at Neil’s Bay a go, based only on reputation, as yesterdays experience in getting a coffee there was not encouraging. When we turned up at about 1.45 pm, there were cars parked everywhere and people lined up outside the door waiting to place their orders. We got in line, but after a short while it was clear that this could take hours and we had little interest in hanging around.

 

Surely there will be somewhere, on the way to Ingonish, where we can get lunch. Fortunately we came across the Seagull Restaurant, which I had read in my early research had good food, so we tried our luck there. They were not overly busy and we secured a table on the verandah overlooking the water. The meal sizes were huge, and tasty. I decided that should possibly deviate from having lobster again, so had scallops instead.

The unobtrusive Seagull Restaurant

Our afternoon plan was to take in a couple more bushwalks before getting ready for dinner. Our first planned walk was to a waterfall just a few km back along the road from the restaurant. When we arrived at the site, the access road had been closed with no explanation and the sign for the waterfall track removed.

 

With little other choice we moved on to our last planned activity, a walk out to the tip of middle head. This was about a 4 km return walk through thick forest on a trail that was heavily covered in exposed tree roots making progress slow. The scenery was great, but it took a lot longer that we had planned. By the time we had completed the walk it was 5.30pm, and given the early closing hours of restaurants here, we decided to go straight to the restaurant we ate at last night to secure a table.

Spectacular Coastal Scenery all along the walk track

At the tip of Middle Head was a lonely chair where your could sit and take in the view

View from the tip of Middle Head

 

To our great surprise, there were no cars parked outside the restaurant. There was a sign that said the restaurant was closed because of a family emergency. Now we were in real trouble, as it was about the only restaurant in town open tonight. We also needed petrol as we have a long drive tomorrow and not enough fuel to get to the next major town. We head off to the gas station in town, and guess what, it is closed. A pattern is starting to emerge about this place.

 

In the end we have to drive about 18 km to get pizza for dinner and some fuel for the car. When we arrive at the pizza place, people are arriving from everywhere, as there are few other options for food tonight. Just as many are asking where the nearest gas station is because they had all tried unsuccessfully to get fuel in town.

 

We ended up sitting out on the balcony at our inn with a couple of boxes of pizza and a couple of bottles of wine having our last dinner in Ingonish. Another couple of guests were doing the same, also having got pizza from the same place.