We left the truck hooked up to the trailer yesterday, so that was one less thing we had to do this morning. We did our morning prep and were ready to pull out by 9:00. It was 64 degrees and foggy. We headed east on Highway 104 . Once we got away from the bay, the skies cleared and the sun came out. We were on our way to the easternmost tip of Nova Scotia, Aulds Cove, where we cross over to Cape Breton Island. Cape Breton Island lies off the northeast coast of Nova Scotia—6,500 sq. km of unspoiled natural beauty. The Shubenacadie River was full at high tide as we crossed over it. As we neared the town of Pictou, the home of New Scotland and many Scottish settlers, we got a whiff of the paper mill nearby and saw the pollution in the air.
We started making our climb into the mountains.
One hill was steeper than the next.
The temp started climbing now, reaching into the 70’s. We ran into a little bit of road construction and had to take a slight detour, but that was the first one we’ve had since traveling through West Virginia. As we neared St. George Bay and Northumberland, we could see fog over the water.
I was just commenting to Bob about how there didn’t seem to be anybody on this road. He said, “That’s because they are all behind us. Look in the mirror.” I did …and there they were….at least 20 cars and trucks.
I guess we were blocking traffic a little. I’m sure they were glad when we finally turned off at our destination. We saw road signs with some words written in Celtic, I think. There were words with a lot of vowels (and sometimes apostrophes) that I couldn’t pronounce.
As we descended out of the mountains, we drove over the Canso Causeway that separates Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island.
We stopped at the Welcome Center there and picked up some information on the Cabot Trail and other places of interest. From there, we headed inland on Marine Drive. This was part of the Bras d’Or Lakes Scenic Drive.
until catching a glimpse of Bras D’Or Lake.
As we traveled along the shoreline, we got beautiful views of Bras d’Or Lake and more of the aquaculture nets.
We were in Mi’kmaw Country and the town of Wagmatcook–home of the aboriginal people, as they are referred to here.
We continued along the shoreline road until we came to our campground, Bras d’Or Lakes Campground.
We checked in at 12:30 and moved to our site to set up.
It took us awhile to get it situated and level on the site the way we wanted it. Once we were happy with where it was, we settled in. After making a reservation for whale watching tomorrow up in Cheticamp (60 minutes from here), we did some research on driving the famous Cabot Trail on Monday and Tuesday.
The Cabot Trail, a circle tour of the eastern and western shores of Cape Breton Island and the Margaree Valley, winds along the rugged, forested slopes for 186 miles. It encompasses the Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada.
We took a walk down to the lake to check out the view.
It was salt water that Auggie discovered right away when he went to take a drink.
He did chase a few waves, but preferred to stick his nose into a hole or burrow.
They don’t call dachshunds “earth dogs” for nothing. He wanted nothing to do with the 3 jellyfish that had washed ashore.
Auggie got so hot from running around that he plopped himself down in the closest piece of shade he could find.
After walking back to the campsite, we gave Auggie a drink and a place to rest. This is also the view we have from our campsite.
Later, Bob and I took a drive into Baddeck (pop. 873).
Its harbor was busy with yachts and commercial boating traffic.
On this Saturday, the town dock was bustling with activity.
We stopped in the Kissing Cod Seafood Market to check out their fresh catch of the day. They had tuna, halibut, salmon, and scallops.
Outside, they were selling steamed mussels for $5.00 a basket.
We had a snack of freshly steamed mussels with garlic butter. They were yummy!
We walked around enjoying all the boating activity.
This beautiful lighthouse sat on an island just offshore.
Things were hopping in town.
We made a quick stop at the Co-op grocery store and then back to camp for the night. It turned out to be a nice day for our drive of 165 miles fromTruro. We relaxed outside with Auggie before dinner as we watched all the campers arriving for the night. That’s what’s nice about getting to the campground early. You really get a lot of time to enjoy the day. Bob grilled our second round of steak and scallops for dinner tonight. We settled in once the sun went down to watch some of the Olympics on TV.
