Cabot Trail – West Side

Margaree Harbour, NS – September 14 and 15, 2012 Our Current Location

The Days End guide indicated there were two possible boondocking spots at Margaree Harbour. This location is a little further from the Trail than we’d like, but our camping options are pretty limited. The Cape Breton Highlands National Park campground has already closed for the season.  There is an overpriced campground in Cheticamp which we’ll use as a last resort.  But we’ve been wanting to camp next to the beach and enjoy the waterfront. So we will try there first.

We pull into the grocery store at Margaree Harbour and ask about camping on the beach right next door.  The nice lady in the store said she didn’t think there would be a problem, so we went for it. This was to be our basecamp for the next two nights. And it was gorgeous.  We walked on the beach, cooked out and took lots of sunset pictures.

The next morning we left the cats in charge while we went to explore the west side of the Trail.

Once again there were gorgeous views and plenty of hiking opportunities. On one of the hikes we even met a nice couple from the Florida Keys who gave us a few ideas to think about for our future travels.

The two sides of the Island are very different in their beauty. Each one unique and awesome.

On one trek through the woods we found a herders hut built out of stone.

We drove a narrow gravel road to find a waterfall thinking that surely we would be the only people crazy enough to drive way off the beaten path. Once again we underestimated our fellow travelers persistence but the falls were nice.

Our destination for the day was a “restaurant” Frank had seen advertised in a little community named Meat Cove.  Frank was eager to try their seafood chowder but it was not to be.  They didn’t have any even though the name of the place is the Chowder Hut and that is what they are famous for.  Plan B, the fish and chips and beer hit the spot.

Afterward, we got to drive the Element on the beach.

Even though it was getting late in the day we still made a few more stops on our way back .

We had hiked a trail through a bog on the way up and decided to go back and sit for awhile to watch for moose.  Another moose strikeout!

As a last adventure of the day, we hiked in the woods to a look off to see the sun set over the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  Not too shabby.

 

This meant we hiked back through the woods after sunset.  Still no moose!

 

Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail were well worth the trip. Now it’s time to begin working our way back towards the USA and say goodbye to the Island.

This is a map of Ella’s journey on the west side of the Cabot Trail. It begins at Margaree Harbour , up to Meat Cove and back.

Cabot Trail – East Side

Englishtown, NS – September 9 - 13, 2012 Our Current Location

Our goal after leaving Sydney was to find a nice reasonably priced campground with wifi and laundry facilities. Darn laundry keeps piling up no matter how much we recycle clothes in the closet.

Our first attempt was guided by all the pretty brochures and signs we saw for Mountain View RV park. With all the glitz and glamour they used for their advertising it had to be a great place, no?

After traveling for what seemed miles on a pothole laden road, we found it. It was really out of the way which was a good thing. Frank went into the office to talk to them while EJ checked out the laundry.

Ever heard the horse expression "rode hard and put away wet"? Well you could say that about this campground.  It looked like nobody had cared for it in a long time.  The grass wasn't mowed, we scraped branches on the way into the campground, and the laundry was a joke.  To top it off, all their sites had 15amp electric outlets but for two, which had 30 amps.

This campground was not set up for big RV’s  and to top it off, we had to disconnect the Honda in order to turn Big Guy around so we could get out of there.

Our next stop was Englishtown Ridge Campground which fit the bill perfectly. This would make the perfect base to explore the Cape Breton National Park and the east part of the Cabot Trail.

We had been warned about taking the Englishtown Ferry to the Park.  Apparently even though it could carry the size and weight of an RV, the ramp to the ferry could really tear up your rig.  After seeing the ferry, we’re glad we didn’t try to take Big Guy on it. It was exciting enough with the Element.

The east side of the trail has more artists and shops than the west side, so our goal today is to explore all the shops that look interesting as well as take in the sights.

We found this little place with some creations outside. the owner was playing the fiddle when we arrived. He makes all of the items in his shop from recycled fur coats.

The drive is right along the Atlantic coast and has some really cool sights.

We hiked up to a look off at the entrance to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park to get a glimpse of the surrounding area.

Then later, EJ just had to check out the Atlantic Ocean to discover how much colder the water is than in Florida.

Various places along the route we stop to enjoy the scenery. To say it is beautiful is an understatement. The views are fantastic.

In Neils Harbour we stopped a to buy a well used lobster trap for yard art at the condo back home.

We made it to Cape North where we reversed direction to return to Englishtown. It got dark before we got back to Big Guy and even though the area is supposedly known for it’s moose population, we didn’t see any today.  Since they are supposed to come out of hiding at dusk we thought for sure we’d see one.

Before we leave this side of the Island, we explore Baddeck where the Alexander Bell Museum is located.  Most know him for his work on the telephone, but he had many areas of interest such as hydro foil boats, photophones, tetrahedral lifting bodies, airplanes, and more. One of his hydrofoil boats won the speed record in 1919.

Our next stop is somewhere on the western side of the Cabot Trail.

This is a map of Ella’s travels on the Cabot Trail.

Working in a Coal Mine

Sydney, NS – September 8, 2012

At the visitor center where we entered into Nova Scotia, we were told Glace Bay had the best coal mine tour in Nova Scotia. Coal mining used to be a really big deal in Nova Scotia and folks are quite proud of their heritage. It is unfortunate that they were treated like slaves, never making enough money to get ahead of their bills at the company store.

We also heard several comments about how Nova Scotia and Newfoundland still had plenty of coal, but the power plants now buy all the coal they need from Venezuela. As a result, the coal miners no longer have jobs.

The underground tours are led by former miners which is the reason the museum receives such good reviews. And these guys have plenty of stories to tell. The walk into the mine is very confining and as you go deeper the head room decreases to about 4 feet.

Some of the tales were about how families were forced to have all males over the age of 11 work in the mines. If for any reason a miner fell ill or got hurt, the next male child over the age of 6 had to go work in the mines.  They were often given easy jobs, but the jobs were still dangerous, subject to cave ins or air poisoning. The only housing available was company housing and to be able to live in a company house the family had to have at least one person working in the mines.

One more fact about the mine we visited.  Even though access was from dry land, the actual coal mining was done under the Atlantic Ocean.  So not only are you under ground, you're also under the ocean. I guess it's better if you don't even think about it.

After touring the coal mine, we had hoped to visit the Marconi Museum, but it closed for the season the day before. Still we wanted to see the location and the displays that were outside.

In 1902 Marconi was forced to leave Newfoundland because the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, owner of some of the cables laid across the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, threatened to sue him if he didn't stop experimenting with radio communication across the Atlantic. So the Canadian government invited him to build a radio station at Glace Bay, where Marconi made his first successful transatlantic radio wave transmission to England.  However, it wasn't consistently repeatable so they moved to another location about fifteen miles away where they were able to build better antennas. So the experimentation took place in Glace Bay, and the more permanent facilities were built in Port Morien.

No visit to Sydney is complete without seeing the largest Violin in Canada.

Tomorrow we seek a new base camp from which to explore more of the Cape Breton Highlands and the Cabot Trail.

Since Big Guy didn’t move today the map is the same as yesterday.