Sat. Oct. 5  The Cabot Trail

Today we had a treat:  a choice for our breakfast at Belle View. We were offered blueberry pancakes, French toast or ham with eggs. Among the 4 of us, we sampled all of them and each of us determined breakfast to be excellent. And the presentation by Denise, the owner, was excellent with fresh fruit and whipped cream ( no whipped cream for the ham and eggs!). Denise proved to be a very interesting woman who had run a large hotel, a retail business and had 2 children and 2 grandchildren. She had good suggestions for our tour of the Cabot Trail and we were off on our excursion by 9:30. 

The Cabot Trail, known as one of the most scenic drives in the world, is named for John Cabot who reached the shores of Cape Breton in 1497.  It is a citcuitous, 2 lane drive of 185 miles through stunning landscapes of mountain and ocean views. We started the drive by taking another very short cable ferry ride from Englishtown to the start of the Trail. 

We proceeded to be awed by the highlands, the craggy cliffs, the amazing ocean views from high above and near the beaches and the many river canyons. What we were longing to see was some wildlife especially a moose or two but that was not to be!  Part of the trail goes through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We decided that each of the four of us would drive about 45 miles so we could all appreciate to the fullest the natural beauty. We stopped at a couple of artisan shops, bought some leather, but, actually, it was another gorgeous day and we wanted to be enjoying nature!

We stopped at several "look off" sites, as they call them here, to "ooh" and "aah" at the views. One small town , Neil's Harbor, was quaint with a light house and the tallest, largest jetee I've ever seen. Our lunch was simple, at the side of the road, near a stream where we were sure we'd see a moose...no such luck!  We got off the road at Skyline for a short hike, again determined to find moose and all we found was moose scat!  Near the end of the trail, we headed for Inverness to a new golf course the Osentons wanted to see....Cabot Links. Pretty plain and austere but expensive and right next to the ocean!

We arrived back in Baddeck about 6 still exclaiming about all of the natural beauty we had observed today. What a special place....so beautiful and quiet and isolated. Amazing!  Anyway, we played some cards and went into town for dinner. Now we're readying for our next adventure....Prince Edward Island, aka PEI. We leave tomorrow after breakfast.