The famous Cabot Trail

Saturday, September 8
Next to fine fiddle music and friendly folks, the most famous thing about the Cape Breton area of Nova Scotia has to be the Cabot Trail. It's about 350 or so kilometers long and makes a big loop around the Cape Breton Highlands. There is a National Park that covers a portion of the area. On a good day with no stops it might be possible to make the drive in about five hours, but you would miss most of the great scenery. We left the campground, which is actually on the Cabot Trail, before 8AM and got back to the trailer around 5:30 PM. Many folks make it a two day journey and stay overnight about half way through.

Lots of twists in this road. very fun to drive.....even in a truck!

Lots of rugged shoreline.

Even some sandy beaches.

We diverted off the main Cabot trail and onto a side road that took us to Neil's Harbour. A very picturesque little village.

Neil's Harbour lighthouse.

Colourful fishing boats.

The Cabot Trail changes elevation. Sometimes we are at sea level and other times we are quite high.

The occasional barn shows up as well. This looks like a baby with her mamma.

Incredible views all the way to the ocean. Read about this below.

The view up.......

.....and down. Both were amazing. The tree had not started to change colour here yet but can you just imagine the scenery in the Fall!

We stopped in the community of Pleasant Bay to view the Whale Interpretive Centre.

Lots of displays. This wall showed life-size examples of the difference is sizes of whales.

Lots of information on whales.

A full size model.

The protected harbour at Pleasant Bay. They had three different whale watching businesses here.

The view down from French Mountain.

Remote beaches. You would have to work hard to get down there.....and back up.

The Northumberland Straight between PEI and Nova Scotia.

The highest point we reached on the road. Only about 1500 feet but what a view!!

This is the Skyline Trail. The next ten pictures are views from the trail.

A stand of motly birch trees. The constant wind and harsh climate stunt their growth......

.....and they grow in bizzare shapes.

PEI on the horizon. What a great place to sit and contemplate the world around you!

The boardwalk down to the viewing platforms.

The Cabot Trail as it winds its way along the shore.

This iconic view has made the pages of many a travel magazine.

The view was just incredible and so worth the walk down.....and up the boardwalk steps.

i lost count but I think there were just over three hundred steps up.

The view from the highway looking back at where I had been.

Rain showers were fast approaching

The Cabot Trail is truly a world-class drive. You just gotta see it for yourself.

The Acadian town of Cheticamp. The largest town on the Cabot Trail.

Downtown Cheticamp.

Cheticamp Harbour

Beautiful stone church in Cheticamp.

Fishing is the main industry, but a few farms pop up too.

The rugged coast near Margaree.

It was a long day but oh so worth it. The Cabot Trail lived up to its billing. We had a great weather day for travelling. We beat the rain showers by about ten minutes too!

....and that was Our View From Here!