July 28 saw my husband and I taking the Wood Island Ferry from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia, after having spent a wonderful week with new friends and family, prior to the marriage of Kim to our son Stuart..
Leaving PEI for Nova Scotia.Our accommodation was at Baddeck, a pretty town on an arm of Bras d'Or Lake. From here we drove clockwise around the Cabot Trail. Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind and it varied from sunshine, to heavy cloud, rain and dense fog. We were able to hike some of the Skyline Trail, until the wind threatened to blow us off the viewing platform.
Baddeck
Park entry
Cape Breton coastline.
Skyline Trail
View from trail west.
North 
A father and son trying to stand upright.
Returning to the car park we were delighted to spot this friendly moose, who just kept on grazing.
The following day, a sunny one, we retraced our steps anti clockwise to Ingonish, where we had to again negotiate the windy, steep climb over Smokey Mtn. [ max gradient 35 %] Several days later we actually met with one of the many cyclists of the Cabot Trail. He had ridden up Smokey Mtn without dismounting - our hire car had struggled!!!
At Ingonish we hiked Midddle Head, a wooded peninsular and then relaxed at a quaint coffee shop.
Our 5 hour journey south the following day, took us to Bridgewater. The majority of the journey passed through thick, lush green forests, with a detour to the very popular Peggies Cove. It happened to be enshrouded in fog on this summer's day,
In Bridgewater we stayed in a delightful cabin on the shoreline of the La Have River. This was our base to explore Mahone Bay [reknowned for its 3 shoreline churches] and the World Heritage Listed colourful town of Luenburg.
Our main hike was along the coastline from Green Bay to Broad Cove - a mixture of sand, rock and bush walking.
To celebrate our successful hike, we returned to our cabin on the shore of the La Have R to relax, sip wine and sculpture rocks. The beautiful softness of the sunset sky was exceeded only by the serenity of the sunrise the following morning, as we set off early for Hopewell Rocks on the shore of the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.
Our early start allowed us to experience the full magnitude of the rise and fall of tides at Cheverie [NB] on Minas Basin, an off shoot of the Bay of Fundy.
8.30am
As we neared Hopewell Rocks the banks of the streams were a glistening muddy chocolate goo.
We arrived on the beach at 2.40pm, Friday 1st August.
The tide came in this much in the half hour before the beach was closed. We then went exploring a variety of trails to several overlooks and then returned to see the amazing full tide level at 5pm.
Full tide - 11.46 m
At full moon it would be 16m.
Low tide - Saturday 2nd August, 2.79m.
The bay at low tide.
And who's having fun?
Awesome nature!
The time had come to retrace our steps to Prince Edward Island, crossing over the 13 km 's Confederation Bridge to return to Charlottetown for our flight to Quebec.
Thank you for visiting. I would love you to leave a comment.
What a beautiful place! Loved your photos and your trip recap.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda. It has taken awhile, but it has been enjoyable retracing our steps.
DeleteGlad to see you enjoying some of the remarkable features of the Maritime Provinces. Long way from home and much different terrain from that to which you are accustomed. Happy trails and looking forward to seeing more of your adventure.
ReplyDeleteThank you Barry. So many photographs to sort out, but getting there.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos - thanks for sharing. Having been a great fan of Anne of Green Gables, it's interesting to see the area. I wonder if children these days read those books?
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