(More photos to come later... please check back!)
We woke up this morning to a very grey, soggy, wet day and, as we packed up and got ready to leave, the day fell apart even further. Sarah, bless her heart, headed off to her shop, leaving us at her house to hang out for a few hours and wait the weather out. True to the weather office’s promise, the weather turned around at lunch time so we spent the morning catching up on the blog, reorganizing our gear and just having a lazy morning. Thank God for Sarah - her lovely home was an oasis of creature comforts, most especially on this dreary morning...
By the time we left at noon, the sky was clearing and the sun was peeking through the blustery clouds. The temperature rose a bit and we left feeling very optimistic about the day ahead of us, on the world famous Cabot Trail on Cape Breton.
For those of you who are not motorcycle enthusiasts, you should know that the Cabot Trail is legendary, so much so that, as an April Fools prank, the Canada Moto Guide published an online joke that the Cabot Trail was closed to motorcyclists because the locals didnt’ want all the noise... Well, as it turns out, a lot of people took it at face value and the rumour mushroomed. A lot of people believed it, including another Harley rider we met in Ontario, who warned us the Trail would be closed to us. We were dumbfounded, given that the Cabot Rail is one of the cross-Canada highlights of the trip! We asked Sarah about it a couple weeks ago and she sent me the link about the prank. PHEW! We were SO RELIEVED!! Ha ha ha...
From Sarah and Yves’ place on the southeastern shore near Indian Brook, we headed north east and dawdled along, enjoying the spectacular views of the coast and the hills through Angonish and South Harbour. The cloud cover was low and fog still blanketed many of the mountain tops. The Cape Breton Highlands were name for their similarity to the Scottish Highlands and, of course, Nova Scotia (New Scotland) became home to many Scottish immigrants. Most of the highways signs are posted in both English and Gaelic and the Scottish heritage and culture is deeply ingrained in the culture of Cape Breton. By the time we hit the most northeastern tip, we climbed up and up and up and over great heaving hills, all pressed together, creating deep crevasses and twisty valleys, blanketed in verigated green chenille that reach as far as the eye can see. At the top, we were met with dense heavy fog, some freezing rain and snow banks beside the road! As Canadian wilderness goes, this is as wild as it gets. Its truly breathtaking. As it was on our first trip across Canada, Cape Breton remained one of the most jaw dropping places in our magnificent country for us.
Out the other side, we came down through Cape Breton National Park on the northwest side of the island and into Cheticamp, a very well-known Acadian community. From there, we rode through the Margaree Wilderness Area and, as we headed further south, the fog lifted and the weather cleared. We made it to Inverness and called it a night and, by the time we made camp, the sky had cleared altogether and we were greeted by a spectacular sunset. Our campsite was across the road from the beach cliffs so we walked over to the edge with nightcaps in hand and watched the sun go down.
This was one of the most memorable riding days of the trip so far. Thanks, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, you never let us down!
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