The Cabot Trail

Day 26 - July 7, 2009

It was a little odd walking up in a camper trailer on someone's front lawn but man was it nice to be dry and warm! I got up and David invited me in for some delicious breakfast. After that I loaded up the F4 and went on my way, hoping that the clouds above me would clear. By the time that I got to Cheticamp the sun had come out and the clouds were gone, a beautiful day. I stopped for gas and to get pictures of the bay and David's Coast Guard boat. Very cool.

The Cabot Trail is located partly in the Cape Breton Highlands Park. I'm not sure which came first, the trail or the park but they compliment each other completely. I didn't make it more than a quarter of a mile into the park before I had to stop and take a picture of the beautiful forested hills surrounding the road ahead of me. If this first quarter mile was any indication of the next 80 to come then I'd be here a LONG time...

I only made it another short stretch up the road before coming to a halt because of two stopped cars in the middle of the road. Saying "WTF" inside my helmet I was trying to figure out why these two cars were both stopped even though they were traveling in opposite directions. The answer came trotting out between them in the shape of a cute little fox. The fox stopped and sat in the middle of the road as everyone (including me) grabbed their cameras and started shooting. As the car in front of me started to leave the fox trotted alongside for a few yards, expecting an edible handout, I assume. Wildlife picture taking over, I take off to continue the glorious stretch of road before me...

Again, only a couple minutes pass before I have to stop and take more pictures of the scenery. This time it is of a signature overlook with a crescent beach expanding beneath me. I'm not much of a beach/ocean person but views like this still take my breath away.

The trail ahead of me beckoned once again so I pushed off. Needless to say I stopped for several more picture taking sessions along the trail but they were all worth it.

While trying to find a elusive sand beach I found another gorgeous beach, albeit rock. I stopped for a quick snack and more pictures. One of the cool things about this beach was that the waves had a completely unique sound to them. it took me a while to figure it out but the waves were pushing rocks up the beach as they came in then tumbling them back out. The "unique" sound was the rocks hitting and rolling on each other.

Progressing through this area there is a marked difference from the region I just came from. The road signs from as late as Cheticamp have the traditional English and French languages. As you go deeper into the park the signage changes to English and Gaelic! In this part of the country Scots are a big influence (Nova Scotia means "New Scotland") and that was really driven home when I passed by a university where there was a man walking around in a kilt and playing the bag pipes. I did a double take on that one.

I kept on riding as I had an engine waiting to be installed. The rest of the ride back was pretty uneventful and I managed to go through an entire tank of gas without stopping. I guess a 600cc doesn't have to be a torture rack...

Getting back to Woot's place we cracked into the engine and checked the valves and got the motor hung. It was a LATE night, we were in the shed until 3am.

Pictures