Cabot Trail, Sails & Song

Back this morning. 😃

Tuesday, June 27

Up, breakfasted (lightly – counting on a bakery later) and out by 8:30. Sunset Oasis is on the lower east shore of Bay St. Lawrence, so we’re heading south to rejoin the Trail at Cape North and then southwest toward Pleasant Bay. Nearly all of this is inland driving, but we did stop for a short walk (w/ interpretive signage) through an old growth forest in the highlands area.  The sugar maples here are 350 years old. This part of Cape Breton is where many of the Scots immigrants settled, raising sheep and working small farms. The area we walked through had been given to the Park on the condition that they build a lone shieling (single crofter’s hut) as a reminder of CB’s heritage. Lovely walk.

Beached boats at the bottom of the motel driveway.

Greg...
holding up the shieling?

Child on Hardwood Forest Path (novatrails.com)

Pleasant Bay is a small, but popular, vacation spot on the coast. No bakery though.  We continued south – sometimes on the coast, more often through the mountains. All beautiful. Finally found a (wonderful!) bakery in Cheticamp: still-warm blueberry scones, a cheese croissant, and a roast beef sandwich (it’s brunchtime). Random pics below.

(See the road snaking southward?)

These folks were awesome!

Just a few of the many, many cairns on this beach (and I added one of my own).

(Bell was NG's 2nd president.)

We were back in Baddeck earlier than we expected, so we ventured into town and visited the Alexander Graham Bell Historic Site. This man was truly a genius, and the museum is amazing. He was interested in many areas of science, had 18 patents in his own name, and collaborated on 12 others, including early hydrofoils. He was also a devoted family man and a generous employer. The family home, Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic for beautiful mountain), sits on an 800-acre site across the bay and is still owned by Bell descendants.

After overloading our brains w/ Bell info, we managed to join an Amoeba sailing tour and spent the next 90 minutes watching eagles dive, catching a view of Beinn Bhreagh, enjoying sun, wind and waves, and learning a bit of the Amoeba’s history. (It's 67' with 5 sails and was built by the current captain's dad. (Check out the rest at  http://amoebasailingtours.com/index.php/home/About_Us) 

The captain tossed a dead herring. You can see the
splash mark where the eagle dove for it. (I got the
"rear view," but at least I captured the shot.)

Mabel & Alex Bell
chatting on Water Street

Back on land, Greg and I wandered Main Street and Water Street and eventually decided to grab some dinner at Tom’s Pizza (great pizza, great staff… even great choc cake). The great pizza was a bonus – we chose Tom’s simply because of the “Live music 7-9” provided by Rob MacLean, a Cape Breton country/Celtic singer/songwriter. It’s a small venue, with a good mix of local and tourist clientele, and MacLean worked the crowd as well as he sang. The perfect ending to what had already been a darn good day.

BlogThoughts...  Wandering through town today we noticed a couple businesses with creative names:  Bean There Café and Brewed Awakenings (obviously a coffee shop). Greg & I both love puns (as did my stepdad – I have a long history of having to think fast). Those reminded me of other road signs we’d seen recently: Sew Inclined and Yellow Cello Café (not a pun, but catchy). I also have confess that when I saw a highway marker for Port Bevis awhile back, I immediately wondered if Port Butthead would follow. (Sad, what our brains hold on to.)