The World-Famous Cabot Trail - Nova Scotia

 

Rising from the sea and clinging to the mountains, the 185-mile-long Cabot Trail is a winding mix of roadway, both good and not-so-good with stunning beauty. During our rides we looked at ocean vistas to beautiful fishing villages along the route.

We traveled with a local, Kenny Shaw who was born and raised in Baddeck NS, and winters in Deer Creek with his wife Gwynn.  They were fantastic hosts for our visit.   We had dinner with their family and breakfast with cinnamon rolls from a local bakery.  We want to express our many thanks to each of them fort their wonderful hospitality. 

After passing Cheticamp, we entered Cape Breton Highlands NP which is on the Cabot Trail.  One-third of the trail travels through the park. 

The mountain views were impressive. 

We were amazed at the great photos we took along the route.

Ocean vista parking pull-offs were available for photo ops. 

Kenny Shaw, our tour director for the day, was born and raised in Baddeck NS.  

This photo was edited to show the people on top of French Mountain doing the skyline hike in the Cape Breton Highlands NP.  The hike takes about 3-4 hours, and the sights are incredible. 

This photo was taken on our way down Smokey Mountains.  One of our most impressive shots.  Kenny did mention that sometimes if you're lucky you can see Whales from many of the pull-offs. 

 

Some of the rides down the mountain were steep 8-12 down-hill grades. 

Another impressive view down the mountain. 

Kathy and Kenny at one of the pull-offs. 

At one of the pull-offs I noticed something odd in the sky in the upper middle of the photo.  It was not a UFO but a drone taking photos. 

For lunch we stopped at Morrison's Restaurant in Cape North.  As you can guess, Kathy had the Lobster roll.  Lunch was excellent!

Kenny took us off the Cabot Trail to visit a small fishing town of White Point.  Kenny met an old friend Jamie, who is a local fisherman.  Their season is typically 3-4 months long. 

One of many great views heading into White Point.  

Highlands Golf Course right on the Cabot Trail.  The course looked awesome.  

The Keltic Lodge is owned by Parks Canada and operated by Golf North.  It was built in 1904 and sold to the Nova Scotia Government in 1932 who built the tourist lodge.  

A view of Smoky Mountain from the Keltic Lodge. 

The Cabot Trial is a biker's must.  The ride from Cheticamp to Cape Smokey is absolutely stunning.  It offers great restaurants, many things to do and travels through the Cape Breton Highland NP, which is impressive by itself.  We decided that riding clockwise is the best travel as you are heading down the mountains with great views.   

Village of Baddeck -Nova Scotia

 

The lovely village of Baddeck Nova Scotia.  The town has a great atmosphere to include its restaurants and hotels to accommodate the many visitors each year. Its harbor setting is wonderful, and it is the home of Gwynn and Kenny Shaw who were amazing hosts during our visit.  

If you have time, you can cruise the harbor and enjoy a great lunch afterwards.  

 

It is also the home of the Alexander Graham Bell Museum.    In 1885, the Bell family had a vacation home in Baddeck.  He then built a complex of buildings including a new laboratory named Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic), named after Bell ancestral highlands.  

Although Bell was famous for the invention of the telephone, his work in Baddeck was mainly focused on the Aviation career field. 

 

You can see the harbor directly from the interior seating area of the museum. 

The Silver Dart, the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to fly in Canada; designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Assn under Alexander Graham Bell, a flight enthusiast since boyhood. Baddeck NS has no airfield so where you think it was flown from?   You guessed it, frozen ice on the lake. 

Original Photo of the Silver Dart.  The Aerial Experiment Assn was composed of Alexander Graham Bell, John Alexander Douglas, Frederick W. Baldwin. Glenn Curtis and U.S. Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge were also members.  

Most Americans know Alexander Graham Bell as an inventor of the telephone. But few know that his central interest in life was education for deaf children or that he was one of the strongest proponents of oralism in the United States.  Oralism is the system of teaching deaf people to communicate by the use of speech and lip reading rather than sign language. Bell and his father before him studied the physiology of speech. 

Newfoundland NL August 8-12 2023

 

We arrived at Port aux Basques, lower left portion of the map. Since we did not arrive till 7 p.m., we decided to spend the night at a local hotel and hit the road in the morning refreshed from our ferry trip.  We concentrated our travels on the Western side of the island since Gros Morne NP is a major area that we wanted to visit. 

A stop on the way up to Rocky Harbor which would be our base for the next 3-days. 

Already enjoying the magnificent views of this great province.

You just don't see this view in Florida. 

Kathy all wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing.  We started out today in 52-degree temperature. 

One of many fishing villages along our route.  Many of the houses are brightly colored.  If you would see the fishermen's boat, you would see the same color. If it's good enough for the boat, its good enough for the house.  The paint provides much better water protection for the house. 

Our hotel in Rocky Harbour.  We decided this would be the best location for traveling out-and-back each day.  Gros Morne National Park headquarters is located in the surrounding area. 

We decided to have breakfast at Shallow Bay Motel in Cows Head about 30 minutes North of Rocky Harbour.  The French toast was excellent and needed it for our 330-mile journey. 

The roads get worse the further North you travel, but the beautiful shoreline gets more impressive We did get delayed at a couple of bridges on our way North.

Kathy driving.  We both always looked for Moose but never saw one during our travels. 

One of the local homes.   Thanks to the local marine climate, you won't have to contend with extreme temperatures.  The island has an average summer temperature of 61 degrees while winter hovers around 0 degrees.  Far North in St Anthony the winter temperature can drop to -30. 

Welcome to Norris Point.  

Lobster Cove lighthouse.  One of the 10 ten best lighthouses to visit. 

Lobster Cove is known as the perfect location for a great spot to enjoy sunsets. Even on a stormy day, it's an epic place to watch crashing waves. Who knows, you may just see a whale while you are at it.  

Speaking of marine animals, I thought I saw a couple of dolphins playing.  It was just rushing waves crashing the rocks that made it look like something.   Damn! 

The mountains of Gros Morne NP were magnificent.   Not many roads lead into the park.  You drive to a specific parking area and hike into your destination. 

This is just one view of the majestic mountains that surround Gros Morne NP.  

Another view of the mountains from the shoreline.  

You can see sections of lobster traps all along the road.  There are approximately 3500 licensed lobster fishermen in the Newfoundland Province. One third of these license holders are located on the west coast. Each fisherman is authorized a specific number of traps.

Overall, our experience traveling to, and from Newfoundland was a great. Although you had to ride a long way to see the next town, the sights you see along your travel is exceptional. We would have liked to have traveled to St. Anthony to visit that area as well. The weather was mostly cold for us and windy. We were smart to purchase chaps for Kathy at Daytona.  We wore our chaps every day and layered our clothing to deal with the weather.

Marine Atlantic Ferry - Highlander (North Sydney NS to Port Aux Basques NL)

 

All packed and ready for our adventure.  We carried most of our clothing in a soft bag on top of our tour pack. 

First look at our ship " The Highlander."  The ferry ride to Port aux Basques is 96 nautical miles and takes approximately 7 hours to complete.

We arrived early for our departure.  You can just see the trike alone in the upper right of this photo.

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Here is a video of us driving on the Ferry.   The Ferry has 2 loading ramps. We used the lower section of the ship. 

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This video shows other vehicles loading.  When we left Port aux Basques the entire parking lot was full of 18-wheelers. All 12 loading designations were full.  I could not believe that the entire lot was loaded onto the ferry.  

Our boarding Cards 

Kathy paid extra for reserved seating which was a great idea.  You need a key card to enter and exit this area.  The seats were extremely comfortable and had back and leg rest extensions to help you relax.  We had a great window view.

The ship even had a helipad for emergency medical situations. 

The sister ship was pulling into dock as we departed the port.  The sister ship goes to Argentia NL, 280 nautical miles and takes approximately 16 hours to complete.  We decided to tour the western portion of Newfoundland and visit Gros Morne National Park instead of the southeast section which is more populated.   Glad we took the shorter route. 

During our travel we passed an oil tanker on its way West.  

Since we don't arrive at Port aux Basques till 6:45 p.m., we decided to have dinner at the ship's main restaurant.  

Kathy decided on the Cod au gratin, which was delicious.  I had the chicken dinner which was also very good.  There was another smaller fast-food area that served sandwiches, pizza as well as drinks and other items for your eating pleasure. 

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Our first video look at Newfoundland. 

The shoreline of Port aux Basques.  

It was a little tricky getting into the port, however the captain did an excellent job docking.  We were very pleased with the ferry experience.