Day 13 & 14 - The Cabot Trail

We left our camper behind at the camp ground and began our drive around the Cabot Trail, a scenic drive around the 'top" end of Cape Breton, including the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

It certainly lived up to our expectations - absolutely stunning coastal scenery, many many little fishing villages and Acadian towns, it really was splendid.


If you asked the kids what the highlight was, they'd probably name the hour or so we spent at Ingonish beach, which happily coincided with the sun coming out for the first time in days:

For the grown-ups, it was little places like this tucked out of the way, almost too quaint to be true:

and a coast like this:

The only complaint we had was the shortage of decent accommodation.  Most of the places in this area are very seasonal, and many were still closed (some possibly permanently, by the look of it), but overall the standards of food and lodgings are fairly mundane.


We ended up in Cheticamp, an Acadian village, with this view from our room:

The colours of the Acadian flag - the tricolore and a gold star

Not bad, really!


It was a welcome change to sleep in a real bed again, a bit like a holiday from our holiday.


The next day I ventured to a local museum which featured rug hooking, for which the village is famous.  I'm not sure what I expected to find, but I was amazed at the art and  skill on display.

Doesn't the rug on the right have an Aust'n aboriginal look?

Made by a 9 year old in the 1930's

Made by Mme Fiset when she was 98 years old!

The village was accessible only by sailing boat for it's first hundred years (from the late 1700's) and the workers weren't aid in cash, so they were very poor, but resourceful.  The museum was a bit of a folk museum, largely thanks to this woman who started collecting local objects when she moved back at age 48 after working as a maid in the US.  I love this picture:

After a short-ish drive, we completed the loop, and ended up back at the campground, ready to head to PEI (Price Edward Island) tomorrow.