Two Weeks in Nova Scotia: Page 9: Ingonish to Baddeck

Today's destination is the green pin, Baddeck

Except for the early morning, this was a rather dreary day.  I recall that our picnic lunch in Baddeck was on a picnic table at the waterfront with an umbrella I held up between us.

For me, the early morning (I set the alarm for 4:45 to get the sunrise) was the highlight of the day.  As it turned out, the sunrise wasn't all that great.  But what was worth the early getting-out-of-bed was watching the lobster boats plying the water right under my nose.  Our cabin was set back slightly on a bluff, and by standing near the edge I could look down on several lobster boats doing their early morning thing.

Favorite Takes

1) The view from our cabin at Seascape Coastal Retreat

This is the view (vista!) from the porch on our cabin.

Taken about 9:30a, as a final photo before our departure for Baddeck.

2) Ingonish Lobstering at 5:30a

One of many shots taken with a 300mm-equiv. telephone lens.

Taken about 5:30a

The Jason and Jefferson circling to drop off a freshly baited trap

to replace the trap just pulled up.  That trap is then re-baited
and dropped to replace the next one pulled up.
And so on and so forth.

3) Breakfast at the "Retreat"

I had French toast on thick slices of bread with maple syrup.
Nova Scotia is proud of their maple syrup.
I had no reason to argue.

Laurie had a ham, cheese and tomato omelet.

4) The Gaelic College in St. Ann's

The college was not in session.  But we perused the gift shop and

walked the campus. 

 Laurie's clan

5) The Village of Baddeck 

The Alexander Graham Bell Museum

This is what Bell's office looked like. Pretty spartan.

6) A local cookbook purchased at the Bell Buoy

A cookbook purchased while having dinner at the Bell Buoy Restaurant.

Their signature Crab Cakes are featured in the cookbook.

Two Weeks in Nova Scotia: Page 8: Cheticamp to Ingonish

This was a long day for us.  The trip from Cheticamp (west side of the island), up and over the northern tip of Cape Breton Island, to Ingonish (east side of the island) is about 185 miles.  To that we added a 30 mile dirt road side route to Meat Cove, situated at the very northern tip of Cape Breton Island. The Meat Cove excursion turned out to be an awesome 3 1/2 hour detour, what with all our stops for viewing and photographs, and our picnic lunch at the end of the road. Most tourists would pass by Meat Cove because it is off the beaten path.  But we highly recommend it.

Today's destination is the green pin, Ingonish.

Favorite Takes

1) Meat Cove

These images are in chronological order as we drove to/from Meat Cove.

We weren't really sure where the "cove" is located.  The best we can determine is it is in the foreground, bottom right, in this image.  The area is protected by the bluff we are looking down from.  Meat Cove consists today of two restaurants, several houses, and a campground.  There is great hiking here, and we saw a bald eagle who disappeared (of course) just as I put a long lens on my camera.

Not a bad place for a picnic, I would say.

This is a typical dirt road.  As you can see it is well maintained.

Classic Nova Scotia lobster boat with inward sloping "wind shield".

I was told later by a Maine lobsterman that one reason for this

is to cut down on the glare off the water.

2) Main Street Restaurant and Bakery

 Laurie had the Seafood Linguini with lemon-pepper sauce.

Peter had Surf and Turf Caesar Salad.

Best blueberry pie I've ever had.

3) Seacoast Coastal Retreat

This was our little cabin.  We easily could have stayed there a few days.  There was even a gas fireplace, which we used to take the chill off in the evening and the next morning.

I'll have some nice pictures of the fabulous view in the post that follows this, as it seems I waited until the next morning to take a few scenic pictures.

Two Weeks in Nova Scotia: Page 7: Port Hood to Cheticamp

Our drive today was from Port Hood to Cheticamp, the largest town on the west side of  Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Today's destination is the green pin, Cheticamp.

Favorite Takes

1) Dirt Road Near West Mabou

On this day we started on a dirt road that was recommended by the bed and breakfast owners.  It kept us off the main road for perhaps 10 or 15 miles.  It was a real joy, as I don't recall seeing any other car.

This red barn scene overlooking the ocean was my favorite scenic view on this day:

2) Lobster Rolls for Lunch

When you see "Lobster Roll" on the menu, be prepared for a lobster sandwhich.  This happened frequently.  Just an FYI; certainly not a complaint.

iPhone Image.

3) Cliff Views Along the Western Edge

4) Lobster Caesar Salad for Dinner

We have yet to learn what a "licensed" restaurant is. As far as I remember, 

all of the restaurants we ate in were "licensed." 

[Update: I have now received several helpful emails on this.

Licensed means that alcohol is available]

Caesar Salad does not get any better than this.

Two Weeks in Nova Scotia - Page 6: Liscolm to Port Hood

Today's journey would take us from the eastern shore and "cross country" to Cape Hood on Cape Breton Island.  This was not much of a site-seeing day.  Our destination on Cape Hood was a bead and breakfast called:  Haus Treuburg.

Today's destination is the green pin, Port Hood

Below are some random images and comments from this day:

This is not a bargain price, as gas is sold in liters, not gallons.

I am intrigued by Canadian cereal boxes.  In Canada, products are in both French and English. Sometimes French is on one side and English is on the other.

Jars, too

This was perhaps the only example of gaudiness that we saw.

We found the information centers to be very helpful.  Just let them know your interests and they will have ideas for you.

This is a model of the famous fishing schooner

and Nova Scotia Icon, Bluenose,

which I mentioned earlier, on page 3.

Note the flat and sloping front glass of the cabins on the two boats in this picture.  This is a standard design of Nova Scotia lobster and other fishing boats.  This is very different than the design of the classic Maine lobster boat.

Brochure from our B & B.

Seafood chowder for dinner at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou.

Sunset at the bed and breakfast.

Breakfast at the bed and breakfast to which was 

added scrambed eggs and bacon and several kinds of bread.