Travel Diary: Tour Through The Maritimes of Canada - Part Three

On Wednesday evening, we finally hit the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island. The Cabot Trail is a famous scenic drive that makes a 185-mile loop along the rugged Atlantic Ocean coastline around the northern tip of the island and through the Cape Breton Highlands. Our first stop on the trail would be a place to camp. The iOverlander app provided another nice, free spot, this time right on the ocean just off the road. However, being surrounded by trees and the sound of crashing ocean waves made us feel like we were way off the trail.

Not a bad spot, eh?

     The soft, grassy area gave me a chance to check out why our Vanagon's exhaust was so loud. I crawled under the van to find our muffler had completely rusted and separated from the exhaust! Rather than having the muffler swing and bang around the rest of the trip, I elected to remove it. It was going to be a very loud 2nd half of our trip! I secured the muffler in our roof rack so it could be reattached when we got home.

Sometimes you can inspect a vehicle front-to-back & still have unforeseen issues!

That evening, we explored the rocky shoreline, grilled some tasty burgers & finally enjoyed some sweet solitude. That night, it rained while we were sleeping. That would be the only time we had any rain on our whole expedition. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Our MPOWERD Luci Solar Lights set a tranquil mood at camp.

     From our first camp on the Cabot Trail, we drove north toward Meat Cove, a prime place to set up camp. Taking the advice of a ranger at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park Visitor Center, we made a short detour off the Trail to Neil's Harbour. There we found a small fishing village and a cute, little lighthouse. It was a nice little morning break to enjoy the view & snap some photos before we made our way to Meat Cove.

Neil’s Harbour Lighthouse

     We arrived at Meat Cove Campground early just before the 11am checkout to ensure we snagged a good spot. We ended up with a campsite right on the cliff's edge! It wasn't the most level of spots, but it had the best view of the cove. The camp owners keep leveling blocks on hand just in case they're needed. We spent the whole day doing a bunch of nothing.

There’s quite the view at Meat Cove!!

I wasn’t lying when I said we were on the cliff’s edge!!

After staring at the remarkable view for a while, we decided to walk down to the beach and stare at it from a different angle. We did some stargazing that evening before going to sleep. There’s not much light pollution in Nova Scotia, so we tried to enjoy the night sky as much as we could.

Enjoying a crisp, golden Pacifico on the beach.

     From Meat Cove Campground, we headed west in the morning to explore more of the Cabot Trail. It was a lovely drive along the coast and through the Cape Breton Highlands. We explored the little town of Chéticamp along the way and also stopped for lunch in Inverness.

Another great overlook on The Cabot Trail.

     During lunch, we decided it was time for us to head to Prince Edward Island. We had hoped to take the ferry across, but it was all booked up. This added a few more hours of driving, but it also allowed us to drive the back roads to see more of Nova Scotia.

     Once we took the Confederation Bridge over to Prince Edward Island, we were struck by the beauty of PEl's farmland. We're surrounded by lots of farmland near home, but something about PEl's land is much more pleasing to look at...like out of a story book, if that makes sense. We stopped in the city of Cavendish that evening for a bucket of mussels and some lobster. After dinner, we settled in for a quiet night at Cavendish Campground in PEl National Park before visiting Cavendish Beach and Green Gables the next day.

L.M. Montgomery’s house at Green Gables.

     Visiting the grounds of Green Gables was a dream come true for Becky. She got to tour the place that inspired a childhood literary favorite of hers, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. It’s such a lovely place. It's so easy to snap pretty photos there! lt's quite obvious to see how it could have inspired the wonderful writings of L.M. Montgomery.

     After our visit to Green Gables, unfortunately, we had to begin our journey back home.

Confederation Bridge

FUN FACT: It's free to cross the 8 mile long bridge into PEl, but there is a $50.25 CAD toll to leave!

In the final installment of my Nova Scotia diary, I’ll detail our trip home through the province of Quebec.

-Andrew