Cape Breton Island

We spent Monday, Tuesday and Today (Wednesday) on Cape Breton Island, mainly to follow the Cabbot trail.

On Monday we drove from Dartmouth to Baddeck, the small community that is the beginning and end of the cabbot trail. Baddeck is the home of the Alexander Graham Bell museum, which was an intresting diversion for an hour or so, it focused mainly on his work after making a pile of cash on the telephone. The view from our motel room door was spectacular, the back of the motel faces a bit of the Bras D'Or lake's shorline.

On Tuesday morning we got up early and got started on the Cabbot trail, starting with the
Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts, an interesting and beatiful campus right at the start of the trail. From there we started on the trail itself, which included some truly breath taking views. The mountains here are much gentler than the rockies, and the mist rising off their tree lined slopes is really a sight to see. I hope the pictures come out, but I doubt they'll capture the majesty of the place. We ended our day in Margaree Harbour, decided to find an inn, listed in the books as having nightly live music, for dinner. That was a mistake, we learned 2 lessons that night, always double check the directions that the GPS gives you ... especially in rural areas and when you come to a wooden, single lane bridge on a barely paved road ... it probably isn't the best route to where you want to go. When we finally found the place the food was mediocre and over priced and the service sucked, we left before the music started.

Today we drove down the Ceilidh (Pronounced "KAY-lee") trail, Ceilidh is gaelic for a visit or gathering, basically its an informal event featuring scottish fiddle music. This took us through Canada's first and only Single Malt distillery and the Celtic Music Center, where we stayed for a demonstration on Cape Breton's musical traditions and a lunch time Ceilidh. I had a great time, don't think Andi enjoyed it as much though.

From there we drove to the ferry to P.E.I., just barely making the ferry we were sure we would miss, and avoiding the 2 hr wait for the next one, literally as the last vehicle to board, no more that 2 or 3 minutes before it set off. And now we're in Charlottetown, planning out what to do for the next 3 days. I'm getting a bit tired of driving, so I think tomorrow we'll spend the day exploring Charlottetown. Its apparently about a $10 cab ride to downtown from our hotel, so I think we'll just leave the car here and let someone else do the driving.

Well, that's it for now.