The Cabot Trail

It's a beautiful, warm day and we are going to drive the whole reknowned Cabot Trail. It will take all day, but we have plans to stop for lunch at the Keltic Lodge along the way and within the boundaries of the Cape Breton National Park. We're doing this in the car...and thank heavens...this is no road for a large motor coach.

We drive and drive and drive and drive....so far all we're seeing looks like the scrub and mountains of West Virginia! Every once in awhile, we catch a view of the ocean, but it's few and far between. Entrance into the park is $7.80 per person and even in order to just get to the Lodge, you must pay the entrance fee.

We see the red peaks of the Lodge over the hill and we can't wait for a little respite from this drive. The main dining room is not serving lunch, the casual Atantic Ocean Room is perched over the water and we score a window table. Civilization.

We have an order of mussels and one lobster and crab pot pie... chocked full of seafood, totally decadent.,,,but it is billed as indicative of the heritage of Cape Breton and we feel compelled to have an educational experience! Terrific!

We briefly debate where to continue with the entire trail given the lackluster views of the first third. But we have heard the western side is the most stunning and we didn't come all this way to whimp out now. We should have. While the western end does have more soaring landscapes, it's again about 90% scrub. I would totally recommend picking one side or the other (depending on where you're staying) and make it a four hour trip, as opposed to nine.

Speaking of places to stay. We really like Louisbourg, but it is a very long way to the rest of Cape Breton. We didn't get into Baddeck, but understand it is nice and is definitely far more centrally located for day excursions.

We get back to Tor and Rick races out in the waning light to go fishing. He picked up this affliction in The Keys last winter and this is the first time he has had a chance to give it a go. We are fortunate we are not hungry because of the our large lunch...no fish are harmed and the other planned dinner is delayed once again as we decide we only want a small tomato sandwich.