2nd gear

When we got to the campground yesterday afternoon it was too late and too rainy to do much exploring. Overnight we both hear what sounded like waves crashing onto the beach. Sure enough, this morning, after getting all ready to go, we still had time enough to take the trail from the campground, along the river, and out to the Atlantic Ocean. 

The trail that we took to the ocean was about 1 mile, but the ocean is only about 1/2 mile from the campground. That's why we could hear the waves last night. This is looking north.

And this is looking south. There were some pretty large waves coming in. I don't know if they are always this big or if they were large due to the storm yesterday.

The Cabot Trail, according to the guide book, is named for John Cabot (or Juan Caboto, as we learned in Newfoundland) who is said to have landed at Cape Breton Island's northern tip in 1497. The guidebook also states that it is one of the most beautiful drives in eastern North America. The Cabot Trail makes a circular tour of the northern part of Cape Breton Island passing through tranquil farmland, hugging the coast and winding up and down with magnificent views of the ocean, craggy mountains, rocky inlets, spectacular headlands and dense forests. 

Another thing that the guide book said is that many visitors prefer to do the trail clockwise for the security of hugging the sides of the mountains while driving up and down some of the steep and curvy stretches. We didn't read this part until we were safely tucked away in our campsite in Cheticamp. What I didn't know either is that most RVs park on either end of the trail, in Ingonish or Cheticamp, and just drive their towed car or towing vehicle on the trail. 

Blissfully unaware of what was ahead of us, we started off on the Cabot Trail.

There are a number of spectacular overlooks just past Ingonish.

Spectacular!

After a beautiful stretch along the eastern side, the Trail travels across the interior sections with farmlands and forests. Then the mountains begin and there are no overlooks. There are no pictures of this section because we decided that we would just get the Airstream to the campground and come back in the car for the pictures. 

See the map of the road - just past Pleasant Bay. For some reason the section is called "Wreck Cove".

We made it just fine - coming down the mountain pass in 2nd gear. Going up is easy; the Benz is a great tow vehicle. This is our lunch spot - on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on a fine day.

Driving through the town of Cheticamp we passed this imposing church. It is hard to miss, you can see it from miles away as it dominates the town. Since it was Saturday afternoon, we decided to come back for Mass, at 6:30.

Saint Pierre - erected in 1893.

Cheticamp is a centuries-old Acadian village of just 1,000, and is the heart of the French-speaking culture on the island. Our first clue to this was when we drove past the Church and the information was in French. Notice how they use "H" instead of the colon for the times.

Everything was in French - prayers, readings, sermon and songs. Frederick and I both took French and we could recognize plenty of words, but could not understand the meaning of sentences.

Our campground, Plage Saint Pierre Beach and Campground, is on the Island of Cheticamp. As we were driving the causeway to the Island, Frederick mentioned a lighthouse on the tip of the Island. A mile or so down the road we came to a road called Lighthouse Road. Must be the way to the lighthouse!

A mile down that road we came to a sign that said the we were entering a public pasture and we were not to annoy any of the animals.  What could this be?

This is not a moose!

The town of Cheticamp from the Island on Lighthouse Road.

This big guy was lumbering along the right side of the road and as we approached he decided he wanted to be on the other side of the road. Here he is on the left side. There were lots of flies around the heads of the cattle and he is rubbing his head in the shrubs to ease the annoying flies.

Enragee Point Lighthouse on the tip of Cheticamp Island.

Bucolic scene at sunset.