Cheticamp, Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Blue skies and warmer weather, looks like a good day for a drive. We crossed over Canso Causeway, leaving Northumberland Shore behind us and ready to explore Cape Breton. We decided to go round the cape via the Northumberland Straight side first (clockwise) and ending up on the Atlantic side tomorrow. Our reasoning was we eventually want to see the Alexander Bell Museum and it's not open til Wednesday.
Cape Breton is split down the middle by two sides - Inverness County on the west and Victoria County on the east. As one travels up the western side, the first section is called the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) Trail, named after the Celtic Music and dancing of the Scottish Highlands. The scenery is breathtaking varying between groves of fir trees, wide vistas of the Straight and lots of rolling hills. This area has very proudly retained their Scottish culture and language. The town names and signs are in both English and Gaelic. There are many pubs and music halls along this stretch that feature lots of Celtic fiddlers, pipers, guitarists and singers. We had wanted to spend some time at the Celtic Interpretive Music Centre, but unfortunately it doesn't open til next week, in time for the high season. We decided to take in a distillery instead.
The Glenora Distillery specializes in single malt whisky, and in fact are the only single malt whisky makers made in North America that makes aged (at least 10 year old) whisky. Apparently there are a couple of upstarts in British Columbia. Ned, continuing his research for constructing his own still, was looking forward to the tour. In reality they weren't brewing right now. They don't brew during the summer months, they claim, for safety reasons. Ned suspects it has to do more with keeping the production low and driving up demand. Our tour guide was friendly, but a little jaded. I think he had done a couple of tours too many. My favorite part, of course, was the tasting. Damn good whisky! Afterwards we had a picnic with the smoked salmon and pumpernickel bread we had purchased yesterday in the sun. The best part was that it was in the sun. Not taking that for granted!
We continued our drive up the Cape and when we crossed over the Margaree Harbor we had left the Ceilidh Trail behind and begun the Cabot Trail. This part of the coast is even more wide open with luscious green rolling hills and incredible views of the water. It reminded us very much of Highway 1, particularly around Jenner and Mendocino. This is the Acadian Region and the signs are now in French and English. When the English had forced many of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, some of them had hid out in the highlands of Cape Breton (rather than swear allegiance to the British Crown) surviving some pretty harsh winters. Finally, years later when they were allowed to return they settled back in this area and til this day very proudly retain their French language and culture.
This afternoon we are camped at the beginning of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in the Cheticamp Campground. We discussed doing a bike trail (this place is famous for some of the best biking on the planet) but honestly have decided to just take it easy soaking up the sun. We decided it was a good opportunity to break out our bottle of Nova Scotia wine. (Don't worry California, you have nothing to worry about). Reading and napping won out.
Tonight we rallied and went into town for a lobster dinner. Dang they grow them big up here! Ned got a 2.5 pounder. After dinner we took a drive along the Cabot Trail and were the only people on it. Amazing. We were in search of wildlife - whales, moose, bear or coyotes. Didn't catch any of those, but we did stop on a bluff to catch a beautiful sunset over the calm waters. Okay peeps back home, we are 4 hours ahead of you. I've just said good-bye to the sun and am passing it along your way to put it to bed. See you all tomorrow.
Cape Breton is split down the middle by two sides - Inverness County on the west and Victoria County on the east. As one travels up the western side, the first section is called the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) Trail, named after the Celtic Music and dancing of the Scottish Highlands. The scenery is breathtaking varying between groves of fir trees, wide vistas of the Straight and lots of rolling hills. This area has very proudly retained their Scottish culture and language. The town names and signs are in both English and Gaelic. There are many pubs and music halls along this stretch that feature lots of Celtic fiddlers, pipers, guitarists and singers. We had wanted to spend some time at the Celtic Interpretive Music Centre, but unfortunately it doesn't open til next week, in time for the high season. We decided to take in a distillery instead.
The Glenora Distillery specializes in single malt whisky, and in fact are the only single malt whisky makers made in North America that makes aged (at least 10 year old) whisky. Apparently there are a couple of upstarts in British Columbia. Ned, continuing his research for constructing his own still, was looking forward to the tour. In reality they weren't brewing right now. They don't brew during the summer months, they claim, for safety reasons. Ned suspects it has to do more with keeping the production low and driving up demand. Our tour guide was friendly, but a little jaded. I think he had done a couple of tours too many. My favorite part, of course, was the tasting. Damn good whisky! Afterwards we had a picnic with the smoked salmon and pumpernickel bread we had purchased yesterday in the sun. The best part was that it was in the sun. Not taking that for granted!
We continued our drive up the Cape and when we crossed over the Margaree Harbor we had left the Ceilidh Trail behind and begun the Cabot Trail. This part of the coast is even more wide open with luscious green rolling hills and incredible views of the water. It reminded us very much of Highway 1, particularly around Jenner and Mendocino. This is the Acadian Region and the signs are now in French and English. When the English had forced many of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, some of them had hid out in the highlands of Cape Breton (rather than swear allegiance to the British Crown) surviving some pretty harsh winters. Finally, years later when they were allowed to return they settled back in this area and til this day very proudly retain their French language and culture.
This afternoon we are camped at the beginning of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in the Cheticamp Campground. We discussed doing a bike trail (this place is famous for some of the best biking on the planet) but honestly have decided to just take it easy soaking up the sun. We decided it was a good opportunity to break out our bottle of Nova Scotia wine. (Don't worry California, you have nothing to worry about). Reading and napping won out.
Tonight we rallied and went into town for a lobster dinner. Dang they grow them big up here! Ned got a 2.5 pounder. After dinner we took a drive along the Cabot Trail and were the only people on it. Amazing. We were in search of wildlife - whales, moose, bear or coyotes. Didn't catch any of those, but we did stop on a bluff to catch a beautiful sunset over the calm waters. Okay peeps back home, we are 4 hours ahead of you. I've just said good-bye to the sun and am passing it along your way to put it to bed. See you all tomorrow.
