Monday, 19 June 2006

Inverness to Cheticamp campground, Cape Breton National Park (Nova Scotia)

Another cloudless sunny morning. Looks like another hot one. The mosquitoes and black-flies were slow on the uptake this morning and I had everything packed and the tent half down before they found me. Must be the wind confusing them. By 7 am I was on the road back into Inverness in search of breakfast. Nowhere else was open so I ended up back at the Coal Miners Cafe. After yesterdays experience I was happy to go back to somewhere I knew. It's the sort of place you'd always be happy to find on your travels.

I was heading north out of Inverness by 8 am and the route 19 continued its hilly progress. I only stayed on the road for a few kilometres before taking a chance on the dirt road going through Broad Cove to Dunvegan. At first it seemed like a bad choice as 2 dogs rushing out of the first house barking brought me to a standstill. Luckily they were more bark than bravado and a flying stone sent them scurrying home. I had made a good choice to come this way - absolutely beautiful. I seemed to want to stop for yet another photo every few yards. I think maybe the effort of sweating every inch of your journey unbalances your mind and heightens your emotions. Or maybe it really was that beautiful. Hopefully the photos will do it justice.

I rejoined the route 19 very briefly before turning off onto the 219 through Dunvegan. There wasn't much to see along this stretch of road, but with the wind at my back I was again making good progress. The road was pretty quiet so I took my t-shirt off, at the risk of looking like a football hooligan, to get some morning sun to my pasty white body. Margaree Harbour caused another blitz of photo taking as I crossed the bridge into Belle Cote, where I stopped for a pot of tea. This gave me an opportunity to make some notes on where all the photos where taken this morning; even by the end of the day it's sometimes difficult to remember where all the photos were taken.

From Belle Cote the road was much more open and scenic, with fine views up and down the coast, but on the downside, was also much rougher, narrower and busier. This is another area with strong Acadian roots, but I was a little disappointed with Cheticamp. Again it was so spread out and to me, used to european compactness, this seems to rob it of character and a sense of community. Maybe if you spend a bit of time here you can get a better appreciation of the place. Apparently it has smartened up a lot in the last 10 years, changing from a working fishing village to more of a tourist destination, with whale watching tours and the like. I stopped at the Co-op Artisanale - an Acadian restaurant with the staff in Acadian costume - for a light lunch. From there I went to the local C@P site to use the internet. When I came out it seemed that the sun was even hotter than before even though it was now after 3 pm and the wind was still blowing quite strongly.

I cycled out of Chetivamp to the entry point to the Cape Breton National Park and the information office there. It turned out that the campsite I was hoping to stay at was closed because of a problem with the water supply so I decided to stay at the campground next to the information centre. In the Campsite I met Iain Bain an expat Scot from Caithness who'd come to Canada 30 years ago. We arranged to go out to eat in Cheticamp in the evening and in the meantime I took a trip out on the bike. I went along the Cabot Trail - to see where I'll be cycling tomorrow (There are some steep hills that were hard work even without panniers) and to get some photos with the sun low to the west illuminating the gulf coast. I was hard work cycling back against the wind. I met up with Iain again and he drove us back into Cheticamp to the Harbour restaurant where we had a pleasant meal (Seafood fettuccine for me) with Black Pearl Ale.

Distance: 88.2 km
Cycling time: 4:51
Total distance: 2080.6 km