The World Famous Cabot Trail

We caught the ferry and left Prince Edward Island behind us. After talking with the local tourist information guide on the boat we had accommodations expertly arranged after just a few ship-to-shore phone calls. We have had great luck doing this and would definitely recommend using the Tourist Information kiosks to book accommodations.



Our mission: to explore the scenic beauty of the Cabot trail, stay as dry as possible (avoiding any incoming hurricanes) and from Colin's perspective, to go lighthouse spotting!


Our first stop was Mabou, where our B&B had a Labyrinth (WOW that's like a maze, right?! Thinking back to the 80's movie of the same name). Unfortunately, things are never quite as they are advertised - there were no walls to the maze, the house smelt of bananas and our room was on a bit of a slant. Despite this, the husband & wife who ran this Inn made us a scrumptious breakfast that concluded with warm, freshly baked, blueberry muffins and a bag of homemade Scottish shortbread to take on our trip. The house was quirky and the hosts were kind - which really makes for a pretty perfect B&B experience. 


At this point we were mainly worried about getting soaked or even of sliding off the road, maybe into one of the lighthouses. So instead of spending two days circling the Cabot Trail we chose to go for a short drive to Baddeck, get a good rest and be in pole position for the drive on Sunday (the only day that promised to be rain free). 


Now the biggest thing in Baddeck (or on Cape Breton for that matter) was 'Chase the Ace'. This was a lottery that had been running for about a year and was now at the astronomical jackpot of almost 2 million dollars and was going to be drawn until they had a winner. This had the small country towns in a tizzy as people from provinces all around descended in to try their luck. Despite this, the lucky winner was from just a few miles up the road.


In the morning the clouds cleared revealing a curious yellow orb in the sky (could that be the sun?) and we sped off along the Cabot trail. The pictures shown here don't display the beauty or the expanse of the vistas we experienced, but all we can say is it’s definitely worth the trip. In fact, so far it's the second best part of our trip— second only to Moncton's famous Magnetic Hill!


As we now were doing the entire Cabot trail in one day, it meant some pretty hardcore driving - a precursor to our future drive across Canada. Seven hours later we pulled up wearily in Antigonish, the highland heart of Nova Scotia. For dinner we decided to have the world famous Donair from “Wheel Pizza and Sub Shop”. While leaving, Melissa commented that there must be a scam between the ‘Wheel’ Pizza Shop and the adjacent tire and alignment centre, because their parking lot was so full of pot holes!  In fact, the next day an indicator light warned us that one of our tires had low pressure (more on this later…)


Next up: Big City Board Games in Halifax Nova Scotia.