Sackville to Bathurst/Beresford New Brunswick

Well, we arrived in Beresford, New Brunswick on Sunday May 15 after a rainy, windy drive of just under 4 hours. 

But, before saying more about now, I want to go back a bit.

The day before we left the Hunter Mountain area we drove for a couple of hours on a “scenic” drive along one of

the “Bras” of the Bras d’Or Lake. It turned out to be a fairly low key scenic drive but we did find the Iona  Highland Village, an initiative which is committed to developing awareness of and sharing the heritage of Gaelic language and culture in Nova Scotia. And it certainly gave us some interesting insights.

For example, Gaelic as a unique Scottish Highlands language apparently evolved from Irish Gaelic in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and it accompanied Highland Scots who emigrated to what is now Nova Scotia. At Confederation in 1867 Gaelic was the third most common language spoken in what was then Canada and in 1900 over 100,000 people in Nova Scotia still spoke Gaelic as their mother tongue. In the this heritage village there are several renovated and preserved historic buildings from the Nova Scotia Gaelic era, including a unique round stone and thatch “house” with

stone steps built into the wall (presumably to minimize the difficulty of accessing the thatch roof for repair), and a small but prominent white church sitting high on the landscape. I’m not sure of the denomination of the church but as the Highland Gaels who emigrated to Nova Scotia were predominantly followers of either Roman Catholic or Presbyterian churches, it could be either or represent both.

The discovery of this village was definitely the interesting and informative high point of the drive for me.

Church at the Gaelic Heritage site.

Now I’m sitting in a comfortable room at Danny’s Inn, Restaurant and Conference Centre in Beresford, New Brunswick, with the all day rain continuing to fall. The folks here are very friendly and accommodating (very few customers at the moment). The place is quite nice and we are ready for another "rest" from driving and unpacking and re-packing every day. So, before pressing on we will likely stay here for a couple more nights.

So far the weather here has been pretty unpleasant with persistent cool and rain so not much exploring. We hope to get to one of the Parks here in Bathurst.

Acadian Village home.

Another bit of clarification. When we started this trip we intended to go from Nova Scotia on to Newfoundland but a number of factors contributed to our decision to scratch that part of the plan. First, though it is nice to have her along, travelling with a dog presents a number of difficulties. It is not always easy to find accommodation that accepts pets. And travelling with a dog on a raw food diet adds an enormous complication as the food has to be kept frozen or cold.

Acadian Village Grist Mill and dam

We have a neat refrigerator that works in the car and on 110 V systems in motels but we are still limited by the amount we can carry. And the sources of raw food along the way are relatively few.  And, though we found a source in Newfoundland, other factors precluded this part of the trip. The ferry ride of about 8 hours presents its own complication. The dog can be accommodated on board either on deck in a hard plastic crate or in the car. No one is allowed to stay with her in the car and we would not have access to the car during the trip to "The Rock".

Acadian Village Grist Mill

Neither of these options was acceptable for us, so, sadly, the Newfoundland visit was not possible.

Back to Bathurst.  One of our 3 days there was rain free and as there was a threat of sun, on the advice of a tourist information person (at a not yet open information office) we decided to drive to Miscous Island, relatively close to Bathurst (about 60 Km or so) where there are said to be spectacular views. It turned out that the

School and Church

original destination was a bit further than we thought and, with our usual stopping and starting, time prevented us from reaching our goal. But, one of the stopping places, an historical Acadian Heritage village, proved to be a lucky find! Once again, not yet open - but there were lots of folks around working hard to have the park open by early June. In spite of the time pressures they were facing and that the park is actually closed, they were extremely friendly and went some pains to make it possible for us to walk through the heritage

Acadians seem to have had Credit Unions!

village! A bit like other such places, the buildings have been moved from their original locations in different areas of the province and placed here in their original compass orientations and in relation to each other to create a semblance of an authentic Acadian village. The walk through the entire village was about 2.5 Km and we really impressed with the buildings and the overall ambience of the entire village.

Tinsmith's Shop - taken through the closed window

Tavern

So, here we are preparing to depart from northern New Brunswick for the Gaspé Peninsula where finding accommodation is a bit tricky for two reasons. Once again, finding pet friendly places that fit with our driving schedule has not been easy and secondly because many places are not yet open! 

But, having said that, I am happy to say that we have found and booked places for the first 3 nights on the Gaspé Peninsula.

Nest stop, Carleton sur mer, Province of Québec.

Ingonish to Hunter Mountain Chalets

The last blog post took us from Sackville, New Brunswick to the Brown's at Margaree Centre and then to Ingonish.

Brace yourself as this is a long post including a lot of images, as it takes us from Ingonish all the way to Hunter Mountain covering some of the best parts of our trip on and off the Cabot Trail!

Our Chalet at Hunter Mountain Chalets

Speaking of images, remember to click on any image to view a larger version.

We traveled Tuesday from Ingonish to Pleasant Bay then Wednesday to Hunter Mountain and are currently at Hunter Mountain Chalets just off the southern portion of the Cabot Trail.  This is such a great place that we plan to stay for at least 3 days. We have had quite nice weather for the past couple of days and the weather guessers are promising more for the next day or two.

Sunrise at Hunter Mountain Chalets

But it is important to say that, in spite of the rain and cold for much of the time this has been a great trip because the area is mostly beautiful but also, to a large degree, because we have taken our time and let the trip evolve each day. Of course, we had to plan accommodation locations ahead, but we kept the daily driving distances short to allow lots of time to stop and walk a bit, take photos and just enjoy the scenery and some chats with local people.

The Entry drive way and Office at Hunter Mountain Chalets

One in particular will be remembered as being quite special.

On leaving Ingonish we stopped for gas at a small “full service” gas station, Caper Gas  Drive ‘er (this is not a spelling error!).
I commented to the person filling our tank, who was also the owner, that full service places are pretty rare. This initiated an interesting, informative and wide ranging conversation about the economic circumstances of not only gas stations but this part of Nova Scotia. For example, he said that to convert his business to self service would cost $150,000 which he cannot afford. He can barely stay open in this region where there are 2 profitable months, 2 or 3 iffy months and the rest profitless months!

Along the Coastal Loop by Aspy Bay on route to Pleasant Bay

He can stay open because, having been here for decades his family does not have a mortgage to pay. Others are not so fortunate. There are few to no jobs so the young people leave and the population loss decreases even local demand seriously affecting the local economy. This poor economic condition shows in the deterioration of the provincial roads even on the “famous” Cabot Trail and this deterioration is emphasized in comparison to the excellent roads in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a federal jurisdiction.

Until the area can be rejuvenated by making it a year round economically sound environment things are not likely to improve. But our conversation was not all doom and gloom as he says some promising things are happening. He also gave us some excellent advice about how we could find the best routes and resources on and off the Cabot Trail.

Community of White Point near Scotch Cove

When we left our friend at his work we departed with a new perspective on the region. And armed with his excellent advice, we found the route and the scenery from Ingonish to Pleasant Bay which was by far the most spectacular to that point.
From Ingonish we traveled on the Cabot trail for about 10 kilometres along the coast to Neil’s Harbour where the Cabot Trail turned inland. Here, on the advice of our gas station friend, we turned off the Cabot trail onto a “scenic route”, the Coastal Loop, which took us to and along the coast of Aspy Bay to some spectacular scenery in an area where whales apparently travel and, with luck, might be seen. We were not that lucky.

At White Point we went down to the wharf and had a chat with a couple of fisherman and asked about the large "baskets" we had seen stored along with lobster traps and wondered about their use. (See the photo of these large orange coloured baskets beside lobster traps in the last blog post) They explained that they are used to catch Snow Crabs in April. Several fishing boats were in the dock area apparently getting ready for lobster fishing which begins next Friday.

View from White Point with the "pointed" mountain marking
Cabot's Landing in the distance.

We considered going to Meat Cove, the most northerly point on Cape Breton but our friend, while partially supporting the idea had said that it was a 2 hour journey and not likely to provide more than we would see along the coast of Aspy Bay. After a lot of stopping and photo making, time tends to pass and we realized that we did not really have enough of it to go to Meat Cove. Our gas station travel consultant had also advised us to look across Aspy Bay from White Point and find a pointed mountain - “we say it looks like a breast” he said with a mildly embarrassed smile. “That, according to Nova Scotians, is the area where John Cabot first landed in North America.”

So, we decided to go in the direction of Meat Cove as far as Cabot landing at Sugarloaf to visit the general location of Cabot’s arrival. There appears to be some competition between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland on this event, each claiming the historic spot. When we arrived at Cabot's Landing Provincial Park, you guessed it - it was closed.

So, from there we retraced our “steps” back to the Cabot Trail and on to Pleasant Bay. Now, when we spotted our Pleasant Bay accommodations we gasped a bit at the overpowering array of pink and blue buildings and lamp posts and virtually everything paintable! Thankfully, the inside was spared the outdoor paint decor. Another definitely spartan space — a small room, a bed, tv set, one ceiling light (there were a couple of other lights on the wall but we were unable to find a way to turn them on), a small table and a bathroom. The only restaurant in Pleasant Bay was not open. We decided to stay only one night.

We set out fairly early on another overcast and cold morning to find a place for breakfast and with high hopes that our booking in Hunter Mountain would be more to our liking.
At the entrance back into Cape Breton Highlands National Park we found the visitors centre to be not exactly open but sufficiently open for us to pick up a topographical map, some books and a few other bits and bobs that we didn’t really need.

The very friendly park folks told us that in the beautiful town of Chéticamp just down the road we would find a Co-op grocery store, a liquor/wine store and an excellent breakfast at Evangeline’s Family Restaurant, and they were correct on all counts!

The rest of the drive to Hunter Mountain took us through more excellent scenery and back through the area of the Margaree’s - remember the Margarees? We passed them all and about 30 Km or so  later with some trepidation we prepared ourselves for the first view of Hunter Mountain Chalets. To our relief and delight what we found was a terrific place!

It was immediately apparent to both of us that we should stay here for more than one night. After we signed in the proprietor, Roland, said he would take us to our lodgings and provide an orientation and he did. There is a small kitchen and the living space and bedrooms are both spacious and welcoming. Roland, who is extremely friendly obviously cares deeply about this place.

His attention to detail is reflected in the quality of everything about the buildings and rooms from the excellent German designed windows to the European beds and the Van Gogh and Monet prints on the walls! - as well as the carefully laid out and marked walking paths on the extensive property! Roland carefully and thoroughly explained how everything works including the recycling arrangements, the history and nature of the walking trails as well as the controls of the TV and he actually set up the TV so we could watch the Jays game!

We have seen nothing even close to this. And at a price much less than we paid at substantially less appealing accommodations. Definitely a three day stay!

(I should tell you that, though I am talking about Hunter Mountain Chalets here, only the last photo has anything to do with Hunter Mountain. The others were made well before we reached here. It's not always easy to coordinate the text with the images that I want to include.)

We would like to stay longer but we should be in Truro by Saturday. So, on Saturday when we reluctantly leave this place, we will face a relatively long drive back to Sackville where we will stay one night before leaving on Sunday for the Gaspé.

Sunrise at Hunter Mountain Chalets

Sackville, New Brunswick to Cape Breton

Saturday we left Sackville en route to Port Hawkesbury just over the Canso Causeway on Cape Breton Island.. But we planned to stop first in Truro, Nova Scotia where, we were told, we would be able to see the Tidal Bore. Some will know what the Tidal Bore is but some may not, so for the latter - the 

Small Tidal Bore wave - centre left.

Tidal Bore it is a wave of water running against the normal flow of water in channels, like rivers, which normally drain into the Bay of Fundy. The wave is created during the rising of the Bay’s huge tide which in some areas, at its peak, may reach as much as 12 to 14 meters. 

The rising tide waters push the river water up stream reversing the normal river flow and, where the channel is relatively narrow, the Bay water rushing inland can create a wave reaching as high as one meter. We were pretty keen to witness this awesome phenomenon so when we reached Truro we set out to find the place to see it. The tourist information folks would be able to direct us, we thought, but they were closed. So, in the process of trying to find where to go we asked someone in a local business and, fortunately he was the right

Old bridge supports before tide began to rise.

person. He said the city was reconstructing the area but had made little progress and the viewing there was not that good and, anyway, he said “the rushing bore is not an animal - it’s just a lot of water”. He was right about the place - it was a mess. So we decided to go down the road to Maitland where there was an interpretive centre so it might be better. In the end, we found the location and though the centre was closed and there was no one in sight, we were able to walk to the viewing area. We had looked up the schedule for the event and arrived about 30 minutes before the predicted time. The scheduled time came and went with nothing obvious happening in the muddy Shubanacadie River, the longest in Nova Scotia. For a change the weather was sunny and

Old bridge supports 90 minutes after tide began to rise.

warm so the waiting was not unpleasant. Just as we were considering giving up we saw a small wave quite a distance away in the shallow water on the far side of the river! Hard to tell the height of this wave because of the distance but my guess possibly 30 cm.  Though this was the only actual wave that we saw, it was obvious within 5 to 10 minutes that there was a great deal of water moving inland against the river flow, raising the water level quite rapidly, filling the previously bare edges of the river and moving up the sides of the old free standing bridge piers. . Though the “wave” was not high, the overall phenomenon is pretty amazing to see.  Still images won’t convey the speed of this rising tide but comparing a couple of images (above) before and about 90 minutes after the beginning showing a rise in water level of 3 to 4 meters later might help. In the first photo of the old bridge support the water is quite still but moving slowly to the left but in the second image the water is approaching the top of the bridge support and clearly moving rapidly to the right!

Time to move on as we would like to get to Port Hawkesbury in time to get settled and have an enjoyable pre Mothers’ Day dinner, which we did.

We left Port Hawkesbury on our way to the Ceilidh Driving Trail (pronounced Kaylee) around 9 am in dense fog which, thankfully, cleared within the first few kilometres.

Inverness Beach Trail

There is a parallel walking trail along the shore which we enjoyed for short bits along the way at Judique and Inverness Beach where we also had a bit of lunch.

Inverness Beach Trail

We reached the Cabot Trail early afternoon and shortly after checked in at our cabin at Margaree Centre, not to be confused with Margaree or Margaree Fork, East Margaree, Northeast Margaree nor Margaree Harbour - eight Margarees in all! 

Th place we stayed, “Browns -  Bruaich na H’Aibhne” Suites (by the Banks of the River), was a unique collection of pleasant but aging cabins along with several trailers converted to rental “cabins” scattered about a lovely piece of property. After one night at Brown’s we headed out for Ingonish and decided to go by the Native learning centre  “Wagmatcook, but it was closed.

Near the learning centre we happened on the Big Spruce Brewery in Nyanza and stopped by to sample their brew.

We tasted samples of the beer they had on tap and decided to buy a half growler (Yapper) of two of the four beers we sampled. One was a Pale Ale and the other a stout like beer which they call Cereal Killer! 

This photo made in their tasting/drinking room with an awesome view includes and image of the  samples of the four beers that they had on tap that day.

We then moved on to Baddeck where we picked up some groceries, had lunch and found yet another closed information centre. 

A bit here about the advantages and disadvantages of doing this trip in the “off season”.

Near Margaree

It’s great to miss the traffic and the crowds so that we can book accommodations as we go and be reasonably assured of finding a place. And that’s very attractive. The downside is that many points of interest and important resources, such as tourists information places, are closed. Fortunately, with regard to the latter, we have internet access and CAA books!

Too much rain has made getting out and about less than ideal and the temperatures have been on the cool side, not unexpectedly. And, as we knew from our two years in Nova Scotia years ago,  no leaves on deciduous trees until June! And the second characteristic about Nova Scotia of which I am now reminded is the wind which seems to blow vigorously and constantly. 

Lobster and Snow Crab traps

From Baddeck we drove north on route to Ingonish and our overnight at the Knotty Pine.  Now, like Margaree there is not just one Ingonish! We have Ingonish, Ingonish Ferry, Ingonish Harbour, Ingonish Beach and Ingonish Centre. Knotty Pines was in Ingonish Ferry on Ingonish Harbour. Several of the nearby bodies of water bear the Ingonish name - South Bay Ingonish, North Bay Ingonish, etc.

The Knotty Pine cabins are a bit closely, if not  precariously, perched above the shore of Ingonish Harbour (photo right) so our room offered a lovely unobstructed view of the harbour.

Near the Knotty Pines at the entry to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park we found their visitors centre to be open!.. well, not exactly as they don't officially open until May 20th. But they were extremely welcoming and we were able to pick up some very helpful maps and information about the area and the National Park and we were early enough to be free of any fees!

On Tuesday, May 10 after a fairly cramped night in our tiny room we left the Knotty Pine and Ingonish for our next destination at Pleasant Bay.

Beyond Saint John

Well, we spent most of the day en route to Sackville in the “clouds”, as it were. Little actual rain but lots of fog and mist and temperatures no higher than 9 C. But in spite of the weather it was an excellent day!

(Click on any photo so see a larger version)

The first leg of the days drive included a small detour of about 15 Kilometres to the community of Kingston to pick up some food for our dog, Kita. She is on a raw food diet so finding sources along the way and keeping it cold has been an interesting challenge of the trip. This short side trip turned out to be of special interest. First, it involved an unexpected ferry ride - little waiting time as the trip is short and there are two small craft constantly moving back and forth carrying up to about 15 vehicles - depending on size. The drive to the meat source took us on some interesting roads and past equally interesting houses. Our GPS guided us to the address and en route we found ourselves on Shampers Bluff Road.

To most this likely means nothing but others might know that the internationally known Canadian photographer, Freeman Patterson, lives on Shampers Bluff! In 2009, when I attended a Freeman Patterson workshop in St. Martins, New Brunswick, I spent a day at Freeman’s place which is on a very high piece of land with some amazing views of the water and land below.

After picking up Kita’s 5 days supply of food we drove past Freeman’s place, but decided not to pay him a visit. This photo from the road is a view of the area near his place. It is worth noting at this point that photos of places like this - which look quite spectacular - rarely do any justice to what the eye and brain perceive.

Back to the ferry and on toward our destination for the day, Sackville, New Brunswick, a drive of around 200 Kilometres. About two thirds of the way we decided to leave the highway and travel down to the Bay of Fundy coast along a secondary road thinking we would be very close to the water, and we were but only glimpsed it at infrequent intervals. The drive took us through Fundy National Park which is quite spectacular though we saw it only from the road as everything is closed until mid May. Even so, we past some very interesting terrain and places of interest, like

Overlook in Fundy National Park

some unusual colourful hillsides and the small village of Alma, which is just outside the National park and right on the water’s edge. 

Village of Alma

The tide was out so any boats at the dock were left stranded on the ground waiting for the next high tide. And Ruth found a general store where she picked up some stamps and engaged in a characteristically “Maritime friendly” conversation with the clerk, or possibly the proprietor. From Alma we continued along the coast, catching glimpses of the salt water mud flats, visible at low tide. Some of the areas visible were covered with low vegetation interrupted at intervals by “channels” of water running perpendicular to the bay coast.  Not sure of the origin or significance of these.

Well past Alma we came to a small winery! - Waterside Farms Cottage Winery proved to be an interesting surprise and offered more “Maritime friendly” conversation. They make a variety of fruit “wines” including blueberry “wine” aged in oak, which is quite tasty, as well as a blackberry “port”, also surprisingly good. Bought a bottle of each.

Path to the Rocks

Closer to Moncton we arrived at the Hopewell Rocks, a cluster of unique rock formations, some mesa-like, referred to as “Flower Pot Rocks”, which have been carved out by the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy   We had hoped to see these but the whole area is highly “organized” as a tourist attraction and pretty tightly closed until later in the season. 

We did manage to circumvent the gates and walk to the area near the rocks where we gained a limited view. The paths to the rocks are quite lovely, winding through quiet, almost cathedral like forest. When the area is open one can arrange a beach level walk but not at this time. The need for caution is pretty clear as the area is rocky and no doubt slippery when wet and it is subject to very high tides which come in extremely rapidly.  All things considered, potentially very dangerous.

Diamond Rock

The Diamond Rock photo was made from a point on the path that was "semi-legal" but in order to see the Flower Pot Rocks (below) I had to make one further transgression though not to a point that was at all risky.

When we left the Rocks it was getting late and we still had about 70 Km to go to Sackville so we pushed on to Moncton, navigated the maze of roads there and arrived in Sackville about 6 pm,

Got our collection of stuff into the motel, had a bite of supper, enjoyed our blueberry wine, booked our motel in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia and watched the Jays roll over the Texas Rangers!

Flower Pot Rocks

In the morning (Friday), surprise! It was 3 C, densely overcast and pouring rain! So we decided to slip on down the road to Amherst, NS to the nearest pet store for another leash (one was damaged when Kita broke free) and we passed a “ghostly” field of wind turbines spinning in the mist - I say spinning because there was a serious wind which was great for the turbines but not for driving! 

Got the leash, visited the Information Centre to get information about the tidal bore, and found some interesting buildings in the village of Amherst.

First Baptist Church, Amherst

Back at the motel we had some lunch and hunkered down waiting for the rain to stop - which it did around 2 pm. But even when it is not raining water tends to gather on one’s glasses and camera. After the rain stopped we went for walk in the nearby Waterfowl Park. What a great place to walk!

Tonight there will be more organizing and getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning en route to Truro to try to catch the tidal bore then on to our next stop at Port Hawkesbury, N.S. 

Just to show what the driving was like on this trip for most of the day, below is a photo Ruth took with her iPad.