Even though I'd only been in Cape Breton and the Maritimes a week or so, and I know the locals consider you an outsider even years later, I was pleased to see that they have named a harbour after me!
Road to Meat Cove at the tip of Cape Breton.
The road through the highlands of Cape Breton Highlands national park was completely fogged in, and much colder than down along the coast. I didn't see anything till we were down in Cheticamp on the coast.
Cheticamp harbour
They love brightly coloured houses in this area, and yellow is a common sight. Most of the older houses are very well maintained or restored.
This has to be one of the smallest, and most scenic post offices anywhere, with an unobstructed view of the ocean!
If the sign says the park is closed, but the gate is open ...? I just love confusing signs!
Lots of boats sitting on blocks, awaiting the next lobster season.
Many roads are named after the long term residents here.
So this is where the slow kids play, but I wonder where the fast ones play?
In Cape Breton, a high percentage of houses have very nice plaques similar to this to display their number.
They obviously use a lot of wood to heat here, and they take their winter wood supplies very seriously. There are many commercial or semi-commercial wood cutting operations, and many have bundles of wood for sale along the road.
They have wood stacking down to an art, and many piles are stacked by the road to show off their skills!
After leaving Cape Breton Island we headed down along the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. I really think they could have used a few more adjectives on this sign! How about South River Lake Shore Road Junction turnoff? ;-)
We found a spot on the side of the road to spend the night. Anchored offshore was this coast guard vessel, the Ann Harvey. We went for a closer look. I thought by the look of it that it was an ice-breaker, but it is actually serving as a buoy tender with light ice-breaking capabilities. (see the link)
Earlier, we had spotted the Polar Prince in harbour. While it appeared to be the same as a coast guard ship, there was no white stripe on it. Well, it turns out that it used to be a coast guard ship, but it is now used for exploration. The Canada C3 expedition vessel is a 67 metre (220 ft) Canadian-flagged
research icebreaker. A former Canadian Coast Guard vessel, she has a
distinguished legacy serving Canada and Canadians. The vessel is
connected to Canada and the world via the latest satellite technologies,
enabling Canadians from coast to coast to coast to experience the
Canada C3 journey. Outfitted with Zodiacs (small boats), advanced
navigation equipment, research labs, multiple decks and a top deck
observation area, our vessel is purpose-built for passenger experiences
in remote environments.
I don't know if this is the world wide web or not, but it was a fairly impressive one!
We had intended to go further down the Eastern Shores of Nova Scotia, but the combination of the fairly rough roads in places in combination of the approaching tropical(!) storm convinced us to head for more sheltered terrain.
Even though I'd only been in Cape Breton and the Maritimes a week or so, and I know the locals consider you an outsider even years later, I was pleased to see that they have named a harbour after me!
It's nice you are taking your time to see the east coast and you are seeing much more of it than we did a few years ago. You of course are doing it the right way. In fact I'm seeing more of it in your post than we did when we were actually there. Safe travels my friend:))
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