Cape Breton Island

The 'Causeway' is the only road connecting Cape Breton Island with the mainland.  We crossed it in windy conditions, then cruised into Port Hawksbury.  We filled a propane bottle, picked up some groceries and refreshments, discovering a small cannabis sales area in the back corner of the govt liquor store.  I wanted to check out Battery Point Provincial Park on the way through, but the GPS had some difficulty locating the turnoff, as it has clearly moved a few yards in the last few years.  But the best guess was a road marked as below, so I thought it must be some sort of industrial site?

After finding no other access, it became clear that the 'Authorized Vehicles' must include random tourists and local campers!  For the night, we found a great, isolated beach on Cape George, that even came with a pile of firewood ;-).

It was hot, so a swim was in order in huge salty Bras d'Or Lake.

In the morning, when the waves had calmed down, I found this tiny starfish.

Disturbingly, I also found this broken beer bottle sitting upright in the water (hidden by waves the previous night), right where I had been wading.

Weather was warm the next day, so I was back in the water, and contemplating spending another night there.  That was when a friendly Conservation Officer arrived to advise me that this was a 'no camping area'!  He agreed that the only signs at the entrance were a 'Pack in, Pack out', and a No Dumping sign, giving no indication about the camping legality.  I guess any signs they do post are torn down regularly.  So we had to move on and head up island, heading for the famed Cabot Trail.

After a night in a non-descript spot along the North River, we continued on into the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  The road north goes into and out of the park several times, but there are good signs indicating the boundaries at least.
 

Cape Breton seems to have a lot of these poles with communications gear on them.  Some of them are likely small cell sites, but others are possibly internet providers in the area?

Ingonish Beach had good info posted on the weather, beach, and covid precautions.

Always lots of prominent churches in this area.

Some of the signs have Gaelic versions as well ...

Sometimes you just have to yawn on this blog!

Even though the temperatures were around 27C, I kept an eye out for blowing snow as directed.

 

At Dingwall Beach, there was a quiet spot by the harbour just out of town to spend the night after yet another swim in the Atlantic ocean.

We continued all the way up to the tip of the island and the end of the road at Meat Cove.

More Cape Breton stuff on the way ...

Northumberland Strait, headed for Cape Breton Island

When I last posted, we were in the Shepody, NB area.  Since we wanted to get to Nova Scotia, we had to get up and around the furthest reaches of the Bay of Fundy, which meant skirting through the edges of Moncton.  From there it was more or less a straight shot through Sackville, and into Amherst Nova Scotia.  I'd entered all my details online, so the Covid people would know I was coming, but a quick stop at the information centre at the boundary led me on a road with no checkpoint!

I found a spot to camp on the coast of the Northumberland Strait, but the mosquitoes were so bad I didn't even venture near the water - even with a thick coating of repellent!  In the morning, the humidity was extreme, and everything felt damp.

Needing a swim to cool down we came across Blue Sea Beach Park.  The parking lot was packed with lots of cars and trucks, and the best beach was busy.  But a short run through a mosquito infested trail through the bush got me to a rocky beach with no one anywhere around!  Perfect.

We had to find a less populated spot to spend the night, and did so, but it proved to be thick with hungry mosquitoes again, and the mud shoreline might have been good for clams, but was not great for swimming even if you could have avoided the aerial assault!

Despite the truck purring along contentedly at over 480,000km, it has been asking politely for a new fuel filter and an oil change for a while now.  Not having any luck finding a suitable fast-change place on my own, I finally resorted to asking at a local auto parts store in New Glasgow.  I was informed that it might be difficult to find a place to put the truck and camper on a hoist to get the oil change.  When I told him that usually I just drive in, sit in the truck and wait while they do the work from below, he told me that those type of oil change places are not allowed in Nova Scotia!  No wonder I couldn't find any of them despite looking!  I guess the truck will just have to wait till we are back some where that doesn't do it the hard way ;-).

So, for the next few days it was just swim, in the remarkably warm ocean, catch some rays, swim, find a new beach and repeat ...

There was time for some aerial  recon on occasion.
 

Discharge from a Nova Scotia power generating station.

Too busy to add more now, so we'll continue in the next post, whenever that is!

Nova Scotia cruisin' Beaches and a Lighthouse!

 In no particular order ...

 Hailey, enjoying some time on the beach, near Bayfield Beach, NS.  (Nowhere near the Bayfield Bunch!)

 

 

Found this carving on a random rock down the shore.  Not sure if it is prehistoric, or more likely done with power tools?  Either way, a pretty good job.

Sunrise, but too many mosquitoes to enjoy it outdoors ...

I'm sure Nova Scotia must have some world record traffic circles.  This is looking into the centre of the circle while driving around it.  Must be at least 500m across.

While most lighthouses tend to be down on the waterfront, this one is on a hill, I think it was some 345 feet above the water.  Reminds me of my days in a fire lookout, but no smoke or fire in these parts.

Sorry, Wheeling It, no tours available!

This beach was too crowded, and the parking too limited, so we didn't stop.

We didn't stay at this park as it was day use only, but we did find a random, free beach not too far away.  Too bad the only other camper to spend the night ran his cheap noisy generator all afternoon and well into the night.  Luckily, we were able to move far enough down the beach that it wasn't a huge problem. 

Sign on an open gate leading into the park ... hmmm?