Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
posted: Aug 11, 05:36 PM
We’re leaving for Cape Breton soon, this means no posts for a while, unless I find some internet. Not overly likely…
When I was around twelve my parents decided we should go on vacation to Cape Breton. They wanted to see the Cabot Trail. A destination many of their friends had raved about.
My family moved to Canada from Scotland, when I was a toddler. My mother referred to Scotland as home, but my father appeared to consider Canada his new home. He used to tell us wonderful stories, though, about his summers spent working on his cousin’s sheep farm and his extended time out on the moors. I loved his stories!
I remember my Father exclaiming upon approaching the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, “This is the first place I’ve seen since we moved here that reminds me of Scotland!” Needless to say, they loved the Cabot Trail!
In the 21st century we continue to stay near Margaree Harbour. We stay in a little cottage within a two minute walk of a beach, hiking trails and frequent whale sightings. It is one of the most beautiful, and restful places, I’ve ever found. None of us become tired of this area.
The sunsets are phenomenal, the electrical storms over the Gulf of St. Lawrence are impressive. The coast of Cape Breton from Dunvegan to Cape North remains one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
We usually go whale watching out of Pleasant Bay, an isolated community in northern Cape Breton. We hike in the national park, usually seeing moose, seals, hearing coyotes, often encountering evidence of bears and noting warnings on the trails. We spend days on two of the emptiest beaches in Nova Scotia, with the warmest water north of the Carolinas. Cape Breton is my idea of Heaven!
It is rugged, peaceful and spiritual. I cannot imagine a summer without my Cape Breton experience.