From the "Cabot Trail," Cape Breton Island
Saturday 18 May
Charlottetown, PEI
It's not sticking or anything, but it did snow today. And, it might snow tonight. It was quite a chilly day, with temperatures hovering around freezing, and a biting wind. Neither one of us planned this trip for quite such extremes, and we've both acquired new sweatshirts and new jackets along the way!
But, we had a great day, despite the weather. We started the day in Sydney, in the rain and low cloud. Given that the forward visibility wasn't great, and also given that we wanted to make the Prince Edward Island ferry later in the afternoon, we opted not to swing out around the entire peninsula. We did take secondary roads, however, and the clouds lifted enough a little later for us to see more than just a few hundred meters.
As I've mentioned before, Nova Scotia does a great job of directing its visitors along interesting, themed pathways. Today, we followed part of the Cabot Trail, and then joined up with the Ceilidh Trail. We wound through the central part of the island, saying hello to Bras d'Or Lake yet again. When we got to the west coast of Cape Breton, we said hello to the Atlantic, and to the Ceilidh Trail. Alas, no music or dancing along the Ceilidh Trail -- this visit, anyway.
Part of the Cabot Trail involved a shortcut on a cable ferry - instead of taking the long route around by land, we opted for the 5-minute hop across an inlet of the lake. The cable ferry holds probably about seven to ten cars, max, and is connected to a cable - yeah, I'm smart that way, I figured that out! The ferry just slides back & forth on the cable, moving cars, etc. over.
Observation about the small towns, villages, and wide spots in the road of Nova Scotia: they all have a car repair shop. It might be the only business in town (literally) but it's there.
We picked up some goodies for lunch at a local co-op, and parked at Margaree Harbour for our picnic. It was really windy, and frosty-cold, too, although we were able to get a few pictures. There were fishing boats coming back in, and the conditions were impressive enough that the locals were watching them, too. The local postman was heard to remark "(effing) nasty oout there, eh?"
We crossed the causeway back onto the mainland of Nova Scotia, and bid farewell to Cape Breton Island. We backtracked yesterday's route a bit to get to the PEI ferry, which leaves from Caribou, near Pictou. And, as we drove along, we drove through some snow flurries.
There are two ways to get to PEI by car: ferry, or bridge. They're clever - you pay nothing to travel to the island, but you pay to get off the island. Consequently, we couldn't reserve a spot on the ferry; we had to do it Washington-State-style and drive up, first come, first served. It's a holiday weekend here in Canada, so we didn't want to take any chances on missing the ferry. Logistically, we wanted the ferry onto the island, and then the bridge off.
Anyway, we got to the ferry terminal a good 1.5 hours ahead of time, and had no problems at all. The ferry didn't fill up, in fact, it was probably only about 1/3 full. And, we had time to wait for a bit in the terminal building, which meant we discovered another branch of the Nova Scotia library system: a take-a-book-leave-a-book lending library! In Halifax, we found a library return box that was good for all libraries in Nova Scotia. Clever. And then here, they're encouraging people to share their books. Cool!
We ran into a young family in the terminal who'd stayed in the same hotel where we'd stayed in Sydney. They, too, were obviously heading for PEI. They're American, but have been living in NS for about two years, and are soon headed back to the States. They were extremely friendly, and the three children very well behaved! Mom got a little green on the ferry crossing to PEI, but then again, it was a little rough in parts!
This ferry, the Princess Island, is the smaller boat they use for the 75-minute crossing. It's also an open-hulled boat, similiar to our WA State ferries. They kick you out of our car for the crossing, though, so we set up camp upstairs. I did my usual exploring, nearly freezing out on the deck in the wind! Although we couldn't see very much because of the weather, it still was a neat crossing. It snowed a bit on the crossing, too.
PEI is Canada's smallest province, comprising just the island. It calls itself "The Gentle Island," and the license plates say "Canada's Greenest Province." It certainly sells itself well on first glance - we drove through idyllic farmland, green with red, red soil freshly tilled. Large farmhouses, tidy yards. Little inlets of the Atlantic here and there.
Charlottetown will be a joy to discover - we got in just at dark, and will have to explore tomorrow. Of course, PEI is most famous for "Anne of Green Gables," and there is a whole industry based on the stories. Most of the attractions aren't open yet, but we'll be able to see the village, at least. It's all good.
Holiday weekend in Canada means something else too: hockey tournaments. Apparently, there's at least one in town this weekend, and there are several teams (and their families) staying in our hotel. I think we're in for a noisy night.... but at least we don't have to get up super early tomorrow!
Cheers,
--Kit and Nancy
on Holiday? eh?
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