We traveled 164 miles to Cape Breton Island, our next destination in Nova Scotia. Our reservations were at the Bras d’Or Lakes Campground in Baddeck, NS. Yesterday, the campground called to give me instructions for our arrival. There was mix-up and they thought we were arriving one day earlier than I had on my itinerary. Oh no…did I make another reservation error? I quickly checked my confirmation and this time it was not my mistake. That was good because we were staying for 4 nights. We arrived on the correct day and everything was good!
Baddeck NS stretches along the shores of the beautiful Bras d’Or Lake. Our campground has lake views and access. We took an evening walk down to the lake and encountered a few mosquitoes along the way. Next time, remember the mosquito spray!
Bras d’Or Lake is sometimes referred to as an inland sea. The saline tidal water body is connected to the Atlantic Ocean . The lake receives freshwater from rivers, making it a rich natural habitat and a popular fishing and cruising spot.
We drove into the village of Baddeck and found it to be a quaint community with several waterfront restaurants and bars. This magnificient boat was in the harbor today. The owners might have been mingling among us, since ,we could see the crew relaxing onboard.
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Day 2 – Cape Breton Island – Cabot Trail
Baddeck NS is situated in the heart of Cape Breton Island and is considered to be the beginning and end of the world famous Cabot Trail. The Cabot Trail is one of Canada’s ultimate scenic highways. The 185 mile scenic drive through Cape Breton Highland’s National Park and along the Atlantic Coast, is considered to be one of the best road trips in the world.
It was a beautiful day to enjoy the and it’s stunning beauty of valley and coastal views. We saw unreal ocean vistas and quaint fishing villages.
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We were about 3/4 of the way around the trail, when we stopped in the fishing village of Cheticamp for lunch(late lunch). The Seafood Stop was a small restaurant and fish market. We watched as they sold frozen seafood by the bag. Mussels, Crab Legs, and Lobster were the most popular purchases. For lunch, we chose the special of the day, Fish(Haddock) Burger, Fries, and Coleslaw. Delicious! Will we ever get tired of the Haddock?
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After lunch we ran into a rainstorm that continued the remainder of our drive. As soon as we got back to the RV park….no rain!
Day 3 – Cape Breton Island
On our agenda today was the drive to the Fortress of Louisbourg. We programmed the Jeep GPS and began our drive. The GPS and “‘our navigator” were not on the same page. We ended up driving along the coastline (longest route) instead of cutting across the island (shortest route). The drive took us longer than we had planned, but, the drive was scenic. We stopped near Syndney to watch the arrival of the Newfoundland Ferry. We met a couple, Johnny and Lucy, at the view point and watched the ferry arrival with them. Johnny was from Cape Breton but left home to work on Key West Shrimp boats. At one time, he also lived in Tempe, AZ. What a small world!
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The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site is located on Cape Breton Island’s eastern coast, 40 minutes from Sydney, Nova Scotia.
We used our Canada Parks Discovery Pass for entrance and hopped on a bus that took us to the fortress.
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The Fortress of Louisbourg is a reconstruction of the massive fortress ereced by the french to defend their colonies during the years 1720-45.
After departing the bus, our first stop was a fisherman’s house. We were greeted by a woman in period-style clothing that told us the history of the Fortress. We also learned that The Fortress of Louisbourg was one of the busiest harbours in North America and one of France’s key centres of trade and military strength in the New World.
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We roamed the streets of the reconstructed 18th-century Fortress and toured the buildings: soldiers barracks, merchants house, bakery, King’s Bastion Barracks, and chapel. We even enjoyed a flight of beer at the Fortress bar/tavern. The Blueberry Cider was my favorite!
There are scheduled activities during the day at the fortress. During our visit, we witnessed the punishment of a prisoner and the musket firing.
It was a nice way to spend our afternoon. The fortress was impressive in size and the history very interesting , but I would have liked more re-enactment and interpretive staff.
After our tour and a stop at the gift shop, we were ready return to the RV park. We followed the GPS directions back to Baddeck for a shorter drive.
In September 2022, Cape Breton Island sustained wind damage from Hurricane Fiona. We could see lots of tress that were blown down and or snapped in half.
Day 4 – Cape Breton Island
Today we visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. This was another place where we used our Canada Parks Discovery Pass. The pass was a good purchase!
At his site, we viewed a collection of artifacts, photographs, and personal momentos commemorating the life and work of the inventor- Alexander Graham Bell.
There were numerous displays covering his extraordinary range of interest; aeronautics, agriculture, genetics, marine engineering, medical science and his work with the hearing imparied.
At the end of our tour, we sat in the red Adirondack chairs on the hillside watching the boats. We watched several sailboats and soon realized that they were involved in a sailing class. Very fun to watch!
We drove into the village and stopped at Off The Hook, an outdoor bar at the harbour. As we arrived, the magnificent boat we viewed on our first day, was leaving the harbour. We ordered a couple of drinks and an appetizer and enjoyed the view.
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While enjoying the outdoor patio, the sailboat class arrived at the harbour. We were amazed to learn that the participants were all girls… around 10-13 years old. We could tell that this was not their first time sailing, because they got down to business right away taking down the sails, packing the sails, and lifting the small boats out of the water. Very Cool!
Today was a great end to our stay on Cape Breton Island!
Tomorrow we drive 216 miles to Halifax!
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