July 2016: Nova Scotia 7-Day Itinerary (Part I)

Day One

Day 1: Travel day! When traveling from JFK, there's not too many flights to choose from NYC to Halifax. I flew with Delta on their 11:40 am, and got into Nova Scotia by 2:40 pm (there is a one hour time jump ahead). After grabbing a rental car from Avis, I headed towards Cape Breton Island, which is about a 4+ hour drive from the airport. Along the way, stopped by the Walmart in Antigonish (about 1.5 hours into the drive) to stock up on water and snacks. Whenever I go out somewhere remote/country, I always stock up on essentials because usually these places lack variety or they mark them up. By the time I got into Cheticamp, it was almost 9 pm (due to the mini Walmart stop and McDonalds for dinner since there was nothing else around that was quick and easy).

Before the trip, I debated where to start/stay on Cape Breton. A lot of things I read online suggested driving around it clockwise to avoid traffic. Others suggested counter-clockwise to take advantage of pulling out to the overlooks on the right hand side. After doing both, it really doesn't matter! Or at least if you go before July 1. Didn't find it crowded at all and the driving was easy!!! Not scary at all, but I guess it depends what you're used to. My perspective is from a New Yorker's so if you can handle the streets of Manhattan you can handle this. Also it's easier to drive here than the really curvy roads of Hawaii.

Sucker for novelty items. The McLobster at McDonalds was the dinkiest lobster roll I've ever had! Food fail.

So I decided to stay in Cheticamp, at the Cornerstone motel for a few reasons:

It is literally outside the entrance of the park. Like a two minute drive to the visitors center
I wanted to be super close to the Skyline trail, which is the highlight of the park. If you stay at the other end in Ingonish, it takes about two hours to get here and with the weather being unpredictable, I rather be close
According to reviews online, this motel is pretty newly renovated and it was affordable (under $100 USD/night)

I agree with the reviews. It's a very basic motel but it's clean and super close to the park. If you come here from the airport, make sure to get here before the office closes at 10 pm. If you're coming in late like I did, let them know just in case.

Day Two

Day 2: Woke up to cloudy skies and drizzling rain. Skyline trail was definitely not happening this morning, as the whole point is to climb up to the top for amazing views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Went for breakfast in Cheticamp. There are not many places open at 7 am. Ended up at Happy Clam Cafe. So a quick word about these little towns on Cape Breton--they are really tiny! There's not a lot going on so keep your expectations low. It's just a very quiet, laid back life. For breakfast, these places mostly offer eggs, with toast and your choice of ham, bacon or sausage and a side of potatoes. Very basic but probably a bit overpriced. Suggest Evangeline's instead, which is 5 minutes further down in Cheticamp for similar food and better prices.

Basic breakfast sandwich at Happy Clam. Evangeline is a bit tastier and cheaper. Also I was hungry so I ate half of it already before I snapped this pic.

After eating, drove over to La Bolaungerie Bakery to pick up pastries as a snack for the day. SKIP IT! I admit it, I'm a spoiled New Yorker with access to great food. But the whole point of this travel blog is not to say everything was amazing. How can everything be so good??? It's possible, but I don't buy it. Anyway I went here because of the rave reviews. I can see why people might like it if they don't have access to local bakeries or exposure to French pastries back in their hometown. So if that's the case for you then give it a try. But if you do have access to great baked goods at home, this place was just ok.

From here, headed into the park to the visitor's center to pick up a park pass. If you buy a one day pass it's actually good until 4 pm the next day, which worked for me. You can also pick up a park map which outlines where all the trails are and codes them by level of difficulty. Due to the light rain, I decided to just drive all along the Cabot Trail and made The Bog the first stop. This is a short walk around the marsh and it's supposed to be a good spot to see a moose. I didn't see any here, but it was a nice walk around.

The walk around the Bog takes 15 minutes.

From here, drove over to Pleasant Bay. The rain was still off and on. Everything looked so glum.

Since the weather didn't seem like it would get better, decided to drive all the way to Meat Cove. According to the front desk at the motel, the most scenic drive is from Cheticamp to Pleasant Bay, and Meat Cove has nice views too. I will say that I agree with him!

The restaurant opens at noon. Otherwise there is not much here. Mussels with a view below.

Meat Cove, the most northern tip of the island and where the gulf meets the Atlantic Ocean

I love how everything is so luscious green here! It's not the same color of green as in NY. It's a deeper, healthier, fuller green.

With the rain not letting up, decided to drive down to Keltic Lodge, which is one of the most luxurious placesto stay on Cape Breton, have a cup of tea, and prayed for the (at this point in the day) pouring rain to stop. Got there at about 2:30 and had some tea and guess what? At 3 pm it stopped!! Was glad I did some research beforehand because ended up going on the Middle Head Trail hike, which starts right behind the lodge. This, along with the Skyline Trail, is a must do in my opinion. However, be warned there's a lot of bugs on this one so bring bug spray.

This trail takes you out into the other end of the peninsula so you're surrounded by water on both sides of the trail.

The weather really is quick to change. After raining all day, the sky finally opened up.

Once I finally got to the end, the reward was a sweeping view. There are two lookout points, one to the right and one to the left with a cliff in between.

From here, it was getting late. After climbing up and out of the trail (which is pretty straightforward and has some steep climbs but nothing crazy) went to dinner. A lot of places close by 8 or 9 on the island so I went to eat around 6:30 pm at nearby Coastal Pub. Apparently it was featured on the Food Network. The crab dip appetizer was good, the rest seemed mediocre (had the chowder to compare to the other one and this one was meh).

This looks like it has so much potential but was just ok.

From here back to Cheticamp was a two hour drive and a race to the sunset on the western side of the island. Given the rain and clouds earlier, I knew it would be a spectacular sunset and it did not disappoint! the sun sets around 9 pm here in early July.

Racing along the Cabot trail to catch the sunset

On the drive back out to Cheticamp, I stopped at various overlooks on the western side along the way. Had a moose spotting right off the road! But didn't get a chance to snap a picture in my excitement of seeing one.

But my favorite moment of the day was stumbling across this fog at this bay on the way back to Cheticamp. It's one of the lookouts on the road, close to Coastal Pub, and epitomized the day of sun and clouds.