Cape Breton Nova Scotia

This is a 'must see 'location for any traveller to Nova Scotia or even Canada. The scenery is so spectacular that one of the drives through the area has been named in the top 10 drives of North America - no small feat when you consider the competition.

Cape Breton coastal drive.

The drive along the coastline of Cape Breton National Park was well worth the entrance fee.
We spent 2 nights camping at one of the NP campsites and it was probably the most expensive campgrounds that we have stayed at on our travels. That's because we had to pay the camping fee PLUS a daily entrance fee! Talk about double dipping. The campgrounds were pretty enough but not that memorable that we took many photos of the area.
The real attraction was the skyline walk that runs along the hilltop that can bee seen as the horizon in the picture on the left.
The walk was very popular and quite long. Instead of getting out early in the day to complete the walk, we didn't get started until about 2pm. This was unfortunate timing as Paige was in need of a sleep and didn't want to walk. Her big brother came to her rescue.

Ash carried Paige when she was tired.

Poor Ash ended up carrying her for quite some time and all without complaint. Jill also carried Paige, so that by the end of the 7km walk she had walked maybe 800 metres in total - a tiring day for everyone. The walk was quite spectacular and not just for the distant views.
As we walked along the track, keeping an eye open for moose in the distance, we were told of a moose not 3 metres away from the track laying beneath a tree.

Smile! I'm on camera.

This was the closest moose that we saw along the trail, but only one of three altogether and our first sight of the real animal - an exciting part of the walk.
The walk ends at a series of wooden stairs which allow the walker to descend to a low enough point to watch whales that often frolic in the ocean off the cape. We did see some movement of what we think were pilot whales but they were so far away that we couldn't make out any significant detail. Even so the stairs and walk were exciting? terrifying? - it all depends on whether you were a 3 year old or their parent!!

The Jenkinsons near the end of the Skyline Walk.

Hold her tight please Ash!

One whale viewing platform on the Skyline Walk.

Later along the walk we were lucky enough to see another moose in a clearer space. I started to photograph her (I think it was a female) and decided that I could get closer. All was going well enough, she knew I was there and didn't mind too much until Megan decided to join me. A snorting moose MAY be a greeting, but I didn't think so, so we beat a hasty retreat.

Are you looking at ME!?

The night before we went for our skyline walk, we had driven to a place that is considered isolated in Canada. We had considered taking the camper to this site, but as we started our descent into the area we agreed that it had been a good idea not to.

Meat Cove campgrounds.

An attractive aspect of Meat Cove is that you can often see whales cavorting in the ocean just in front of the campgrounds. Unfortunately the grounds are very steep and not ideal for young children with sites bordering the steep cliff lines.

Happy children at Meat Cove.

Rather than camp there though we decided to have dinner on the beach instead.

Jill did the cooking - I just served the wine.

It was a great experience although it took ages to be cooked as we hadn't realized the BBQ wasn't set-up correctly and the flame was being blocked. The kids were happy to explore and Ash even found a geocache! We left one of the geocoins that we had, thankful to be able to drop it off at last.

The drive out reassured me that NOT taking the trailer was a wise move - steep dirt tracks with considerable corrugations and tight turns to defeat any chance of a run-up meant we would have been trapped until someone with a more powerful vehicle could help.

The road in and out of Meat Cove.