I wish travel therapy was covered 

by my health insurance. 

~ Unknown

 Our next leg of the journey was back to the Cabot Trail but this time the east side of the Cabot Trail.  Here is the story.  I worked with a gal 10 years ago in the Provincial Government.  I thought that she had moved back to Cape Breton so I emailed another friend to find out.  Turns out she is still in Victoria but was going to visit her Dad on Cape Breton.  I emailed Sadie to see when she would be there.  Turns out that we would be able to connect.  

 She was kind enough to offer her Dad’s property for us to stay.  Since he lives there (Skir Dhu is what they call the property) I thought it would be polite to phone him and introduce myself and to check that it would be actually be OK.  We got the OK from Roddie (Sadie’s Dad).  

We had a wonderful stay on beautiful property overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  Sadie and I reconnected, had some beer, shared some stories, and laughed a lot.  

 

Karen and I explored the last bit of the Cabot Trail that we had not seen.  Ate some of Neil Harbour’s world-famous chowder.  We also ventured into Englishtown via the ferry and into Baddeck for some groceries.  

To top off our visit and escorted by Sadie, we met numerous relatives in Englishtown and enjoyed a fundraiser (with great music) for the local Giant MacAskill Museum.  Karen won a hat and shirt.  The local beer rep felt sorry for me and gave me a hoodies.  Please support Cape Breton BrewRey for being so kind.  We were also gifted a few cans of beer for our journey ahead.  

 Now a story about Morgan.  For quite some time she has been licking her paws.  I would say about a year.  Working with the vet it was suggested that maybe it was an allergy.  We went from chicken to lamb, to salmon, and then duck.  I also added probiotics to her diet.  I had switched her to hydrolized protein food.  It had only been a couple weeks that she was on her new food but the licking got out of control.  Morgan had become unsettled at night.  She was agitated more than usual.  I knew I needed to get her to a vet.  It was Saturday of a long weekend.  Thank the Universe, the Baddeck Veterinary Clinic agreed to meet us.  

 Morgan was a trooper.  He took a culture from between her toes.  It came back that she was suffering from fungus and bacteria.  That resulted in three medications to help her find some relief.  I taped socks to her feet or put a cone on her so that her feet could heal without her biting and licking them.  This went on for a week.  There was a marked improvement.  As I write, she is at the end of her medications and is a much more relaxed puppy.  I am so relieved.  Now we see what happens in the next few weeks.  

Monday, August 1

 Our next leg of the journey was heading toward Halifax to visit my sister, Dana.  First we stopped in Antigonish to visit a Comox Valley friend, Pat McKenna, who recently moved back home.  We also took the opportunity to do laundry.  W hidden RV Park is a great little park next to town.  It was remarkably quiet and comfortable.  There was a little creek behind us which was great for Morgan to wade in and cool off.  

 

Pat and I had a great two-hour catch up.  It is always interesting to talk to people who have moved home to Nova Scotia or Newfoundland.  Their roots are deep.  Thanks for the coffee, Pat!  Sorry I forgot to grab a selfie of the three of us.  I wish you all the best with your music career and will continue to follow you on FB.  

 On August 3 we were once again on our way with no plans of where to stay. We have learned that you can usually count on a brewery to let you stay in their parking lot.  The brewery we called was happy for us to visit but explained that he didn’t have much of a parking lot and we could stay in the abandoned church next door.  We did.  The Harbour Brewing Company was the most unique brewery I have ever visited.  It is tiny and cluttered but they have a great deck and dogs are welcome.  Food is not served but we were allowed to order take out from the restaurant down the road.  We were happy to sit in the shade, sip our flight of beers, and eat some tasty food.  

 The next morning we went for a walk.  Karen walked longer than me.  I was getting eaten alive by mozzies.  Back at the trailer I readied for heading to Halifax.  On the way, I asked Karen what was on the shopping list.  She went to pull out her phone but it was nowhere to be found.  We turned around and luckily found it lying in the parking lot with a shattered screen.  Clearly I had run over it.  

 In Halifax we settled in to the city Harvest Host for two nights.  It was great.  We were under trees for some shade.  That evening we caught up with my sister and her husband.  Karen and I ate way too much ice cream that day.  Ice cream from Costco and ice cream for dessert.  

Happily we met again the next night for dinner after Karen and I explored some of the area.  

August 6 we headed to another Harvest Host that situated us between Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg.  It was perfect and again, lovely people who shared their bathroom for showers and swimming pool to cool off.  Morgan was allowed in too.  

 Our first night we headed to Peggy’s Cove to catch the sunset.  Guess what?  The fog rolled in.  We spent time waiting for the fog to roll out by chatting with another photographer.  

The next day was a Lunenburg day.  Weirdly I woke up with a limp.  Happily, it went away within 48 hours.  I have no idea what triggered it but it’s gone.  

 August 8 was a journey to the Annapolis Valley to yet again, another Harvest Host - Hennigar’s Farm.  I thought we would be in the parking lot but no, we were in the orchard with a view over the valley.  It rained but we didn’t care.  It was still beautiful.  

I also caught up with a friend of a friend.  She is a Rotarian and our mutual friend in a Rotarian in Africa and Washington State.  We had great conversations.  After that we headed of to Blomidon Provincial Park.

 OMG, it is beautiful and spacious.  The views from the park office are stunning.  We settled, took Morgan for a walk and later went to the beach.  It was a red mud beach but fun nonetheless.  It was so different from anything I had seen before.  

August 10 we had a visitor to our campsite, a friend of Karen’s.  Her name is Sarah McInnis of The Legacy Song Project.  Check her out at sarahmcinnis.com.  I was so honoured to play guitar with her.  She is an amazing person with an amazing goal.  

 That night, Karen and I had a campfire with wood we hauled all the way from Ontario.  Hahahaha.  Only took a couple months but it was a great fire with a sip of Scotch.  

I cannot speak for Karen but I was feeling our vacation coming to an end.  You see, she booked her ticket home for August 12 from Moncton.  Neither of us really talked about it much.  

 August 11 we headed to Amhurst to an RV site that had laundry.  For some reason, Karen wanted to go home with clean laundry in her bag rather than a bag of dirty laundry.  Hahahaha.  We had planned on going out for our ‘last supper’ but there was nothing nearby except for fast food.  I cooked her a cheese omelette- how is that for a classy last dinner?  

Karen’s monumental task was to pack her couple of bags  to take all her treasures home.  It was interesting to see what was excluded.  😂😂

 August 12 we headed to Moncton where I planned to stay three nights for a couple of reasons.  One to see Hopewell Rocks and two, to adjust to being solo again.  Karen needed to be at the VIA Rail station by 4 ish so after we got to the campground we unhooked the trailer and went exploring.  

 The first thing we did was go up and down Magnetic Hill.  I didn’t master the illusion the first time so, like children, we went around for a second turn.  This time it worked if I looked in my side mirror as we coasted backwards.  Hahahahah.

We parked and grabbed a latte then walked the riverfront on Moncton.  It is also home to some great mural art in the downtown area so we did a walking tour.  

 The sad moment came for me to drop Karen at VIA Rail.  We didn’t say much, just hugged and mumbled a “See ya soon.”  It was true.  Karen was going to try to hook up with my as I travelled to Tobermoray to take the ferry to Manotoulin Island.  

I got in the truck and it was oddly quiet.  

It’s your road and yours alone.  Others may walk it with you but no one can walk it for you. 

~ Rumi

 WOW, WOW, Wow, I cannot believe how the time has flown.  Needless to say, we have been busy.  Plus, the internet connection (cellular or wifi) has been very poor and is too weak to upload my blog and pictures.  So, here I am today catching you up. 

Sit back, relax, grab a cold beverage, and enjoy.  

 From Trout River, near Gros Morne National Park we travelled toward Port Aux Basques.  On the way we stopped in Corner Brook to pickup some prescription dog food for Morgan.  I am still battling with her licking her paws and finding no relief for her.  Royal Canin Hydrolized protein food is next.  I pray to the Canine Gods that this will work for her.  

 To get this food I had to phone my vet in Cumberland - thank you Dr. Carol Champion! - to send me a prescription so I could then forward it to the vet in Corner Brook.  Thank goodness they had a couple bags of food that I could pick up and know that it will do me for quite a while.  With that out of the way we ventured onwards.

 July 15 we stayed at the Barachois Provincial Park.  From there we toured the French Ancestors Loop which led us to a spectacular beach that we knew nothing about, Blue Beach on a spit of land called Long Point.  We stayed for about an hour. Morgan had a swim, we took pictures, and we breathed in the beauty.  We ended the loop with dinner at Secret Cove Brewery (Port Au Port)  which has become one of our favourites.  

 Stephenville is a short drive from Barachois.  It was the home of Ernest Harmon Air Force Base.  It is a bit eerie driving through this decommissioned property.  Funny, though, there is still the guard building at the entrance.  Even funnier is the mannequin that mans the building.  If it weren’t for the traffic behind me I may have thrown cash for a toll.  Hahaha.  And to tell the truth, I did a double take not knowing if it was real or not.  

July 17 - Barachois to Codroy 

 Again we did some great exploring and found ourselves in the Codroy Valley at Cape Anguilla Lighthouse.  It was absolutely beautiful with the sky, the glittering ocean and of course, the lighthouse.  

Our campground spot was at the side of a beautiful river.  Sadly, I got eaten by no-see-ums.  It also happened at Barachois.  I actually went to the pharmacy in Codroy to purchase some Benedryll because I reacted so badly.  For me it was torture - the itch, the pain and the swelling lasted days.  

 Another day trip that we did was to Rose Blanche Lighthouse.  This was an old stone lighthouse that they have turned into a museum. I had to take a moment to pause here.  There were sailboats leaving the harbour.  It struck me that one of those boats in a past dream could have been Ron and me.  In silence I watched them for a long while.

 To get to Rose Blanche we drove through some interesting little towns.  One of them was Burnt Islands. The population is 521 according to Wikipedia.  As with most communities in Newfoundland, it was developed around the fishing industry.  And with the moratorium on cod fishing, it too has suffered.  But for one enterprising fella he is thriving.  He purchases old fishing rope and makes mats.  And yes, I bought one.  That will be two mats I have purchased in Newfoundland.  I just love them and they will be great at my beach house.  

 July 19 - Port Aux Basques, NL to North Sydney, NS

The ferry to Nova Scotia is six to seven hours.  On top of that they wanted us at the terminal at least two hours early.  And because I naturally like to be early we were there plenty before the deadline.  Our ferry left at 11:45 and I am glad to say it was uneventful.  We had a pet-friendly cabin so, in fact, we were all comfortable in Morgan’s air conditioned room.  

 I was lucky to secure a Harvest Host spot for when we arrived.  It was close to the ferry and easy for me to make my way to Sydney the next day.  My truck is due for another servicing.  This is service #2 since I left in April.  That means I am packing on the kilometres and that is good because that was the whole idea :)

Colburne Ford let us stay the next night while the truck got serviced.  We also took the opportunity to grocery shop and get propane.  

July 21 - Sydney to Cheticamp

Oh my goodness.  We lucked into a beautiful campground.  We could walk to the ocean and take in spectacular sunsets.  This was our home base while we explored part of the Cabot Trail.   

 Meat Cove.  Now what kind of name is that?  One that says, visit me.  We did.  As with Blue Beach in Newfoundland, we were delighted with Meat Cove.  Admittedly, the water was freezing but Morgan had a great time swimming. I wet my feet, took pictures, and enjoyed the serenity of this little bay.  

 Meat Cove is Nova Scotia’s most northerly settlement.  From Meat Cove we headed to Bay St. Lawrence, another little community.  This place had an emotional attachment that I did not realize until I stopped to walk where Ron and I walked 14 years ago.  It is the place where we watched the fog crawl over the hills as the sun dissipated it.  We were in awe.  It was like I felt his presence.  

We ended our little tour by visiting Dingwall.  I have to remind you that these little places do not have stores or coffee shops.  They are just places and each one offers its own unique character and style.  That is what makes them worth exploring.  

 The next morning, I gave Morgan a clipping to help her be cooler in the warm weather.  It was getting hot by mid morning and we were all wanting to be cool.  We set up the bug tent which offers a bit of shade and fortunately we had electricity to use the AC.  

 We did laundry in the afternoon.  The laundromat was down the road.  While it washed we drove down to a little art gallery and coffee shop for a iced latte.  It was shady for Morgan and we were all happy.  When we got back to the laundry we discovered that the washing machine did not spin our clothes or bed linen.  Everything was sopping wet.  Piece by piece we took it outside to wring it out before putting it in the dryer.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr.  

 The end of the day was spent in the Atlantic Ocean swimming at sunset with Morgan and Karen.  It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.  

The Skyline Trail on Cape Breton is very popular and for good reason.  I really wanted to do it but I knew that I could not hike it in the heat.  Also, Morgan is not allowed on that trail.  I decided that it was best for me if we got up early and did it in the morning.  That meant leaving about 0600.  

 It was the best choice.  We were the second car in the parking lot.  It was fairly cool. And, best of all, we did not see many people.  It was over 10 kms by the time we finished.  At that point, everyone else was arriving and we were happy to be heading out as it got warmer.  The views were stunning and I can see why a lot of people like to do it in the evening.  For me, comfort in the cool of the morning was great.  

 We left Cheticamp in the afternoon to find a new place to stay.  Our goal was to explore the Ceilidh Trail (pronounced Caley).  We found a beautiful spot on Lake Ainslie but unfortunately they could only accommodate us one night.  We had a lake side spot and it was great for a cooling-down swim.  

It was funny too.  The owner said that the men near us were talking about us.  Apparently a couple of them were going to offer help until they realized we didn’t need their help.  Hahahahaha.  We made a good impression.  I told him if any need a lesson that I offer them for free.  

July 25 - Hyclass RV in Havre Boucher.

 This was another beautiful spot and a great jumping off point to explore part of the Fleur de Lis Trail and Isle Madame.  There is a definite difference between northern Cape Breton and southern Cape Breton.  

The next day we explored the Ceilidh Trail up to and including Inverness.  On this exploring trip we met artist, Doug Fraser, sampled Route 19 beer with lunch, checked out the Glenora Distillery, got kicked off some lady’s property for taking photos, and enjoyed a fabulous sunset.  

 Unfortunately, Morgan cut the pad on her rear left paw.  It was bad enough that I had to bandage it and put a sock over it so she didn’t bother it.  It also meant that I would have to keep this little puppy quiet for a few days while it mended.  She was a trooper.  It healed well.  

Stay tuned for the next update.