Cape Breton - Baddeck

From Cape North we drove down the east side of the north end of the west half of Cape Breton...headed for Baddeck (Bah-deck) to check out Bras d'Or Lake (Bra-doo-r) and attend another ceilidh (kay-lee). (End of pronunciation lesson) Along the way we drove down our steepest descent yet, and using all my best slow-down techniques we still arrived at the bottom with very hot trailer brakes. I'll be investing in an engine exhaust brake for Gigantor for sure. After a couple of hours of driving the cape's amazingly poor roads, we arrived at the Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground. We found it very crowded, with only three spots available that we might fit in, and only one of those really worked, so we took it. It was narrow and short, but at least it was off camber... We didn't get too settled in, as we decided to do only two nights. An on-site restaurant tempted us away from a grocery run, so we had a nice dinner of fish & chips and fried Digby scallops.

The next day we drove around Bras d'Or lake, a huge saltwater lake, multi-lobed and 70-some miles long, which divides Cape Breton into two. It has an enormous population of bald eagles, of which we saw several. In many places the ground is very white, like some mineral or salt is rich within it. Here's a view of the lake with some of this white earth visible, and also a miniature church and graveyard someone built:


We attended a ceiledh that evening. It was different from the one in Mabou in that there was only two performers, but they were good, and also the hostess got a group of guests out onto the floor and taught them Cape Breton style dancing, which was fun:


And here's a little fellow who sat in the tree outside our door for a while, gnawing upon a nut and scolding anything that wasn't a red squirrel:


So, thus ends our Cape Breton experience. Overall, a lovely place - you should visit. We've left the island as of this writing, and will be moving back across Nova Scotia, back up into New Brunswick, and heading for the Saint Lawrence seaway and Quebec.