Origin: Dolan's Inn
Destination: Sue's B&B
Route
Description: Our Dolan's Inn host, Maureen, and her friend, Brenda, drove us to Enterprise Rent-a-car in New Glasgow where we picked up our blue Nissan Versa.
The 104 to Cape Breton, then the 19 (the Ceilidh Trail) up the northwest coast to Margaree where we joined the Cabot Trail.
Weather: Tha i breagha an diugh (Gaelic) = It is beautiful today. Strong winds off the water.
Forest and farms and water--a beautiful drive.
The 19 after crossing into Cape Breton proved to be far more than a preview--a nice land and seascape. We began to see cyclists completing, we presume, their Cabot Trail challenge. Some were moving lightly on road bikes, others loaded heavily. No, we have no regrets, only respect. We have barely sampled by car the climbs, dives, and winds of this circuit.
Without much forethought we pulled into the Celtic Music Interpretive Center in Judique, an area of Cape Breton settled by Scots in the 1700s. Before long, we were challenged in a 20 minute Gaelic class, taught by Jasmyn MacDonald, a college student minoring in Gaelic--inspired by her Gaelic-speaking grandfather. School children in Cape Breton have the choice of studying French or Gaelic as a second language.
We had fun in the small, well-designed and exhibit-with-Celtic-music area. Then, why not? We stayed for a tasty lunch entertained by Haelli LeFort on the fiddle with her keyboardist.
We got some beautiful views
of the Maragee River valley before crossing and entering onto the Cabot Trail proper.
As beautiful as is the seascape, our introduction to the Cabot Trail roadscape is as an unpatterned continuum of old and new houses. Not until we approached Cheticamp did we get the sense of a seaside community. It too is strewn along the highway, but in a somewhat ramshackle way that "fits." We like it.
The 104 to Cape Breton, then the 19 (the Ceilidh Trail) up the northwest coast to Margaree where we joined the Cabot Trail.
Weather: Tha i breagha an diugh (Gaelic) = It is beautiful today. Strong winds off the water.
Forest and farms and water--a beautiful drive.
The 19 after crossing into Cape Breton proved to be far more than a preview--a nice land and seascape. We began to see cyclists completing, we presume, their Cabot Trail challenge. Some were moving lightly on road bikes, others loaded heavily. No, we have no regrets, only respect. We have barely sampled by car the climbs, dives, and winds of this circuit.
Without much forethought we pulled into the Celtic Music Interpretive Center in Judique, an area of Cape Breton settled by Scots in the 1700s. Before long, we were challenged in a 20 minute Gaelic class, taught by Jasmyn MacDonald, a college student minoring in Gaelic--inspired by her Gaelic-speaking grandfather. School children in Cape Breton have the choice of studying French or Gaelic as a second language.
We got some beautiful views
As beautiful as is the seascape, our introduction to the Cabot Trail roadscape is as an unpatterned continuum of old and new houses. Not until we approached Cheticamp did we get the sense of a seaside community. It too is strewn along the highway, but in a somewhat ramshackle way that "fits." We like it.
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