Oct 3, 2012 - Day 80 - on Ferry back to Nova Scotia

Ferry Day. We travelled down to Port Aux Basques in dull sunshine but no rain. It was windy in the Wreckhouse Road area but not bad enough to close highway. We were early and we first in line with the bus and a ways back with the car (it is less expensive to take the two when you have 4 people). Wendy and I started making sandwiches for the trip over while Garry and Mel explored the Port Authority building. Before we got the sandwiches made, they started loading the ferry with the car row. I had to run back to the car to load it and hope...

Sep 14, 2012 - Cabot Trail & NF Ferry

One of the neat things about our adventurer is that the plan is developed the day before. We pull out the map and decide where we are going for the next day. We talk to other travelers and use the current provincial travel guides to influence our desires. What a great way to explore. We traveled to the area of North Sydney Nova Scotia to witness the area of Denise's mom and dad travels to NewFoundland. North Sydney is Canada's connection to the island province of NewFoundland. It is a 160km or 100mi (8 hrs) of water travel. Denise's...

Aug 29, 2012 - North Sydney

Day Seventy – Aug 29 Sydney 41k Our ferry to the wrong end of Newfoundland wasn’t pulling up anchor until late this evening. There was no hurry to the morning. It had rained over night, more than the tears we shed about not being able to do the last ride. Our tents would not be struck to allow them to dry. It was a slow motion morning. Packing up was to be done into two piles. One that was a carryon type of baggage and the second set which would go directly to St. John’s. That second pile would include my camping stuff. I wouldn’t have to...

Jul 30, 2012 - Alexander Graham Bell's Museum

It was raining this morning so we decided to stay home from the Fortress of Louisbourgh. At the fort we would have been tromping around outside in the rain. We could use the rest anyway because yesterday traveling around Cape Breton was a wonderful but tiring twelve hour day. This morning I finished reading a really good Nora Roberts book and Fred worked on the computer. After lunch we went to Baddeck to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Bell and his wife Mabel came up to Baddeck for a vacation when their daughters...

Jul 28, 2012 - Arriving in North Sydney

An uneventful day as we drove from Antigonish to North Sydney. Just looked at the beautiful scenery, green everything with lots of what Fred calls Christmas trees and lots of wildflowers. Lots of water scenery, loved it! NOTE: Fred did a check on the ferry prices to and from St. John, Newfoundland, the cost of taking the trailer, of taking only the car, and of renting a car. He even looked into flying there. The least expensive way was to take the car, stay one night and came back the next day. The ferry expenses alone would be $740 taking...

Sep 1, 2011 - North Sydney Nova Scotia Canada

Today we decided to do nothing but relax, we had been on the go for almost a month while touring Newfoundland and Labrador. We need the down time. We did go to the store to replenish some of our supplies. Houston really relaxed. We will start to explore tomorrow the 2nd.

Aug 31, 2011 - English Town – North Sydney

August 31 - Day 69- English Town – North Sydney K’s 51 Time 2h 52m Average speed: 17.78k/H T to d 7558 While the ride was to be very short today and the ferry boarding not until 9:30 pm we elected to get a early start as we were unsure how the new chain would work on Terri’s bike. While it took the trip the new chain on the old rear cassette (bike lingo for the sprockets on the rear axle did not work all that well and the result was the chain continually skipped gears. This is not only irritation to the rider but very hard on the...

Aug 31, 2011 - North Sydney Nova Scotia Canada

After our 15 hour trip we entered North Sydney Harbour, it was sad to leave all the wonderful people in Newfoundland and Labrador behind, we definitely will revisit both sometime in the future. We are looking forward to our time in Nova Scotia. We will park our RV at Arm of Gold RV Park, about 20 mins from the ferry. We will relax the rest of the day. We will be exploring this end of Nova Scotia over the weekend.

Aug 20, 2011 - Cape Breton Highlands National Park

We drove on the Cabot Trail to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The main idea was to see the views and visit any interesting sites. The first part of the trip was over some very rough roads so we did not make good time. But after about 40 miles we climbed up Smokey Point to a great overlook and the sky began to clear. From here we continued to the Park and visited the Keltic Lodge--a beautiful resort that Susan and Tim visited about 15 years ago on our first trip to Nova Scotia. The Highland Links golf course is also here. Tim played...

Aug 19, 2011 - Fortress of Louisbourg

Today we drove over to Fortress of Louisbourg National Historical Site that is on the east coast of the island. When we arrived around 1 PM the sea fog was coming and going with cool temperatures. So we took our windbreaker and long sleeved shirts. Fortress of Louisbourg is a recreated 17th century French fort on Cape Breton. The French built and held the fort from 1714 to 1758. It was the largest and busiest seaport in North America because of it location that was near the cod fishing grounds and about 2400 miles from France. A sailing...

Aug 18, 2011 - A Relaxing Day and A Puffin Boat Trip

We had to rest a little and get a few things done around the area--get diesel at about $4.70/gallon! That afternoon we took a Puffin Boat trip to Bird Islands. We left about 5:15PM and fortunately the boat only had about 18 people--it holds 38. The trip was really great. About 20 minutes after leaving the dock we got some great photos of a bald eagle getting a fish thrown out by our boat captain. I think the eagle missed but I got some great photos. Later in the cruise, we did a few Atlantic puffins but most had already departed for their...

Aug 17, 2011 - A Ferry Ride and To Cape Breton

Yesterday, we returned to Barbara Grahams shop and she had new pottery available. We bought some very heavy and nice custom coffee cups and creamers. All at reasonable prices. Later that evening, we had dinner at a nearby diner--all excellent seafood. We departed Green Gables Country for the ferry ride to Nova Scotia. This is a large ferry that carries about 200 vehicles including large trucks, buses and RVs. We got to the ferry landing about 10:15AM after a 65 mile drive. The loading went very well and was easy. As we departed we could see...