Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, NS

Gord and I left Sydney this morning about 10:30am to drive around the Cabot Trail.

The route measures 298 km (185 mi) in length and completes a loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through the scenic Cape Breton Highlands. It is named after the explorer John Cabot who landed in Atlantic Canada in 1497, although most historians agree his landfall likely took place in Newfoundland and not Cape Breton Island. Construction of the initial route was completed in 1932.

The northern section of the Cabot Trail passes through Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The western and eastern sections follow the rugged coastline, providing spectacular views of the ocean. The southwestern section passes through the Margaree River valley before passing along Bras d'Or Lake.

We had head back over Kelly's Mountain ... St. Ann's Lookoff looked a lot different today than Thursday! It was rainy and foggy throughout our drive.

We had to take the Englishtown Ferry across St. Ann's Harbour.

While we were waiting for the ferry, I noticed Auld Cemetery.

Giant MacAskill is buried there.

Angus Mòr MacAskill, frequently referred to as Giant MacAskill or Black Angus (1825 – August 8, 1863), was a Scottish-Canadian Giant, and is the world's largest "true" giant (a man of normal proportions, suffering no growth abnormalities). The 1981 Guinness Book of World Records posits Angus as the tallest natural giant who ever lived, and as a result the strongest man who ever lived, as well as being the man with the largest chest measurements of any non-obese man (80 inches, or 2,000 mm).

The first mountain we came to was Cape Smokey.

We stopped at the lookout at the top. Hard to see it but the Atlantic Ocean is out there.

The fog rolled in around us within minutes.

There are lots and lots of lookoffs and we stopped at most of them.

We stopped at the Coastal Waters Restaurant & Pub in Ingonish for lunch.

Heading down the mountains was treacherous. It was foggy and rainy and the roads are really windy.

The leaves were changing colours and were gorgeous!

This is the first time I've done the whole trail and it was an awesome drive! Great views but not for the faint of heart if you have a fear of heights since at times all that is separating you from the cliff straight down to the ocean is a guardrail.

If you drive without stopping, it takes about 4.5 hours. It took us a lot longer because we stopped at the lookoffs, we had lunch and I drove slower at times because of the rain and fog.