K & L's Travel Blog

The drive from Halifax Airport to Cape Breton takes about 5.5 hours, and goes from the relatively flat landscape around Halifax to the dramatic cliffs of the island’s coastline. I’m struck with the lack of development and wide-open wild spaces. There are very few cars on the road and it’s generally an easy drive.

We have ended up taking two cars as Mary and Star will be heading home to Asheville before us. The plan was to have them follow us, but our GPS diverged, and we managed to get separated leaving the hotel parking lot. We had a common destination in New Glasgow where we would stop to shop and eat lunch, and we met up without issue in the parking lot of the giant Atlantic Superstore. We were ready with lists and attacked the shopping with two grand-sized carts, picking out Canadian sourced products whenever possible.

We had already encountered “Canada Nice” in Halifax, but one of our more outstanding examples was when a man at the grocery store (who was apparently shopping himself) saw us puzzling in the cracker aisle. He asked if he could help, and I said we were looking for Stoned Wheat Thins. He said (to my surprise) that he had never heard of them, and then he pointed us towards a couple of other aisles after taking several minutes to scour the cracker aisle. We thanked him profusely and added it to our growing list of unsolicited kindnesses. A few minutes later the same man approached us to tell us that he had inquired after Stoned Wheat Thins in the deli, and they had a similar cracker there. Even if he had been an employee he had gone well above and beyond!

We stopped at a couple of other places in New Glasgow before getting lunch at Gram’s. I should say here that I am a devoted travel planner, and spent weeks online researching potential activities and eateries. There were a couple of really good choices in the area, but I landed on Gram’s. One of the thrills of planning is when something works out. I was delighted as my expectations were met. Nothing fancy, but they offered good, basic fare at a very reasonable price. Homemade soup and sandwiches ran about $5.00. Sweet ladies ladled out soup, made sandwiches & small talk at the order window. We managed to pass by the home-made sweets, but picked up some of their bread for later.

The remaining drive took about 4 hours with some substantial construction delays. The scenery was largely wild and undeveloped, filled with lakes and an increasingly hilly, then mountainous terrain. We were delighted by the purple asters that lined the road as if placed in regular clumps. Yellow and white flowers filled in the spaces. Both cars initially speculated that they had been intentionally planted, but it was clear after several hundred kilometers that this was too preposterous a theory. It was just naturally, stunningly, beautiful.

We passed highway signs with English, French and Mi’kmaq, and made our way through a First Nation village where every other structure seemed to be selling cannabis. The scenery grew increasingly dramatic after Baddeck and we had to pull off (along with every other tourist) to absorb the view of the water and mountainous shoreline receding into the distance. I was tempted by a truck selling oysters for cheap (7CAD/6USD for 12), but found that was a bit too cheap for me!

The rental house is just off the Cabot Trail, which is the main highway circling Cape Breton. It is the perfect place for us, with plenty of room and a good kitchen, located just on the northern edge of the small town of Ingonish.

After settling in and eating Kitty’s spaghetti dinner we walk down to the nearby bay to watch the sunset. Good eats, good friends, good people. And what a beautiful place!! This has been a great start to a promising week in Cape Breton!