June 8, 2006

June 8, 2006

Indian Brook, around the Cabot Trail to North East Margaree, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

YEAR 2 DAY 356

 

The weather changed a lot today. This morning in Indian Brook it was windy, cold and raining. As we drove along the east coast section of the Cabot Trail it was extremely foggy. As we drove along the north coast section of the Cabot Trail it was cloudy and cool. As we drove along the west coast section of the Cabot Trail, it was partially sunny, mild, and exceptionally windy.

This morning we prepared for departure in cold rain. It was our first opportunity to wear our Newfoundland Sou'Wester rain hats. They're great !

We drove north on the Cabot Trail along the east coast of Cape Breton Island. We stopped occasionally to view sights and take photos, but the fog was so thick, it was difficult to see. We entered the east gate of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We stopped at a service station in Ingonish to see if they could repair and change the trailer tires. They couldn't. We stopped for lunch at a picnic area. While Joanne prepared lunch, I chatted with a cyclist in the enclosed picnic shelter. He was a man about my age who was cycle camping around Cape Breton Island. He was taking a day off from cycling because of the bad weather, and was spending it in the enclosed picnic shelter which had firewood and a wood stove. I gave him my emergency book of matches so he could start a fire in the wood stove for himself.

After lunch we continued on the Cabot Trail, going around the northern tip of Cape Breton Island. The weather had improved a bit, so I was able to get some photos. As we drove south along the west coast section of the Cabot Trail, the rain stopped, the sky cleared a bit, but it got extremely windy. The strong crosswind made driving difficult. The crosswind was strong enough to blow the back of the trailer towards the shoulder, so that the trailer wasn't tracking straight behind the truck.

At Cheticamp, we stopped at a tire shop. I had the ruined tire removed, and replaced with the spare spare. I had the slow leaking tire removed for repair. They found a nail and a staple in the tire, and the tread seemed to be separating from the steel belts. They didn't have a replacement trailer tire for me to buy. Repair of the tire seemed unlikely to be effective, but we decided to do it anyway, so that at least temporarily I could use the repaired tire as a spare. We put the mounted spare onto the trailer, repaired the leaking tire, and will use the repaired tire as a spare, if it holds air pressure.

Cheticamp is an Acadian fishing village, noted for its rug hooking artisans. I had previously bought a couple of Cheticamp rug hookings, the last time we were here, somewhere about 20 or 25 years ago. We stopped at the Co-operative Artisanale, an arts and crafts co-op. I bought myself a couple of small ( but somewhat expensive ) Christmas ornament rug hookings. Since we began travelling, I have started to acquire some small, unbreakable, special Christmas ornaments for our teensy little Christmas tree, to remind us of some of the places we’ve been. A lady demonstrated the rug hooking process to us. It’s very labour intensive, which would explain / justify the cost of the rug hookings.

We stopped for the night at North East Margaree, at The Lakes Campground, on Lake O’Law, an inland lake. After getting set up, while Joanne prepared supper, I installed a new smoke alarm in the trailer. I had installed a new smoke alarm not very long ago, but it was too sensitive to smoke from cooking. The one that I bought in Corner Brook, Newfoundland a couple of days ago, and installed today has a “hush” button, allowing it to be turned off for 7 minutes when it responds to cooking smoke.

After supper I did today’s accounting and journal entry. I’m feeling quite tired from the pace of our travel over the last couple of months. I’m looking forward to really slowing down after another couple of weeks. We need to rush back to Ottawa to see our doctor, then over to Belleville for some truck service, then attend an Escapees rally in Waterloo. Then we can slow down.

We took Bo for a late night walk down to the lake, then had a cup of tea while I downloaded and processed today’s photos. Joanne is displeased that I allowed Bo to walk out into the lake. Hey ... < shrug > he’s a dog !

DSK