Cold, wet rainy...what else, it's Canada!
Ed and I packed up pretty well last night...so...this morning, after coffee, we only have to take down and pack the (wet) tent.
Around 9:30, we're off to drive the Cabot Trail. It doesn't take long to reach the first "test" of the Escape's carrying capacity versus the Cabot Trail...French Mountain is several hundred meters up...and several hundred down. No problem...we're huffing and puffing a bit on the way up, but we make it up (and down) without incident. The fog is thick...bad for the view, good for my vertigo...not many photos this morning.
After a few hours, the Cabot Trail turns inland for awhile, and we go over our second mountain without a problem. Around noon, we hit the coast again and find the tiny town of Neil's Harbor for lunch at the Chowder House. I'm expecting this place to be strictly for tourists...expensive, high-priced, etc. But...I'm wrong...it's a charming little place with five ladies waiting on us hand and foot. Ed's "pizza soup" is good...and my seafood chowder is loaded with lobster...as is my "lobster club". All in all, a great meal.
After lunch, we have one final hurdle to cross...Ol' Smokey is the highest mountain on the Cabot Trail...a steep ascent and a particularly steep descent into a series of switchbacks culminating in a ninety degree hairpin turn...I can't wait. But, it's a piece of cake...and soon we're on the Trans-Canada Highway heading for the town of Sydney (near where we'll catch our ferry to Newfoundland).
The road is great, but the weather is awful...pouring rain all the way. So...we make an "Executive Decision"...we're staying at a hotel! And soon, we're in our room at the Cambridge Hotel and Suites...terribly pricey, but mighty comfy. Showers, shaving, a change of clothes...there's a flurry of activity...watch some television, use the WiFi...all nice after many days "in the wild". Before dinner, Ed and I head to the bar at the hotel for Martini's (me) and a Chivas with a splash (Ed). Then it's off to The Gouvernor's House for a great meal of STEAK...a bone-in filet for me, a sandwich for Ed...a little Shiraz with that...excellent.
After the day's drive, Ed and I are beat...so it's back to the hotel. Soon, I'm drifting off to sleep...CNN playing comfortably in the backround.
We drove the Cabot Trail...and survived!
Ed's Sidebar, Day 32:
Today, Cheticamp to Sydney...Four a.m. in Cape Breton and another cold mist descends all night. Our campfire is out. Not an ember remains and it is raining when I awake in my folding chair. We head north again along the Cabot Trail at first lifting of the fog. We will never see the sun again.
There is always more to experience. The wind. The rain. The wind and rain are summering here. And the cold. The cold fog is sliding down the mountain on its sled. Wet. Wet mist and fog are hiding the wet road. The thin road drops away in the wet, cold mountains. Mountains are inside this gray sky volume. I am obsessing. There is a poetry of the weather worth repeating. But driving today is like a madman running through the museum.
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