Cabot Trail - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
http://novascotia.com/en/home/aboutnovascotia/uniquely_novascotia/cape_breton_island/default.aspx
In February '08 a friend told me of her family's plans for a family reunion in Margaree Forks, Cape Breton. Her brother in law was planning to tour the Cabot Trail in the days leading up to the reunion. I had always wanted to bicycle the Cabot Trail and asked if I could tag along. What follows are our experiences along the trail.
Margaree Forks to base of Smokey Mountain 121km 4:32:11
We had planned on starting on Monday weather permitting. I was excited to get going but when we woke Mon. morning it was pouring buckets. I found Mike and around 9:30am it had started to let up so we decided to head out regardless of the weather. It was a good decision because by the time we started at 10:30 it was just a typical overcast drizzly day in NS. Our vehicle support consisted of Mike's wife Carmelle and her brother Daniel in one vehicle and my wife in another vehicle.
We followed route 19 East along the Cabot Trail toward Baddeck. From Margaree to Lake O'Law http://thelakesresort.com/ the pavement was mostly dry but overcast. From Lake O'Law to the base of Hunters Mountain we had light drizzle with rain up and down Hunters Mountain. The terrain along the route is very favorable to cyclists with no hard climbs until Hunters Mountain. The climb up Hunters Mountain is 2km and is not that bad. After the climb up Hunter Mountain you come down, fast. It's easy going the rest of the way to the 105, at the "Red Barn" you turn left along the Trans Canada Highway toward our destination in Ingonish.
When we reached the TCH we had a car following behind us with a sign advertising slow bicycles ahead. This really helped to keep the cars farther to the left than normal. Following the TCH toward Baddeck you have the widest paved shoulders of the whole trip. To make the trip more interesting we didn't take route 19 after St. Anns but took the exit at the 312 to the Englishtown Ferry.
The ferry ride saves 9km of cycling and it's a 5min. cable ferry ride. OK, I know we were here to cycle but a cool ferry ride to mix it up a bit was kind of fun too. On the way to the ferry a fox ran across the road in front of us making us excited because of the thought of more wildlife on the roads ahead. Once off the ferry we were now on route 19 following the coast of the Atlantic Ocean North toward Ingonish. There was very little traffic on the road so we sent our support ahead to set up camp. Then it started to rain and rain it did all the way to the base of Smokey Mountain. We were not looking forward to sleeping in a tent in the rain that evening and were excited to find out our wives had secured a cottage for us to sleep in for the evening. We had dinner, showered, watched the Tour de France http://www.letour.fr/ on TV and then had a really good nights sleep.
http://novascotia.com/en/home/aboutnovascotia/uniquely_novascotia/cape_breton_island/default.aspx
In February '08 a friend told me of her family's plans for a family reunion in Margaree Forks, Cape Breton. Her brother in law was planning to tour the Cabot Trail in the days leading up to the reunion. I had always wanted to bicycle the Cabot Trail and asked if I could tag along. What follows are our experiences along the trail.
Margaree Forks to base of Smokey Mountain 121km 4:32:11
We had planned on starting on Monday weather permitting. I was excited to get going but when we woke Mon. morning it was pouring buckets. I found Mike and around 9:30am it had started to let up so we decided to head out regardless of the weather. It was a good decision because by the time we started at 10:30 it was just a typical overcast drizzly day in NS. Our vehicle support consisted of Mike's wife Carmelle and her brother Daniel in one vehicle and my wife in another vehicle.
We followed route 19 East along the Cabot Trail toward Baddeck. From Margaree to Lake O'Law http://thelakesresort.com/ the pavement was mostly dry but overcast. From Lake O'Law to the base of Hunters Mountain we had light drizzle with rain up and down Hunters Mountain. The terrain along the route is very favorable to cyclists with no hard climbs until Hunters Mountain. The climb up Hunters Mountain is 2km and is not that bad. After the climb up Hunter Mountain you come down, fast. It's easy going the rest of the way to the 105, at the "Red Barn" you turn left along the Trans Canada Highway toward our destination in Ingonish.
When we reached the TCH we had a car following behind us with a sign advertising slow bicycles ahead. This really helped to keep the cars farther to the left than normal. Following the TCH toward Baddeck you have the widest paved shoulders of the whole trip. To make the trip more interesting we didn't take route 19 after St. Anns but took the exit at the 312 to the Englishtown Ferry.
The ferry ride saves 9km of cycling and it's a 5min. cable ferry ride. OK, I know we were here to cycle but a cool ferry ride to mix it up a bit was kind of fun too. On the way to the ferry a fox ran across the road in front of us making us excited because of the thought of more wildlife on the roads ahead. Once off the ferry we were now on route 19 following the coast of the Atlantic Ocean North toward Ingonish. There was very little traffic on the road so we sent our support ahead to set up camp. Then it started to rain and rain it did all the way to the base of Smokey Mountain. We were not looking forward to sleeping in a tent in the rain that evening and were excited to find out our wives had secured a cottage for us to sleep in for the evening. We had dinner, showered, watched the Tour de France http://www.letour.fr/ on TV and then had a really good nights sleep.
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