Thursday morning we left Port Hawkesbury to start out on the Cabot Trail.  We travelled along Highway 19 on the north coast of Cape Breton Island and travelled through such towns as Mabou, home of the Rankin Family, Port Hood, Inverness and Cheticamp where we had lunch.  Cheticamp is a very strong French Acadian heritage town, on the waterfront.  When we left, we started through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  It was here, we went up some very steep hills, traversing through many curves, and actually drove through the clouds :-)  The views were amazing, looking down onto the beaches down below.  After a few missed turns we arrived at one of the most beautiful locations we have seen yet, where we spent the night.  The area where we stayed had no restaurants, so the guys did a grocery run and we made sandwiches in our room.  The sunset was happening after dinner, so we sat on the hill beside our motel and watched the sun set.

Starting the Cabot Trail

Enjoying the view from the lawn chairs above our motel

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Watching the sunset after dinner

Oh what a difference a few hours can make.

Same view, different weather this morning

We awoke to a torrential rain storm complete with high winds.  When there was a break in the rainstorm, we started out, thinking we had dodged the rain, but we caught up to it and got alittle damp this morning.  We stopped for brunch in Ingonish, and the weather cleared and we managed to dry out abit.  The rest of the day we had the odd quick shower, but stayed dry.  We followed the Cabot Trail to the end, and the views again were incredible.

Riding down the Cabot Trail

We followed along to Port Hawkesbury and crossed the Canso Causeway and the wind gusts through here were strong again...enough to push my helmut ajar!

Hard to tell from this picture, but white caps on the ocean as we cross the causeway

We motored through Antigonish and stayed on Highway 104 to get to Pictou, where we are spending the night.

Our lovely room at the B&B

Memorial Boat on the waterfront next to the restaurant we had dinner at.

We walked through the town (where the ferry leaves for PEI) and had dinner on the wharf.  The sun was shining and it was warm again. 

Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast at the B&B where we are staying and grab the 9:30 ferry to PEI.