After a pretty rotten night’s sleep, we set off early on Sunday morning, foregoing a sit-down breakfast (yay!) and began our drive to Cape Breton. Being Sunday and Thanksgiving, there were hardly any cars on the road, and the drive was really pleasant and beautiful.

Nova Scotia is currently going through the change, as the leaves turn yellow, orange and then red. The colours intensified the closer we got to Cape Breton Island, but unfortunately the clouds rolled in so it dulled the colours a little. We stopped at a sunflower field along the way, which added another nice burst of colour.

Striking while the iron is hot

After crossing the causeway at Port Hastings, we stopped at the visitor information centre to get a map and ask a few questions about where to go next. We zoomed on to Whycocomagh to FireHouse Ironworks to turn our hand at blacksmithing. We rocked up just in time as one group finished and Glen and I were free to go in for the demonstration.

It was a really neat experience to participate in. The blacksmith demonstrated turning a rod of steel into a coat hook, and then we each had a go. While it took us about twenty minutes each, there was probably only about five minutes in total of actually hammering. Because they were small rods, it didn’t require a lot of strength, but it does require a bit of skill.

I bashed mine pretty quickly, while Glen was a little bit more hesitant. We found out where the saying ‘striking while the iron is hot’ comes from. You have to be quick or else the metal cools and then you can’t work with it. There was a very nice satisfying moment where we dipped the hot steel in water and it hissed.

The blacksmith showed photos of some of the commissions he’s done. He’s extremely talented and even has people ordering his stuff from Australia.

The experience lasted 40 minutes and was well worth every penny. And now we have two hooks.

From there we drove towards Cheticamp, stopping at Margaree Forks to have lunch at the Singing Goat. Just before we got there, we saw a ferret cross the road. We stopped but it had run off before we could get a second look. It was very cute.

After lunch, we went into Cheticamp but there were still some hours to go before the day was done, so we drove into Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

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On the Cabot Trail

First stop was the visitor information centre to get another map and ask about travel times. We also asked about moose at French Lake, and got another warning about moose.

Let me just say that I’m getting sick of the moose warnings. The blacksmith, the woman at the visitor information centre, and others, have been saying how prolific the moose are on Cape Breton. And in addition to the warnings about moose on the roads (because if you hit one, you’ll be lucky to escape with a trip to the hospital), it’s also mating season so the bulls are randy and rowdy. We thought bears would be our biggest problems.

So we drove to French Lake, a place GUARANTEED to have moose. First we drove past it, but then we turned around, pulled up beside the lake, got out, and…no moose. Bloody hell!

We then thought to head to the hotel in Cheticamp, and along the way stopped at all the different lookouts. Unfortunately the clouds blotted out the sun so we didn’t get the brilliant colours of the leaves, but going along the coast was beautiful. And at one stop we got out, went down to the water…and saw a seal in the water.

It was quite close at first. When I saw it, I could only see the head but it was a BIG head. We waited a bit longer and saw it pop up a couple more times. Very awesome.

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The Skyline

On the drive back, Glen suggested we do the Skyline walk so we could see the sunset. The route was an hour and a half round trip. It was a bit chilly by that stage, but the view from the end was stunning. A good view of the valley, the yellow leaves, and the ocean. Also the sun setting was nice.

Less nice were the people who ignored the signs and walked off the boardwalk into the vegetation. Really pissed me off.

We walked back to the car, and turned around just to see the sun setting. It was a beautiful red blob that sank into the sea. No moose on the walk. It was dark by the time we got back to the car.

Next stop was the Maison Fiset where we’d booked a room. We were a little late but luckily Lynne had waited for us. The room’s really nice, very comfortable, and Lynne was very helpful. She made us a booking at the Harbour Restaurant.

We zoomed down there, ate a crab and lobster each (yes, we had to crack them) and a couple of Nova Scotian beers, then back to the hotel.

It was a great day.