A Road Trip Around Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island

Attending to Cape Breton Island is all the time transportive. It is a scenic 2½-hour drive from the place I dwell in rural Nova Scotia. Coming from city Halifax — as many do — there are extra distinctive modifications, as the town streets give option to rolling hills.

Irrespective of your departure level, probably the most hanging shift hits you on the finish of the mile-long Canso Causeway, which connects the mainland to Cape Breton. When my view fills with windswept shores and luxurious forest, that is the second I do know I’ve arrived.

The traditional option to see the very best of the island is the Cabot Trail, a two-lane freeway that loops across the island’s north and connects its wilderness areas and a number of other of its historic cities. Gaelic folks from Scotland arrived within the 1700s, and the realm’s Celtic roots are displayed all over the place. Stay music all the time features a fiddle and drum, and the street indicators seem in each Gaelic and English — besides within the Acadian a part of the island, the place they’re in French. Conventional and Indigenous Mi’kmaq fishermen dwell in small villages, a few of which butt up in opposition to world-class resorts.

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However Cape Breton stays a sleepy delight Canadians flip to once they want a break from all of it. It nonetheless feels rural and distant, although these qualities are principally preserved in what locals and “come from away” of us provide guests: quaint cafés and B&Bs, boat excursions, and breweries. I uncover one thing new each time, particularly within the fall, as soon as the summer time rush has abated.

Friday

On my newest journey to Cape Breton Island in October 2021, I started with a go to to Big Spruce Brewing, Nova Scotia’s first natural craft brewery. In 2009, Jeremy and Melanie White, who had honeymooned on the island years earlier, purchased a run-down farm close to Bras d’Or Lake — on-line, sight unseen. They discovered that hops have been a very good crop for the land, so why not strive making beer? I sampled their Kitchen Get together Pale Ale, which paired completely with deep-fried pepperoni, a regional pub specialty.

Then I drove northwest, following the winding Cabot Path, then took Route 19 till I reached Inverness, a historic coal-mining village that, with the opening of the Cabot Links Golf Resort in 2011, has discovered new function as a leisure vacation spot. My goal: Inverness Seaside, recognized for its abundance of sea glass, items of which I squirreled away in each pocket of my coat.

Overlooking the seaside are the luxe non-public villas at Cabot Cape Breton (doubles from $190), designed by famed Halifax architect Omar Gandhi. This golf resort — which incorporates Cabot Cliffs, the highest course in Canada — is probably probably the most spectacular keep on the island. Throughout the road, within the relaxed brewpub at Route 19 Brewing (entrées $14–$32), I had the fattest lobster roll I would ever laid eyes on.

Saturday

On the way in which to Chéticamp, the Acadian delight turns into palpable because the historic flag seems with growing frequency, both painted on buildings or hanging from colourful, weather-beaten homes. I headed straight for the Gypsum Mine, a flooded quarry with stark-white partitions surrounded by spruces, birches, and firs. A dip within the frigid lake is value it, as is the steep climb up the facet of the quarry (assisted by ropes connected to the rock face) that ends with attractive water views.

Mr. Chicken (entrées $8–$11) in Chéticamp is an area fast-food favourite for rooster poutine, however I used to be desirous to eat at L’abri (entrées $16–$35), which had been booked stable throughout my earlier journey, although it had opened simply 18 months earlier. L’abri is owned by Basil Doucet and Jaron Felix. After rising uninterested in their busy careers in Toronto and Halifax, the buddies returned to their hometown to begin an upscale restaurant riffing on Cape Breton delicacies. I savored the very good Cajun haddock muffins as tender French music lilted via the air.

It was nice gasoline for my subsequent tour: mountain climbing Cape Breton’s Skyline Trail, a five-mile loop via scrubby terrain that results in a headland boardwalk. After residing in Nova Scotia for nearly 15 years, I noticed my first moose, trying majestic because it grazed on shrubs.

Supper that evening was on the Rusty Anchor Restaurant (entrées $13–$30), in Nice Bay, recognized for hearty seafood and cheery service. I gorged on Northern Emerald oysters and a juicy bacon cheeseburger. Later I checked in to a spacious geodesic dome simply down the street at True North Destinations (doubles from $200), the place I discovered an ideal post-hike reward in my scorching tub overlooking the beating Atlantic.

Sunday

From Ingonish Seaside, I whipped throughout the ocean on a whale-watching tour with Keltic Express Zodiac Adventures. I hoped to see Minke whales or the odd humpback, however regardless of Captain Kinnon MacKinnon’s finest efforts to trace them down, I noticed neither. I used to be too impressed by the three immense sunfish I did spot to be disenchanted. Ingonish is without doubt one of the Cabot Path’s most rewarding stops, with trendy boutiques alongside the portion of the street that runs via city. At Groovy Goat Farm & Soap Company, I snuggled each bunnies and child goats, and at Leather Works by Jolene, I purchased a buttery-soft, sunshine-yellow purse.

Lunch was a snow-crab sandwich at Salty Rose’s & the Periwinkle Café (sandwiches $11–$22), a gallery-bakery combo owned by cousins Caitlyn Purcell and Sarabeth Drover, who provide decadent egg sandwiches and orange-scented granola topped with edible flowers, alongside artwork, crafts, and jewellery. I used to be sleeping upstairs that evening, in one of many café’s two vintage-chic rooms with Nineteen Seventies-inspired wallpaper (doubles from $175). After checking in, I took a protracted stroll alongside Ingonish Seaside, a strip of soppy sand edged by piles of pink and grey stones, and basked in views of the historic Keltic Lodge (doubles from $260) set on the cliffs above, the place I later ordered a Darkish & Stormy within the elegant Highland Sitting Room.

Monday

I drove to Cape Smokey Provincial Park to stroll to the cliff tops and get yet one more have a look at the highlands earlier than heading dwelling. On my means out of city, I ended on the Wreck Cove General Store for a last lobster roll — the very best in all of Cape Breton, islanders say. Co-owner Jenn Partland credit the store’s 40-year-old recipe: a no-nonsense mixture of knuckle and claw meat, Miracle Whip, salt, and pepper.

As I took my final chunk, I felt a deep sense of appreciation settle in. There’s one thing immensely satisfying about locations that know methods to maintain issues easy and unfussy. And that is precisely what Cape Breton does finest.

A model of this story first appeared within the October 2021 problem of Journey + Leisure underneath the headline A Pure Course.