PICTOU TO NEW HARRIS, NOVA SCOTIA (CAPE BRETON ISLAND)
Day 23 – We woke up to some sunshine this morning & not so many clouds, 43 degrees, and windy. Really pretty looking out over the water! A Bald Eagle flew back & forth and the Bonaparte’s Gulls were back, too. We packed up and departed Harbour Light Campground at 10:20 a.m.
160 miles, (3:40), 38905-39065
It was a very scenic drive with great views everytime we went up or down a hill or around a bend. This was especially true once we crossed the causeway to Cape Breton Island. We drove most of the trip on the Trans-Canada Highway; there wasn’t much traffic. For a while we’d travel along the water, then go into the hills, then back down to the water, and so on. When we got on the Island, the road signs were written in English, then Gaelic, rather than English, then French. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive & cannot wait until we plan a trip to this part of Nova Scotia & stay for months. From what we’ve seen in pictures and heard from people who’ve been to Cape Breton, the scenery is absolutely breathtaking further north and around the top of the Island. What we saw today was just a prelude to that trip, I’m sure.
Click on any picture below to see a slideshow.
We arrived at our campground, the North Sydney/Cabot Trail KOA, at 2 p.m., after stopping for lunch & gas for the RV. It was 50 degrees, mostly sunny with some wind, and we set up camp. The campground is in New Harris, NS & is located about 20 minutes from the ferry to Newfoundland. There were several campgrounds in the area to choose from, but most were still closed for the season. This campground is quite nice with many campsites overlooking Great Bras d’Or Lake and the bridge crossing over it. We have site #5/6 with a beautiful view & full hook-ups.
We decided to change our planned departure to Newfoundland from Tuesday to tomorrow because on Tuesday, the winds will be in the 25 MPH range. Tomorrow, the wind will be much lower – in the low teens. We were very lucky that the ferry could accommodate the RV & tow car tomorrow and it was okay with them for us to change our reservation. Tomorrow will be a long day, and we won’t get to explore this area more this time, but we’ll definitely come back on another trip. We’ll be on the ferry all day tomorrow, so it’s early-to-bed tonight. If the cats knew they were going to be on a big boat all day, they wouldn’t be so happily sleeping today. I think we’ll pull all the shades. Hopefully that will be less stressful for them.
North Sydney/Cabot Trail KOA: 3779 New Harris Road, New Harris, NS Canada B1X 1T1;
(902) 674-2145 or 1-800-562-7452; https://koa.com/campgrounds/north-sydney/. Open May 15 to October 15. Check-out time is 11 a.m. This was a large, immaculate campground in a great setting. There were 120 RV campsites, 3 small cabins & a deluxe cabin, and 2 tenting areas, all on a terraced hill, so that the row in front of you was on a lower level & almost everyone had a great view of Great Bras d’Or Lake. They offered a Rec Room, dump station, dog park (actually a dog playground with obstacle courses for the dogs), boat ramp, playground, horseshoes, mini golf, washrooms, laundry, store, mail services, and a security gate. There was our choice of 15, 30, or 50 AMP full hook-up campsites, pull-through or back-in, and they assigned us a great site, #5/6. For a 30-AMP, pull-through campsite, we paid $52.89 (Canadian currency, no discounts because we’re not KOA members – they get 10% off). We would stay here again.