Happy Hookers of Cheticamp

Rug hookers that is! An early start this morning saw us in the bus driving through the Margaree Valley on the start of the Cabot Trail which goes right around the north and east coast of Cape Breton covering some spectacular scenery. Cheticamp has only had a road connecting it to the rest of the world for sixty years - so they have kept their Acadian traditions alive, even to the extent of still speaking an old world French quite different from that spoken in Quebec or Paris. Our waitress at morning tea had a strong French accent, as did the lady demonstrating rug hooking. That's her in the photo showing me how to do rug hooking. It's a craft here done by men and women and an art by some which commands high prices. You would have to do something in a place which only had one month of summer (July).

It is a very clean and neat-looking town as the houses are all freshly painted in different colours with white trim and each sits surrounded by smooth green lawn, no fences and no gardens at all, just these little boxy two or three storey houses. It's windy - and we were there on mild day. We had no fog, a rare event for the Cabot Trail.

The Cabot Trail enters the Cape Breton National Park, hugging the Atlantic Ocean, a rugged and rough shoreline diving up and down like a roller coaster through mixed woods of spruce, birch, maple and ash interspersed with bright red wild apples and even brighter rowan berries. Not much in the way of fall colours as the recent two days of low temperatures haven't been enough to turn the leaves.

Lunch happened at Cape North in a little red-roofed church and was supplied by volunteers from the excellent little pioneer museum that was having a special exhibition of weather. Boy - do they ever have weather there! - mostly snow but this August flooding rains.

The eastern coast is firmly Scottish, even to a Celtic College to teach their heritage. The coastline is wonderful; the road goes in and out little bays and there are working fishing villages with lobster traps stacked high for the winter. They can have 250 to 375 traps each depending on geography; David found that out by talking to a fisherman at Neil's Cove. Black Brook Beach is a beautiful little (stony) beach where we had our photo taken - see below.


Merryle thought we might be hungry - as if! - and booked us for afternoon tea at a posh old inn Keltic Lodge at That's it in the photo with the Canadian flag waving. It is perfectly located on a headland with water on three sides, a smooth- looking golf course and a comfortable lounge where guests were sitting around having English-style tea (I refuse to call it "high" tea).

We were late back at Baddeck where a Thanksgiving dinner awaited.