Annual Father-Daughter Camping Trip

And yet another weekend I look forward to every summer is the camping trip I do with my Dad. Our first father-daughter camping trip was over a decade ago when I moved back home after being away for many years and we've gone every year since except during Covid lockdowns.  

We used to go to a secluded spot at the end of a very long gravel road leading to a beautiful beach.  Unfortunately, we have since learned that this spot is on private property and the owner has asked us not to camp there anymore. The past few summer's, we've been camping at Battery Provincial Park in St. Peters.  It's not secluded and certainly not wild like our old spot but the sites at this campground are so large and set back from the road that it feels sort of remote. 

We took the long way to St. Peter's through Marion Bridge, Gabarus, Forchu and Framboise stopping along the way at various points of interest.  We stopped at the beach in Gabarus and walked along the shore searching for treasure with dad's new metal detector.  We stopped in Forchu to take some pictures of the boats going out.  We stopped at our old camping spot and had a picnic.  By the time we made it to St. Peter's, we could check-in and set up camp for the night before the forecasted rain moved in.  There was some thunder in the distance and scattered rain showers throughout the day but nothing compared to the downpour that happened only minutes after I retreated to my tent for the night!

After we set up camp, we visited a couple of the museums around town and grabbed some supper at a restaurant in nearby Louisdale. When it got dark enough, we lit a fire and watched the night sky.  

In the morning, we left everything up to dry and headed to St. Peter's for breakfast.  By the time we returned, everything was ready to pack up.  Dad headed home to same way we came and I headed to Point Michaud Beach to check out the Surf Competition that is held there every year. It's a beautiful beach with clear waters and large rolling waves but I was only able to tolerate the water for about five minutes before I got pins and needles from the cold.  It was not nearly as warm as the water at many of the other beaches around Cape Breton! 

August Long Weekend in the Country

One thing I look forward to every summer for the last 13 years is the August long-weekend trip I take with my friend to Margaree. 

We left on a Friday and, although the weather forecast didn't look all that promising, we made the best of our time there and the best of the moments when the sun was shining!  

During the rainy times, we went for drives along the coast, grabbed a bite to eat in the local cafe and browsed the thrift stores.  When the sun was shining, we went to Inverness Beach.  While I swam to my hearts content in the warm, clear water, my friend hunted for beach glass.  I also walked the entire length of the boardwalk from the main road all the way to end below the golf course. When we left Inverness, we stopped at Chimney Corner along the way and went for a swim and a walk along the beach there, too.  

One evening was nice enough to have a fire on nearby Belle Cote beach.  I'd never been to this beach before so it was one more place on Cape Breton that I got to discover. And to make that night even more magical, there was a beautiful full moon!

One of the best things about that weekend every year is sleeping in a place that is so quiet and dark at night.  The old country house we stayed in must be over 100 years old and it felt like a step back in time to when things were simpler.  The worse part about that weekend every year? Going home!

 

Summer's Beginnings

Summer seemed to creep up gradually.  It seemed like one day I was still wearing my heavy jacket and jeans complaining about the fog, rain and cold and than one day, all of a sudden, the layers came off, I got a sunburn, the water warmed up, the lifeguards showed up at the beach and it was officially summer!

One of the first real summer things I do every July is head out to Rendell's Farm in Bras d'Or and pick enough fresh strawberries to last the winter.  This year the strawberries weren't as good as they usually were and my schedule didn't work out very well with the sunny days (it rained every weekend at the start of summer) so I only got half of what I usually pick.  As I write this, they are almost gone already!

It seems the jellyfish don't stick around as much as they used to and by the second week in July, they were all gone!  The water was a little late warming up but it was still tolerable in the early days of summer.  Any nice day when I wasn't out of town, I was on Dominion Beach in the afternoons and again in the evenings for a walk and sunset viewing.  Oh and there were some endangered piping plovers nesting on the beach too.  That added some excitement especially after the little ones hatched.  There were also three baby eagles born in the nest alongside the road I drive on to get to the beach so that made my drive a little more enjoyable!  I even saw a baby bobcat in Lingan on my way home from the beach one evening but that was a one time thing.  Elusive as they are, I've only seen maybe three bobcats in my whole life. 

Something that was missing at the beach this summer was fox kittens. There were none.  Several adult foxes were hanging around the beach all summer, but no little ones were born.  

Most mornings before heading to the beach, I'd drive to Dad's and go biking along the shore to the lighthouse.  That was sometimes followed by a visit to my sisters to see her and my little nephew or we would meet them at the beach so he could play in the sand and out his feet in the water. 

 As summer went on, the days got hotter and, unfortunately for me, my air conditioning broke in my car.  Of course, right in the middle of summer!  After a hard time trying to get someone to fox it and honor the warranty, it was back up and running but I was having to roll down the windows and sweat out any long drives for almost a month. 

Those hot days lingered and there were no more rainy weekends come late July.  As good as this sounds, it wasn't good for our forests.  Huge fires broke out elsewhere in the province and there was a high risk of one starting here so the province shut down the woods.  No fires, no hiking, no doing anything if it involved walking through any woods.  That smoke from the wildfires up the line drifted this way a few times and one evening, I captured the perfect sunset behind a haze.   

 Despite that woods ban, I made the best of summer and it turned out to be another amazing one filled with memories and adventures. A long drive to along the coast to Main-a-Dieu and through Louisbourg, sunsets, meteor showers, beach walks, ocean swims....and that's just the beginning of it all!

 

 

 

 

Never Breaking Tradition!

Cape Breton Island is such an amazing place.  It's only small but every corner of the island is different and everyone in my family has their favourite spot they love to go to. For me, it's always been Ingonish and, in later years, Inverness, both in the northern region. Dad always had a soft spot for the Framboise area on the south coast of the island. I love that area too and, as I get older and develop a distaste for crowds and a penchant for peace and quiet, I love it more and more every year. 

 

Since I moved back home from Newfoundland in 2011, my father and I have planned a weekend camping trip in the Framboise area every year.  We put aside 2 days every summer and pack up our cars with gear and head to a remote beach about as far away as you can get from civilization. 

 

We arrived at our spot this year late morning on a clear, warm day.  It's tedious setting everything up as we have to park at the bottom of a hill and carry everything to the top.  We got everything set up when we were approached by someone telling us we were camped on private land.  Not realizing the land was private property, we had a brief conversation with the man, we agreed to pack up and camp elsewhere. 

 

While I was disappointed at having wasted so much time and energy setting up, I understood fully where he was coming from.  Other campers had been leaving garbage behind and he and his wife had their hearts set on enjoying the patch of land themselves that week.  I would probably be unhappy to find a bunch of people camped on my land too if I drove a long distance to enjoy some peace and quiet! 

 

We went to another spot we had camped at years before.  It was always our second choice anyway and it's a very nice spot that's also remote and right on the ocean. It didn't take us long to get re-set up after our little set back and in no time, we were back on schedule.  We did some hiking that day and headed to St. Peter's that evening to have supper at Jigg's takeout.  A coffee for the road and a relaxing evening drive and we were back at camp early enough to start a fire, have a few beer and watch the night sky. 

 

I slept well that evening as I always do in a tent.  I love being so close to the earth and the great outdoors.  It's where I fit in most. That morning after breakfast, we hiked a little more and packed up the vehicles to head home.  Dad headed toward Gabarus, I went to Point Michaud Beach where I enjoyed a swim in the warm, clear waters of another one of Cape Breton's finest beaches. And, surprise, an old friend was there with her family!  You never know who you'll meet when traveling around Cape Breton!

Finally....2 Days in a Row Nice Enough to go Camping!

Cape Breton summers are usually very nice with plenty of sun and long, warm days.  In fact, summers are so nice here that I rarely leave the island this time of year because I don't want to miss those long, lazy days of an East Coast summer. 

It's been quite different this year though.  Lots of rain, humidity, north winds and clouds. And it just so happens that I booked my yearly summer vacation during the worst part of the summer.  It rained almost every day.  Fortunately, there were two days close to the end of it that worked out perfectly to allow me to get a camping trip in before heading back to work. 

I planned to go for two nights in Ingonish early on and to Framboise later during my vacation but it didn't quite work out that way.  I did get to camp in both places but it ended up being one night in Ingonish and one night in Framboise.  

I left early that bright, sunny morning, grabbing some coffee and breakfast in Bras d'Or along the way. Check-in at Broad Cove Campground wasn't until 2 PM but I went straight to the check-in gate to see if I could set up early.  No one was at my site at that time so they allowed me to get in and set up so I could be on a beach and in the water by lunchtime.  

 It was high tide and most of the beaches were full of rocks and the surf was high.  I ended up at The Point where there was plenty of sand and the water was clear and calm. I spent a good hour there before taking a long walk along North Bay Beach where I sat and watched the sea until the sun started to go down.  I didn't have time to pack any food for this trip so I ended up eating some home fries and onion rings.  I don't normally eat so poorly but I always treat myself on these yearly trips!

After a walk along the breakwater at The Point and a drive from the Keltic Lodge to Neil's Harbor and a detour to Warren Lake, I headed back to camp.  It was almost dark when I returned so I turned on the solar lights and went for a walk around the campground followed by a cold beer as I sat and watched the stars until it was time to turn in.  Fortunately, it was a warm night so I could sleep soundly to be ready for the long drive to Framboise the next morning. 

 Normally, I do my trip to Ingonish and trip to Framboise separately but due to time constraints and weather, I did them together this year....which meant a 3-hour drive from Ingonish to Framboise after I checked out of Broad Cove Campground.  Back over Cape Smokey I went, along the North Shore, over Kelly's Mountain and across the Seal Island Bridge.  Instead of driving straight through to Sydney, I turned off on the Route 4 in Sydney River and drove towards St. Peter's.  

I arrived at the camping spot Dad and I have been using for almost a decade.  I quickly got set up so I could relax for a bit before taking a long hike along the beach. This late in summer, nightfall comes earlier.  After our hike, we went for a drive into St. Peter's for a coffee and some supper and headed back to camp just before it got dark so we could get the fire started.  This is my favorite part of any camping trip; that quiet time at the end of the day when you can sit around the warmth of the fire sipping on a cold beer and watching the night sky with the sound of waves crashing on the shore below. 

 It was warm that night and I slept soundly despite not having a mat or soft surface to put between me and the ground.  I prefer it that way.  I feel closer to the earth and to nature.  I awoke to the sound of some kind of animal prowling around my tent.  I could hear it but by the time I exited the tent, whatever it was had taken off into the woods. 

With the campsite torn down and everything in the cars, Dad and I parted ways.  He turned right on the Fleur-de-lis Trail to go fishing in the brooks along the highway before heading home.  I turned left on the same road and headed to Point Michaud Beach for a refreshing dip in the ocean.  And the drive home? As always, any drive along Route 4 with the views of the Bras d'Or Lakes is a good drive.