Day’s distance / Total distance – 287 miles / 4,421 miles

The weather varied throughout the day. The temperature started and finished in the 60s and was as warm as 80. Clouds came and went and then returned with some rain showers for my last hour on the road. Winds were gusty and stronger on the eastern side of Cape Breton Island.

Today’s goal was to ride the Cabot Trail, located on the north half of the island. There was no great bridge like there was to Prince Edward Island yesterday, just a simple causeway and voila!

A few miles further north and you’re on the Cabot Trail.

This was the fourth scenic area on my Trans-Canada tour that included the Bow Valley Parkway near Lake Louise on Day 2,

Highwood Pass south of Kananaskis on Day 3,

and Lake Superior Provincial Park on Day 9.

The Cabot Trail was a great goal – scenic, sometimes twisty and often a challenge to ride, much more challenging than any of the three other scenic places.

Here are some pictures of the scenery around the island as well as some of the roads themselves.

The Kidston Island lighthouse seen from Baddock.

The Cabot Trail near the Lobster Galley …

and near St. Ann’s Provincial Park.

The shore north of St. Ann’s Provincial Park.

South of Ingonish

South of Wreck Cove

Park entrance in Ingonish, where a day pass for the park was purchased.

One of the two big construction zones on the island. This was the one on the eastern side, between Pleasant Bay and Chéticamp.

North of Chéticamp.

I talked with many folks today, but Mary is someone I expect to keep in touch with in the future. We met twice on the trail over the span of several hours, once on the western side of the island and again at the Rusty Bucket restaurant in Pleasant Bay where I stopped to have a bucket of mussels for an early dinner.

My last 30 miles, from Pleasant Bay to Chéticamp was in the rain. I had a great streak of dry and warm weather, up to and including this afternoon.

Today was my “turnaround” day. I head south tomorrow – back to Moncton, New Brunswick – for my last night in Canada before heading to Maine and, eventually, back to Seattle.

It feels like this day marked the end of my ride across Canada <woo hoo!> and tomorrow begins my ride home from Canada. Stay tuned.