Day 5, Baddeck and the Cabot Trail (via auto)

August 16th:  Today we decided to drive the Cabot Trail, against my normal thinking, but Heidi and I agreed that even if we get the trailer on Monday, as a minimum we would have to cut a few parts of our planned bike ride out.  The first part we would cut out was our first day from Baddeck to St. Anne’s, which seemed to be uninteresting anyhow, but the second part would be the very north portion of our trip (a part I had added, which was a big reason we did not do a commercial tour, as no tours would go up to this north most town on the island).  We did it, drove all the way, Spoiler Alert for sure, we now know exactly what all the big climbs are like, what the road conditions are, I feel like I cheated. However, it was worth it, as we got to ride the north section, about 20 miles total, out and back, and boy did it have a big climb on it, probably why no tours do it.  Glad I did not have my trailer for the climb, but it was an awesome ride.  The highlights were the beach we found just before the climb called Cabot’s Landing, so amazing, had a beer with some bread and cheese which fueled me for the rest of the ride.  Then at the end of the road, it really was just that.  Another foot and into the cold deep blue sea.  Had another beer and back we went to the car.  Dinner this night was in Baddeck at an Italian place, very nice and low key--chicken pesto linguini was amazing.  

What does tomorrow hold for us, trailer, no trailer is the key to the remainder of our trip.  

Lunch stop along the road to Bay of St. Lawerence.  This beach is the best so far, and the views were breathtaking.  

The beach, it goes a long ways.

Lunch

View from along the road.  

End of the road in Bay of St. Lawerence.  Really special spot, but no beer on a Sunday afternoon...

Leaving the small town of St. Lawerence.

Here is where we started the ride, an old church and local museum. 

This is the Studio that has been our home for the last two days.  Very cozy and nice.