Day 40. Forty days and Forty nights. And a BEAR!

Just when I thought I might be tired of This Life On Wheels, we drove into Cape Breton Highlands Park, paid our park fee, turned a corner, and - a bear! a bear! a small black bear cub to be precise.

It was so close to us that we just stuck the camera out of the passenger window, and watched entranced as it snuffled around in the ditch and under stones for something tasty. Then we drove on feeling all was right with the world. We'd seen something very special, and we're back in the wilderness.


After a couple of days rolling through miles and miles of lowland conifer forests and Scottish hamlets, with many of the village names written in English and Gaelic, at last we drove past a sign welcoming us to Acadian Novia Scotia, and it seemed that almost immediately the dark green woods gave out, the horizon opened up, and we could see the sea again. Mailboxes belonging to McDonald and McLellan gave way to names like Doucet (I must ask Lyse where she's from...).

We stopped in the village of Cheticamp to stock up on supplies - thankyou Co-op, and thank YOU to the Acadian Boulangerie where we swept up croissants, blueberry turnovers, and cranberry fruit loaf. The bakery was running out of supplies pretty fast, and we did our bit to help them close for the day.

And now, once again, we feel we're right where we should be. The bear was a good omen. The road soared and dipped ahead of us, and we drove on, past the big campsite to a tiny enclosure by the sea called Corney Brook. There are twenty spaces here, almost all taken now. Just below us are the wooden steps down to a beach of pebbles and driftwood. About an hour ago, after a fairly grey day, the sun slipped beneath the bank of clouds on the horizon, in a sudden blaze of hot pink glory. Hoorah, hoorah.

Richard and I have hopes for a proper hike around a dramatic headland - out in the open at last, after spending much of the last week on wheels. Cape Breton - like Gaspe - is one of the far points of Atlantic Canada that really inspired this trip. Please let the sun shine tomorrow.