Cape Breton Highlands - Meat Cove

    After the Skyline Trail we headed to Meat Cove, the most northern tip of Cape Breton. Meat Cove is a beautiful little cove with a horrible name. According to the internet (always a suspect source of information) this is where meat was processed during hunting trips by explorers. It is said you could smell it when you were out at sea. We can be thankful these oafish hunters didn’t get to name everything in the area. The borrowed Scottish place names prevalent in Cape Breton are miles better than “Meat Cove”. This beautiful place has been named in the top 10 most spectacular coastal locations in Canada.


The view from our cabin

    We settled in our little hillside cabin and walked down to the cove. I was sure I wasn’t going to swim on this overcast day. The shingled beach was full of cairns and inukshuks, which for some reason I find annoying. I fought off the urge to smash them all down and watched Charlie and Josh get in. The water was surprisingly warm! 

    Too lazy to walk back up to the cabin I waded in with my shirt and unders. Am I glad I did! Josh gave me the swim mask and I saw it was teeming with fish. He pointed along the rocks, “there is lobster over there.” Meanwhile I could see under the water that he almost stepped on one! It was disconcerting how quickly it moved. 



    We were happy to hear that a food truck visits Meat Cove at supper time. It arrived and, of course, the menu consisted of one thing - Lobster Rolls. I had bagged salad and the rest of them had their 100th Lobster Roll. 

    This is the most foreign feeling place we have been on this trip. We went for a short hike after dinner up to a high point and surveyed the rolling hills. I played "Scotland the Brave" on my phone. The wailing bag pipe sounds matched the scene exactly.




    Elsa tried to get us marching to the bagpipe song. That fell apart pretty quickly with the tight leafy trail scratching our legs. We headed back to our snug cabins.


    




The cove is infected with the blight of a hundred cairns.

Birds 'n Mammals
A few Northern Gannets patrolling the ocean. The tips of their wings end in a downturn, making them look like futuristic airplanes
Black Guillemot's in the bay


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