East Coast 2022 - Cabot Trail Loop - Skyline Trail, Inverness, Glenora

After spending the night in Cheticamp, my husband Rich and I doubled back north along the Cabot Trail the next morning to hike on the Skyline Trail before resuming our trek to our next stop of Inverness.  We had wanted to do the hike the day before but ran out of time.  The Skyline Trail is a 7km loop that consists of relatively flat, gravelly paths that take you out and back through tree-lined forests and open meadows covered with wildflowers and grasslands, and a long boardwalk in the middle that leads to stunning views of French Mountain.  It was a bit disconcerting that the first sign we encountered was a warning about bears. It was also a good thing that I had not done a Wikipedia search to learn about this trail prior to the hike. One of the first facts that comes up is that this was the location of several coyote attacks on hikers which resulted in injuries and one death!  Fortunately, we did not encounter any bears, coyotes or other predators and it was a beautiful day for a hike with bright blue skies and not a cloud to be seen.

It was strange how quickly the terrain changed from the boreal forest at the start of the trail to the treeless grassy areas shortly after.  Several informational signs plus a large fenced-in gated area explained the situation.  Back in the 1970s, a spruce budworm outbreak killed off mature balsam firs, leaving white birch trees to grow instead.  This became a feasting ground for moose who thrived on eating the young trees and halted the regrowth of the forest.  In an attempt to allow the forest to naturally grow and regenerate again, an enclosure was erected in 2007 to keep moose out.  While inside the enclosure, I climbed up a lookout point to survey the surroundings.  Once outside the fenced area, the trees started to appear again, and we caught our first glimpse of the mountain and ocean.

When we finally reached the start of the wooden boardwalk and looked down upon the vista below, we gasped at the sheer beauty before us with the water on our right and the mountains on the left.  We started the long descent down a series of flights of steps that led to a platform with a bench for people to pause and admire the view at each level.  The boardwalk and steps were created to protect sensitive vegetation on the dramatic headland overlooking coastline of the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

At the lowest platform which marked the farthest tip of the trail, we had the closest view of the sparkling water leading up to the stunning coastline on one side and the French Mountain on the other.  It was fun watching the tiny cars in the distance wind their way along the steep, twisty roads that were carved through the mountains and realize that we would be driving that stretch soon.

The wooden steps that we walked down were interesting. At the bottom of the boardwalk was a plaque that described a temporary art piece, installed in 2019 to recognize National Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  Titled “Steps Forward”, brass plates were affixed to the base of the final 35 steps of the boardwalk stairs, each etched with the original text from the Peace and Friendship Treaty signed in 1752 between the Mi’kmaq and the British Crown.  The trek back up the steps and then back through another stretch of meadows and forest felt like more of a slog.  This was not only because we were tired at this point, but also because the temperature had increased dramatically and there was no wind or protection from the sun during the treeless section which seemed to last forever.  We did spot more vegetation and pretty wildflowers on this half of the loop.  When we finished the hike and started to drive away, we looked back up the mountain and could barely see the shapes of people standing where we were just the hour ago.

Heading back towards Cheticamp, we had a fun stop at Freya & Thor Gallery which specializes in Nova Scotia folk art.  These are  quirky, whimsical, handmade works of decorative art that reflect the culture of the area.  Many items are made of wood and painted in bright colourful hues.  Themes referencing farming and seafaring traditions are common so there were carvings of lighthouses and buoys, birds, fish, pigs, rabbits, moose and other animals.  My favourite works were the little humorous vignettes including a barbershop scene, a semi-dressed woman applying lipstick in front of a mirror with the words “Getting ready for Bingo” written across the base, and a man playing violin on a checker-board.

While researching for our East Coast trip and looking for good places to eat lobster, Rich read that one of the best lobster rolls was at a food truck in Antigonish. We made plans to stop there on the way back to Dartmouth after we completed our Cabot Trail loop.  Returning to Cheticamp after our Skytrail hike and looking for some lunch, we stumbled upon Da’Smokey Fish food truck parked right by the harbour where a fishing fleet was docked.  This seemed like an excellent opportunity to score some extremely fresh seafood.  We ordered  bacon-wrapped grilled scallops, a battered halibut cheek and some tempura beans with wasabi mayo.  The halibut cheek was over 6 inches in diameter and one of the largest that we had ever seen.  The plump scallops were perfectly grilled and all the food was delicious.  Including a can of pop, the entire meal came to $42 and ended up being one of the best meals we had on our trip, trumping the various sit-down restaurants that we visited.  We took our box of seafood to a bench by the harbour and had a great outdoor meal, watching the boats dock as we ate.  In addition to being the best tasting meal, this was also the most memorable dining experience of the trip and it was by total luck that we found it at all.

After lunch, we were ready to continue south towards Inverness which we heard had a beach with the warmest water in Nova Scotia, and Glenora where we would spend the night.  En route, we stopped by Saint-Joseph-du-Moine for more pretty “Ireland-like” scenery and then at the quaint Margaree Harbour Village, whose colourfully painted buildings looked so pretty from afar that we decided to take a closer look.

Margaree Harbour is part of a series of communities residing along the Margaree River.  We found out later that the nearby Egypt Falls is one of the highlights of Margaree, but we did not come across that.  We did find a path to a nice and relatively secluded beach with smooth fine-grained sand.  Once again like the day before, Rich decided to dip his toes into the water and this time because it was a hot day, I decided to join him.  The water was not freezing but it was by no means warm.  That would have to wait until Inverness.  We took some photos of the interesting rock formation on the far coast and then continued on our way.

The past history of Inverness in coal mining (1918 to 1992) is still recalled with its Inverness Miner’s Museum and the Coal Miner’s Café.  Today it has become more of a golf and beach destination but also has some interesting architecture including the Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church with its simple façade highlighted by red accents, as well as a fabulous blue-grey house with two turrets.  However, what we came here for was the beach and it definitely was a beautiful one which we accessed via a long wooden boardwalk.

By now it was extremely hot so the thought of dipping our toes into the warmest waters in Nova Scotia (sourced by the Gulf of St. Lawrence as opposed to the Atlantic Ocean) seemed very appealing to me.  There were many more people at the Inverness Beach as opposed to one at Margaree and they were all happily frolicking in the crashing waves or lounging on the sand.  While I tentatively stood at the edge of the rolling waves and enjoyed the warmth of the water, Rich boldly marched forward and quickly had most of his shorts soaking wet. Deciding “in for a penny, in for a pound”, Rich handed me his shirt and went for an impromptu swim.  The water was lovely, and he thoroughly enjoyed his dip until he had to walk back to the car dripping wet without a good place to change his clothes.  Luckily, we had a ratty old towel in the trunk and pull-up sunscreens for the back windows of our car so Rich was able to change there.  But squirming around in that back seat while the people in the car parked beside us hovered around while rummaging through their trunk did not make for a comfortable situation for poor Rich.

Then it was onward to Glenora Inn & Distillery where we would have dinner and stay the night before heading to Louisburg, the final stop in our Cabot Trail tour.  Glenora Distillery was the first single malt whiskey distillery in North America, built in 1990 but using brewing traditions dating back to the early 1800’s when Scottish immigrants first arrived in Cape Breton Island.  The main building of the Inn has 9 rooms overlooking a beautifully manicured courtyard full of plants and flowers, and our room was spacious and nicely renovated with a view of the courtyard.

Rich started our stay by taking a tour of the distillery where he learned about Glenora’s process of making whiskey including using fresh water from the local stream that ran through the property to boil the hops. Steps to make whiskey include malting, mashing, fermenting, distilling and aging.  The tour ended with a tasting of Glenora’s signature Glen Breton whiskey.

We had a pleasant but unspectacular and extremely pricey dinner at Glenora Inn’s restaurant that felt very dated and uninspired.  We both started with the pan seared Digby scallops flambeed in a 10-year-old rare whisky (couldn’t tell) and covered with a mushroom maple cream sauce.  For our mains, I had halibut with some bland vegetables and rice while Rich had beef short ribs with potato and vegetables.  We were initially excited that we would be serenaded by a piano player over dinner, but this was the worst dining room pianist that we had ever encountered.  It was like listening to a bad student recital where the pianist kept making mistakes and then started the song over again.  Because the dining room was so cold (even with me wearing a sweater), we decided to move to the pub for dessert and some local fiddle music. It turned out to be even colder there as we were seated under a ceiling fan and waited over 20 minutes without even being presented with a menu.  Giving up, we left without dessert and returned to our room.

The Glenora Inn was by far the most expensive accommodations of our 2-week trip, and for the price that we paid, we were expecting a very special experience of high quality and luxury in terms of accommodations, food and service.  Unfortunately, we did not get any of this and by the end of our stay, we felt thoroughly disappointed.  We concluded that the establishment had lost the luster of its heyday and was not worth the high rates that were being charged for both the room and the dinner.  We checked out early the next morning and continued our way to Louisburg.