Meat Cove, Nova Scotia

Meat Cove, Nova Scotia

So often our least planned side trips end up being some of our best experiences.  Meat Cove has certainly become one of those places. 

As we were traveling along the northern portion of the Cape, we turned off the park road to see what the tiny village of Bay St. Lawrence had to offer.  As we entered the town, we passed a small sign on a gravel road with an arrow pointing toward “Meat Cove.”   After a brief check of the map, it was a unanimous decision to follow where this road might lead us.  Are we ever glad that we did!

We sit under our little awning, overlooking a stunningly beautiful cove.  In the distance, a waterfall spills into the Atlantic Ocean.  As we bask under sunny skies, gannets plunge into the ocean, catching their breakfast.  The Newfoundland mountain range appears as gray-blue mounds, jutting above the ocean in the far distant horizon.

Campsite at Meat Cove

Newfoundland in the distance.

Waterfall on Meat Cove

We have already hiked down to the beach this morning.  Roxanne fetched sticks in the gentle waves while I took photographs and combed the shoreline for a few smooth stones.  Later, we hiked the ridge that overlooks the cove.  Other than some rather nasty biting flies to fend off, it has been a perfect day. 

Meat Cove from the summit.
Notice the blue arrow to the right... it is pointing to our rig!

Dave and Rox with Newfoundland in the distance.

Us at Meat Cove summit.

We have met some kindred souls here on Meat Cove.  Charlie has traveled the opposite direction from our adventure, coming due north from Colorado, then across Quebec and Labrador, into Newfoundland, and now Nova Scotia.  He arrived at Meat Cove on a tip from a friend.  Charlie has made his entire soul journey riding a Kawasaki motorcycle, encountering the same rain and fog that we have.  Like us, he lives spartanly on the road (actually, even more so than us).  It was wonderful to share supper, stories, and potential travel destinations with him. 

We also met Doug and Cindy, who like us are recently retired…. or as David likes to say, rather than being on a honeymoon, we are on a retire-moon.  Their first adventure was traveling to Alaska last year.  Now we are sharing the same roads traveling east this year.  They also have a truck camper, although theirs has a frig and stove.  It was wonderful to share adventures with them yesterday evening.

Finally the skies have turned blue and the humidity has dropped.  Last evening, we actually donned sweatshirts for a brief period of time.  It was wonderful.  The highs will be in the 80s for the next day or so here in Nova Scotia but Newfoundland promises to be a bit cooler.  This was certainly the summer to bring more T-shirts than we did!

This morning we left Meat Cove to travel the rest of the park.  We have discovered that the east side of the park has more tourists, probably because of its lovely beaches and proximity to Sydney.  We took a hike around Freshwater Lake this afternoon, although Rox was extremely disappointed because pets were not allowed to swim.

Once we set camp this evening, we are hoping to be able to bathe her.  Whenever Rox takes an ocean swim, she always has this special eau de Golden.  We doubt seriously that the ferry staff will let her on deck smelling as she is! 

Tomorrow we head into Sydney to restock provisions, do laundry, fill up the gas tank, etc.  We have just learned that our ferry departure time has been moved up to 7:30 this Saturday morning, meaning that we need to be in line at 5:30 am.  We are going to check to see if we can boondock in the ferry parking lot tomorrow evening.

Ingonish Beach, Cape Breton

So goodbye to Nova Scotia…  Saturday morning we embark on yet another portion of our adventure… Newfoundland!

Nova Scotia on Dwellable