Click on the photo to see rug hooking gallery


Click on the photo to see Cabot Trail gallery

After a served breakfast in the auberge, we got onto the bus and drove to Chéticamp, a coastal town famous for its rug-hooking tradition. We debarked at Les Trois Pignons, for a "special view into Acadian culture and the history of Chéticamp, a stunning collection of hooked rugs and antiquities, genealogy resource centre and library, and a full range of visitor information services", according to its website. The internationally renowned hooked rug enjoys a colorful history. The popularity is due to the perfect workmanship, rich pastel colors, diversity of design and the distinguished owners who display them with pride of history and talent. A docent led us through the museum and gave us a demonstration of rug hooking. ​

After that, we were on the bus again to explore the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The Cabot Trail is a paved road that loops 185 miles around the northern tip of Cape Breton. This remote area passes through many charming Celtic communities, each with breathtaking scenery. Cape Breton Highlands National Park conserves and protects the majestic highlands and coastal wilderness stretching across the northern tip of Cape Breton Island between the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. We stopped along the way for some photo ops. ​

Our picnic lunch was at a rest area inside a large building with several long tables and one wood-burning stove that tries to take the edge off of the cold temperatures. We barely had time to finish our box lunches before the next tour bus rolled in to use the same facilities. ​

After lunch, we pulled into another rest area and took a short walk through the woods to observe the plant life and to stretch our legs. ​

Dinner was at Baddeck Lobster Suppers. I had been looking forward to this since we arrived. The restaurant was in an large old white house with red trim. We were arranged along long tables in an open dining room. It was filled up. We started out with buckets of mussels. I was a little worried about eating them because of some previous problems. But I had a few and they were very good especially when dipped in butter. The lobster was not very large, but it was tasty and met my expectations.