In the mist

Today I met two fascinating characters.

The human one we encountered at breakfast at the Haus Treuburg inn. A retired math professor, he was in Cape Breton to listen to Celtic music and to escape the summer in Chatham, MA, where he has lived for 45 years. His former means of escape had been that he spent 40 years summering on Baffin Island in the Arctic, where he was dropped off by a local guide and then picked up at some designated spot 10 weeks later.  During which time he was completely alone.

Puts a little perspective on what it means to "get away from it all."

Even so, I still feel like we're off the beaten path; the roads are mostly empty, and when we hiked even the most popular trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada, we were on our own most of the time. There is a very distinct sense of being (nearly) in the wilderness.

But unlike on Baffin Island, we can pop into a boulangerie and stock up on oat cakes (a Cape Breton specialty and very tasty) before a hike.

Maybe hard to see in the photo, but the logo was definitely suggestive of a derriere.

We will be bringing a supply home, if we don't eat them all on the way.

The day was iffy, weather-wise, and my TC (traveling companion) went through the gamut of emotions as the clouds gathered and parted and rain drizzled and stopped on our two-hour drive north from Port Hood. As we began the afore-mentioned hike, the fog was thick and we couldn't see what we were supposed to be seeing on the Skyline Trail, which was, at least for my TC, highly disappointing.

But then conditions improved, and we had a perfectly timed 20-minute window to enjoy the views from the top, on which were perched a series of boardwalk platforms, comme ça:

On the rest of the drive to Ingonish, the sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the water views were spectacular.

This is the rocky beach 50 feet from the cottage we're in tonight. 

The cottage is very comfortable and well-appointed. The temperature is fantastic. We had dinner at a local joint where the TC had a lobster dinner and I had local scallops. All very enjoyable.

But wait. Aren't you wondering about the other fascinating character I met today? The non-human one?

I'm pretty proud of this photo, and I had not the foggiest (pun) idea that it was going to come out so well when I took it. I was just trying to get a shot of Mama Moose before she wandered away. 

Good night!