Neil's Harbour, NS

Monday June 16…10:30pm

We finally had a blue sky day today. The temperature was still a bit cool…high 18C or so, but at least it was sunny!

View of the coast taken from the Little Smokey Lookoff

View of the coast taken from Lakies Head Lookoff

Lobster fishermen checking their traps, seen from Lakies Head Lookoff

View of the coastline from Bluff's Head Lookof

We hiked the Jack Pine Trail, which then hooked up to the end part of the Coastal Trail. It was just a short hike, maybe 3 km’s or less. But tomorrow we’re going to do the full Coastal Trail which is about 11 km’s. So we had to give ourselves a bit of a break today!

View from the Jack Pine Trail

Waterfall near trailhead parking lot

Ruth and Whiskey

We drove on to Neil’s Harbour, a small fishing village just outside the northern end of the park. Looked for an overnight spot near the Harbour itself, and probably could have parked there, but the scenery wasn’t the best. So we went for a walk around town to look for somewhere better. Just up from the harbour is a lighthouse, and a greasy spoon type of seafood place called the Chowder House. They have a nice level parking area overlooking the ocean, so we figured that maybe if we bought a bowl of chowder for supper, they’d let us park overnight. We walked into town because there are 2 churches that may have suitable parking. But one is too close to people's houses. The other would be okay, but we like the Chowder House parking lot better. They close at 8pm, so we went for our bowl of soup just before 7pm, and it was really good. Incuding tax, it was $10.74, which is a little pricey, but it was a good hearty bowl, and did quite well as a small meal. Sure enough, they said it was fine if we parked overnight. I’ve got it figured that we’ll be able to do the entire Cape Breton Island without paying for campgrounds, and we’ll likely have better views than anybody who is paying!

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV…239

June Fuel $ 321.23

June Grocery $ 389.71

June Overnight Costs $ 58.56