The scarecrow park
Well you'd think it was the Fall what with a grey sky, cold drizzle and temperatures as low as 11 going through Cape breton Highlands Park. But, that being said, the views are spectacular. Just north of Chéticamp, there is a roadside field filled with scarecrows; 85 with individual masks to be exact, according to the french gentleman who has been taking care of producing new clothes for them every year from donations which visitors care to leave behind. You can have your picture taken with the likes of Chrétien and other world leaders, a wedding party, and assorted other characters who helpfully have a cardboard label stapled to one of their outstretched arms. The owners says he does it for the smiles of those who stop by to see them. It all started 25 years ago when a passer-by stopped to look at the three scarecrows he had in a garden a few yards away and told him to forget the garden and put up more scarecrows; three grew to twenty-five, and the rest is history.
I stopped for lunch, a dozen delicious local oysters and lobster rolls at a place called the Rusty Anchor in Pleasant Bay. The service was friendly and the food good.
While the sections along the western shore and through the national park and around Ingonish are in good shape, the same can't be said for all of the Cape Breton Trail. Some sections are quite bumpy and in generally bad shape. A rather large moose was but a few yards to my right next to the road near the northern tip of the parc. I slowed down, nodded, and I think he winked before he casually sauntered off into the brush.
I detoured into the roadway to the Keltic Lodge, just to see, and made may way south along 312 and 105 to Baddeck where I'm staying for the night.
Tomorrow it's to North Syney to board the overnight ferry to Argentia. Here's hoping the weather warms up a bit.
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