After catching a few hours of additional asleep after docking early yesterday morning we drove up to the Arm of Gold campground, connected the electric cord and took off to do the Cabot Trail loop through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
It is a 35 mile drive from N Sydney to Cheticamp on the northwest coast of Cape Breton and the wet entrance to the Park. 
We stopped for a late brunch on the way over and then spent some time learning of Cheticamp's history and visiting the large St Peter's Catholic Church in town.
Cheticamp is one of those Arcadian communities in Canada trying to return to its French roots. The schools teach in French only and the residents are very cognizant of the Arcadian presence on the island.
We also visited the Three Gables hooked rug museum that also tells of the Arcadians in Cheticamp. The women are quite proud of their status as experienced "hookers" and have made elaborate hooked rugs displaying every imaginable theme.
Leaving Cheticamp the entrance to the park is accompanied by an almost immediate climb to the Highlands above the picturesque west coast of Cape Breton that unfortunately also put us in the clouds. 
Most of the Park's coast was obscured until we descended and left the Park on its east end. 
So much for returning from Newfoundland a day early!
The weather along the coast east of the park was enjoyable so we did get to see part of the loop.
We also got to wait a half hour while a m/h that had slid off the muddy soft shoulders was retrieved by a very experienced wrecker operator that managed to get the m/h back on the road with no apparent damage. The delay unfortunately prevented us from having time to take a tour of the Gaelic College in nearby St Ann's.
Monday we did go back to the Gaelic College in St Ann's to visit the museum and had a great time. The history of the Scottish Clans and Gaelic life of the settlement of St Ann's by followers of Norman MacLeod (Normanites) is fascinating. 
MacLeod later moved the settlement to Australia and on to New Zealand where descendants still live.
We have a friend Jim Matheson who is of Scottish descent and found history of the Clan Matheson displayed there. We had a great time!We will leave N Sydney tomorrow after Sue's hair appointment and head towards Halifax, our next stop in a loop around Nova Scotia.
