Sun. 18th October ’26
Today we begin our long journey towards Montreal. We have three days to travel about 1,500 km, which means 5 to 6 hours driving each day. Add in sightseeing and food stops we are looking at 9am starts to arrive late afternoon, so 7:15 alarm should be sufficient. We have packed an overnight bag to save lugging our big suitcases up to our room. It also is much quicker to pack each morning! Our first night stop is Chateau Moncton, so armed with a few ideas for stops we are on the road at the allotted start time.
As we’ve already noted, Cape Breton island has a large number of inlets and lakes. There are no straight roads on the island. Today’s drive from Sydney takes us along the Bras d’Or Lake which is huge and occupies a large part of the middle of the island. In our brief time in Cape Breton we have circumnavigated the lake. The lake is tidal and the southern end is linked to the Atlantic by a 19th century canal at St Peters where we make a brief stop to see the canal and a viewpoint of the lake. Apparently due to its geography it is a great warm water swimming place in the summer. Not so much today though!
Our return to the mainland by the crossing of the Canso Causeway is a very tame affair compared to our arrival and we are able to make good time crossing the north of Nova Scotia. If only we had more time to explore more fully (no don’t tempt Dave!!). We made good time and reached Truro in time for lunch at NovelTea coffee house, another of Dave’s finds! This gives us plenty of time to explore Fort Beauséjour, or as the Brits named it Fort Cumberland. Another site where the British and French fought.
Surprisingly we managed to time our arrival in Moncton just before the bore was due to appear on the river outside our hotel. I have seen the Severn Bore in the UK on one of its smaller appearances. I have read the tidal bore at Moncton could be anything from five cm to 1 metre, well today 
definitely on the small size. Oh well, can’t win them all, but at least we saw it. What was more impressive was how the flow of the river changed direction so quickly.
We took a circuitous route to dinner along the riverbank to see if there were any worthwhile sunset photos to be had, and were surprised a memorial The Grand Dérangement. This monument remembers the many Acadians the British deported back to France in the 1770s. It was almost identical to the one we saw at Fort Amherst near Charlottetown, except this has a cross on top. The flag flying is the Acadian flag. Day one of travelling complete, so off for a good night’s sleep before our next day’s drive.
Safe home. See you soon xx