Category: Roof Top Tents

Part 11

Homeward bound…

We stopped in at Point Michaud near st Peter’s, an exceptional 3km beach backed by marram-covered sand dunes and large cranberry bogs. A gorgeous beach but of course it was rainy and foggy when we were there although there were a couple surfers out there

We treated ourselves to some fine dining that evening at the Bras D’Or Lakes Inn, amazing food so if you are ever in that area and you are looking for a great meal, you won’t be disappointed.. the warm goat cheese salad is especially delicious!

We travelled around Isle Madam, Janvrin Island and Petit-de-Grat island to name a few. All connected islands on the south coast of Cape Breton.

We drove through so many small seaside communities which were very unique, although I imagine, they would be brutal in winter.

Stayed at Hy class campground for the last two nights of our trip. Rain and fog have been relentless.

For supper we cooked up some samosas and spring rolls in the travel oven snd boy were they great, so crispy and good I am very impressed with the ability of this oven. We also cooked pizza and cookies! Rolling the pizza out with red wine bottle ingenious Barb!

Barb and I needed a spa day so we decided masks around fire pit would do quite nicely, a perfect way to maintain social distancing 😂

We left early the next morning had. Final breakfast together before heading off in different directions. Until next time… it has been great, plans are already brewing for our next adventure early next year, stay tuned!

Stats from the trip below

…Over and out …

Part 9

The rain finally stopped but as we headed to bed the wind picked up! Gusting at about 50km/h we jumped out the tents to be sure all the awnings were well secured, unfortunately we did not have our sand pegs with us so we went to the beach with flashlights to look for suitable rocks to put on the stakes so they wouldn’t be ripped out of the sand by the gusts of wind! That being said, both the bunduawns and the Bundutops survived the strong gusts incredibly well!

Our toilet tent got whipped and twisted, but managed to crawl into the tent to get the toilet out, thankfully we didn’t get “shit faced” in the process…all I can say is luckily there was no one around to see this disaster 😂 we managed to wrangle the toilet tent to the ground and stashed it under the truck, main thing is we lived to tell the story after all.. what a night that was! Peter got to enjoy the loo with a view this morning which made his day, when you got to go you got to go toilet tent or not!

Daylight brought a stunning day! Coffee on the beach with a lovely sunrise.

We went for an early morning stroll down the beach reminding ourselves how fortunate we are to be able to enjoy all of this! Tons of sandpipers, osprey, and blue herons.

We took the kayaks out on the gut and enjoyed a leisurely paddle around the island and back.

Barb and I took a long walk on the beach just soaking in the sunshine after all the rain we have had! The rest of the day we chilled drinking ciders, chatting and tanning with coconut oil! Vacations are great

We saw an eagle feeding on a fresh seal carcass that washed up on the beach obviously a shark had a snack too.

Expecting high winds today again so closed up the awnings early so we don’t have to worry about them tonight.

Stunning evening picture tells it all

Part 6

After a great sleep, strong coffee, and a quick pack up we left Cape North at about 8.00 am

We headed to Meat Cove, a beautiful sunny day, with the roads winding snd twisting along the shoreline which made for a beautiful scenic drive.

Barb and I took a walk to the beach and saw a chap stuck on the beach in his van, a local fisherman was trying to help pull him out, however his diff was stuck on a huge rock, so his tires were just spinning. We called the guys and told them to drive down with one of the trucks so we could try the treads. Unfortunately, this was not enough…, so out came the bottle jack again to try lift him off the rock. Finally with a lot of gas, effort, and a pull forward from local fisherman we were able to get him out.

After all of that we needed some food, but nothing seems to open here before 11 😂 finally we found a very cute restaurant called Danena’s great food and atmosphere and very cute to boot!

On the road again we drove along the coastal loop towards Ingonish, stopped at a Co-op to pick up fresh veggies and a few munchies.

We decided to look for a spot so we could have an early afternoon camp. We found a beautiful place between Ingonish harbour and South Bay Ingonish for the night, even though the wind was ripping at least the sun was shining! We finally were able to dry our towels and air out our tents!

We spent the evening sorting out our gear flying the drones and sitting by the fire!

Peter had an oopsie moment with his drone crashing into a tree. It was stuck up high in a wild cherry tree, all to the rescue but still unable to get it down so we had to use our katana boy to cut the tree down!

Drones saved, drinks served, fire roaring, beautiful view what more do we need!

Part 5

Today was a whole new beast, we were up early had our coffee packed up and headed out on the road by 7.06

We decided to head out to Cape Clear although the weather was rainy and very foggy. the dirt road lead us easily to cape clear however by the time we reached the area it was so misty and rainy, so that plan was changed as we wouldn’t see any view in this weather.

We turned around and headed towards Cheticamp via the back roads, and back roads they were! More like driving on a goat trail ..amazing with all the water, steep inclines and sharp rocks thank goodness we didn’t blow a tire or something worse.

The defender got to play off-road for the first time and boy was she a happy gal! Splashing in puddles, easing up rocky terrain and down steep wet hills, she was a beast in disguise! thanks again to landrover halifax for getting my rig to me in time!

A couple of times I thought we may not be able to get through to cheticamp due to the trail starting to close in on us and get extremely rough, no pics of that as we were all too focused on the trail!

Finally, we came out the other side to the relief of us all! How brutal would it have been to have to backtrack along all that craziness! We topped up with gas, had some lunch and headed out once more, this time in the direction of meat cove.

Driving along the Cabot trail was beautiful. Lots of hiking trails, waterfalls, and scenery for days!

It was getting late, so we started searching for a spot to camp. We ended up on a woods trail heading towards cape north not finding any open spots, all solid brush, and trees! eventually, we spotted a place big enough for two vehicles but not three! So, the guys got their chainsaws and axes and cleared the spot so we could get in all our rigs. Barb and I decided our best option would be to turn to Steinhart Irish cream with ice, while waiting on the guys to get the site sorted!

Once setup and dinner made the wind picked up and the cool air blew in. The black flies were hungry, so we made a fire to try and get a little relief from them! What a pleasure it is to be able to just push a button and the tent is ready, especially when it’s been a long day!

Finally relaxing after an exceedingly long day on brutal trails we thought we heard a moose in the trees across from us… maybe we will get lucky and see one!

Ever since the Noco charger has been added to the 100amp lithium battery that Alberta lithium rushed to get to us, thankfully all our gear has been running well! Thanks guys

Many thanks go out to Isaak Cape Breton Overlanding for helping us find some great spots in Cape Breton. He offers a self-drive vehicle and will be offering tours too. He is extremely knowledgeable on Cape Breton so if you are heading up their way give him a shout!

Part 4

Eeek… Started off the day with an empty battery for the freezer on top of that the unique fridge/ freezer crashed and left us with one fridge down, thanks to the two SnoMaster’s which saved the day! We changed the 67EX SnoMaster into all fridge and the smaller 42L into a freezer, managing to fit all our food into both, thankfully we had packed light on the frozen goods! However, our cold beverages had to pay the price. We needed a new battery charger for the one freezer in the defender, so we packed up and took the first road into Sydney to find a Noco genius battery charger as our last one was fried! Luckily, there was one left in Canadian tire.

We decided to have breakfast after the mad dash around and then headed out towards Englishtown. We crossed over on the Torquil MacLean ferry and headed up towards Wreck Cove. Thereafter we took highland road out to the middle of nowhere rough roads and scenery unmatched, no one but us on these roads. Huge potholes and loads of washboard sections, but well worth the slow drive.

We found Chetticamp lake at the end of a road while looking for a camp stop, we saw lovely cloud formation over us. Almost looked like angel wings!

We made camp for the night, had a quick supper, and hung out round the fire pit watching an epic chain and bolt lightning storm incredibly close to us. The wind suddenly picked up and the sky darkened even more so we all dashed to get all our chairs put away in case of a downpour, but the storm seemed to move around us not one drop of rain and an early night has by all! Lucky us!

We also saw fresh bear scat, and an abundance of wild strawberries ….so we may have visitors tonight!

Part 3

Today started off as a stunning day however the pleasant weather did not last long, the rain and mist soon set in, so kayaking was off the menu.

We decided to stay one more night in the same location as we didn’t want to head out to Cape Clear on a foggy/rainy day! We setup the walls of the awning so we would have a little extra dry space to hang out. Life of luxury here.

So today became a bit of a ‘catch up day’ a bit of work, tidying up and a quick trip into Baddeck to pick up a few groceries, we had lunch at a little pub on the waterfront, which was great to escape the rain a bit!

After having checked out a spot for kayaking tomorrow, we got back to camp made a big fire to warm up, thankfully Peter offered his services as our local wood splitter. Sandy had his personal hair stylist give him a buzz. Barb and I caught up with some work and had a fireside manicure 😊

For supper we cooked wings and drumsticks on charcoal, not slumming it here.

So now we are cleaned up and ready for the next few days, or so we keep telling ourselves.

Tomorrow we head out to Cape clear and up the highland road, hope to post more, if we managed to find a bit of reception again.