After the race, we gathered together as a team, then went to the community centre for a quick lunch (or chip snack in my case), awards presentation, a final goodbye to everyone, then Elizabeth and I continued along to Ingonish and the Keltic Lodge. One interesting quirk to the journey was taking the "ferry" which provides a shortcut that Denise told us the locals take. It was literally a 5-minute trip, connecting one part of the island to another by a boat using a cable. We actually thought we were drifting before leaving the dock and hadn't even gotten out of the car before we realized that the ferry ride was over!

local ferry at start of Cabot Trail

Our drive to the Keltic Lodge was lovely as the sun was out and it was nice to see this part of the Cabot Trail without either running it, preparing for running it, or recovering from running it! Needless to say, there are many scenic viewpoints along the way; with a few strategic photo stops, we made our way to Ingonish and the Keltic Lodge. This is a great setting, right along Middle Head peninsula, and as it was still early in the season, we basically had the entire resort to ourselves. Our cabin overlooked the water, with a distinctively retro 70's decor for the main common room and bedroom, and an up-do-date and huge remodeled bathroom.

Keltic Lodge cabin

After unpacking, we decided to do the short 4km hike around the Middle Head trail, which juts out at the extreme into the Atlantic Ocean with sheer rocky drops and crashing surf. And extreme wind!

along Middlehead Trail

Middlehead Trail

end of Middlehead Trail off Keltic Lodge

I was rather sore from the nearly 39km of hill running over the weekend, but still managed to enjoy the sights and sounds of this trail, especially catching glimpses of a working fishing boat picking up its catch at the end of the day.

fishing boat along Middlehead Trail, Ingonish

Despite frequent sightings of moose droppings all over the trail, the parking areas and even right in front of our cabin, there was no moose to be found...

To end our day, we backtracked a bit into the small town of Ingonish and had a lovely dinner at a fish-oriented restaurant which actually had a couple vegetarian-friendly options, which we enjoyed, including a salad with remarkably good home-made dressing. Exhausted for the day and barely making a dent in my glass of wine, we headed back to the Keltic Lodge for a quiet sleep.

05/28/09 by visitEarth
Tags: Baddeck, Ingonish, Keltic Lodge, Nova Scotia, Cabot Trail