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Cabot Trail


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We will be in Sydney, NS on October 11. We're thinking of renting a car and driving part of the Cabot Trail (to Ingonish and back). We'll have approximately 6 hours -- first of all is this doable with a short stop for lunch? And second, I saw mention on Trip Advisor of a lot of road construction there now. Wondering if we should make other plans.... Thanks for any help!

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Definitely keep on top of road construction and make sure the Englishtown Ferry is running. We took the Cabot Cove drive with Don Blackwood the first time we cruised to Sydney. The second time, the ferry was out of service, so Don took us to the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck instead.

 

The drive to the Fortress of Louisbourg is fairly short and very easy. It will be "low season" when you are there, so there won't be any re-enactors present. It's still a fun site to visit. Check out this link to discover what you might experience at the Fortress: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/visit/heures-hours

 

This past May, knowing it was going to be during the low season at the Fortress, we decided to do a Holland America shore excursion. There were two costumed presenters for our HAL group -- a "soldier" who described what it was like to live and work at the Fortress, and a member of the kitchen staff, who also talked about life there; she also made hot chocolate for us from scratch. Very interesting. I would do it again.

 

P1030212-M.jpg

 

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I'll keep an eye on the road construction and thanks for the tip about Englishtown ferry. :)

 

This will be our 3rd time in that area, but we haven't gotten to Cabot Trail. We've been to Alexander Graham Bell Museum and actually took the same tour to Louisbourg that you did and I have a photo of my husband helping the "cook" make hot chocolate. :D We enjoyed the tour too and also went in May a few years ago.

 

Maybe if the road conditions and/or ferry don't look good we could drive to Bras d'Or instead....we're pretty flexible and we will have a rental car.

 

Thanks again.

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I travel the area regularly for work, Its doable but would be a pretty tight timeline. Its a little over 2 hours from Sydney to Ingonish not taking the Englishtown ferry, a bit longer with the ferry. There is a good chance of encountering road construction somewhere along that route in October.

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Here is a map showing the driving time of about two hours: https://goo.gl/maps/ea6jx4hHjxz I always assumed it was faster via the ferry but google says not. However the view around the ferry is wonderful.

 

There is no construction marked on that route at the moment.

 

If you are willing to pick up a sandwich at the Coop grocery store in Neil's Harbour and if you have not been slowed down on the way there, then you could consider going as far as Neil's Harbour. The section of the Cabot Trail from Ingonish to there is lovely. https://goo.gl/maps/AX15wjLp8xq

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Very helpful, thank you all. maryan how would I know if there is construction going on that week? We'll have our GPS with us, that would most likely tell us when we're there, but not until we get there. ;) We may have to have two possible plans for the day, one traveling Cabot Trail and one to Bras d'Or....and yes, no problem picking up a sandwich somewhere and eating on the way. :):)

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Carolyn, thanks for asking these questions! Sue and I are doing this cruise in August 2018. We have one day in Sydney with 8 hours available to us and we might just do this.

 

Hi Debbie! Wish you could join us! Ours is the Montreal-Fort Lauderdale for fall colors. Have done the northbound twice, it's time to do this!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Will be in Sydney October 14, 2017 and looking for a couple more people for a tour of the Cabot Trail.

 

You shouldn't be looking for someone to share your tour on this forum. This forum is for posting questions about ports-of-call on your Canada/New England cruise.

 

To find people for your tour, you should post to the roll call for your cruise. Don't know what a Roll Call is, then read here.

 

There are 2 cruise ships scheduled for Sydney on 10/14. The Zuiderdam and Vision of the Seas will be stopping there. Here is the Roll Call for the Zuiderdam and the Roll Call for the Vision of the Seas.

 

SBtS

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  • 1 month later...
Thank you all for your comments! We had a wonderful day, we rented a van and the 5 of us drove to Ingonish, had a great lunch, and had no road work! The fall colors were gorgeous.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We are very interested in going up to Ingonish. How long did it take? Were there any places to stop and take scenic pictures? Where did you eat?

 

We are trying to nail down our tour for this port and would love any information that you have. Thanks!

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We are very interested in going up to Ingonish. How long did it take? Were there any places to stop and take scenic pictures? Where did you eat?

 

We are trying to nail down our tour for this port and would love any information that you have. Thanks!

 

We were probably on the road by 10 at the latest (we could have pushed ourselves and gotten out earlier), and back to the ship between 4-4:30 before all aboard. It was a nice, leisurely day, we had several pull outs to stop and take photos. Gorgeous views in some spots. Of course there were other times we wished there was a spot to stop but there wasn't. ;)

 

We had lunch in Ingonish at Main Street Restaurant and Bakery. Great food, friendly service and a lot to eat!

 

Hope this helps and that you have a great day there.

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We were probably on the road by 10 at the latest (we could have pushed ourselves and gotten out earlier), and back to the ship between 4-4:30 before all aboard. It was a nice, leisurely day, we had several pull outs to stop and take photos. Gorgeous views in some spots. Of course there were other times we wished there was a spot to stop but there wasn't. ;)

 

We had lunch in Ingonish at Main Street Restaurant and Bakery. Great food, friendly service and a lot to eat!

 

Hope this helps and that you have a great day there.

Thanks, Carolyn. This is very helpful. I've wanted to do that excursion since the first Canada/New England cruise. Next cruise, I have two chances.

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I highly recommend it, Debbie!

Our only question will be which time to do it. The first day in Sydney we arrive at 11:00 am and depart at 6:00 pm. The second day we arrive at 8:00 am and depart at 4:00 pm. The second day gives us an extra hour, so I'm leaning that way.

 

How long did it take you to get to Ingonish?

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We were probably on the road by 10 at the latest (we could have pushed ourselves and gotten out earlier), and back to the ship between 4-4:30 before all aboard. It was a nice, leisurely day, we had several pull outs to stop and take photos. Gorgeous views in some spots. Of course there were other times we wished there was a spot to stop but there wasn't. ;)

 

We had lunch in Ingonish at Main Street Restaurant and Bakery. Great food, friendly service and a lot to eat!

 

Hope this helps and that you have a great day there.

 

Thank you so much for the information! I think we are decided that this is what we will do. I was worried about being rushed for time and not being able to enjoy myself.

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Our only question will be which time to do it. The first day in Sydney we arrive at 11:00 am and depart at 6:00 pm. The second day we arrive at 8:00 am and depart at 4:00 pm. The second day gives us an extra hour, so I'm leaning that way.

 

How long did it take you to get to Ingonish?

 

I would definitely do it the 2nd day. I don't think the rental car agencies are open past 5 anyway (but could be wrong about that). Get an early start and return the car around 3'ish. They took us back to the ship when we returned the car, we timed it so we would be back 30-45 minutes before all aboard. It took probably 2 hours to get to Ingonish, not counting the time taken for photo stops. But we weren't out of the car for long periods, there was a cold wind in October!

 

Thank you so much for the information! I think we are decided that this is what we will do. I was worried about being rushed for time and not being able to enjoy myself.

 

You're welcome! I didn't feel rushed at all, but we did have a time schedule (just how long it would take us to get to Ingonish and back). Any extra time was spent for lunch and photos. DH had his GPS, which helped immensely and we gave ourselves some extra time in case there was any road work (not when we went) or unforeseen problems. ;)

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I would definitely do it the 2nd day. I don't think the rental car agencies are open past 5 anyway (but could be wrong about that). Get an early start and return the car around 3'ish. They took us back to the ship when we returned the car, we timed it so we would be back 30-45 minutes before all aboard. It took probably 2 hours to get to Ingonish, not counting the time taken for photo stops. But we weren't out of the car for long periods, there was a cold wind in October!

 

;)

Excellent! Thank you, Carolyn. Who did you rent from? You are getting me all excited and I still have 9 months to wait!

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Excellent! Thank you, Carolyn. Who did you rent from? You are getting me all excited and I still have 9 months to wait!

 

We used Enterprise. You can reserve it online, I see they're closed on Sundays, open until noon on Saturdays and 6pm all the other days. You can arrange for them to pick you up at the pier with a complimentary shuttle and as I said, they drove us all back to the ship at the end of the day.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how this all goes for you!

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