Cabot Trail

[Jonn46]

Hey All,

I am kinda new here and have been doing more reading then posting. I have to post about my trip of the Cabot Trail and southern shore of Nova Scotia. I know there are people here from all over but anybody within riding distance who hasn't driven the Cabot Trail should plan on it sometime in their lifetime. It was incredible! Not just the scenery and the very friendly people but the hair pin turns are awesome.

Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunninberg are very nice as well. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will put a few up.

John

 

[MEM]

Hey All,
I am kinda new here and have been doing more reading then posting. I have to post about my trip of the Cabot Trail and southern shore of Nova Scotia. I know there are people here from all over but anybody within riding distance who hasn't driven the Cabot Trail should plan on it sometime in their lifetime. It was incredible! Not just the scenery and the very friendly people but the hair pin turns are awesome.

Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunninberg are very nice as well. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will put a few up.

John

Hi John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in Fredericton I've ridden the Cabot Trail twice: once on my Volusia (sold) and last year at CFR on the Feej. Indeed, a fabulous weekend and a ride I'll do again - soon.

ME

 

[Jonn46]

Hi Mary Ellen,

It was a great trip even though the weather could have been better. We made it a little different by coming across Nova Scotia and taking the Digby ferry to Saint John. It made a different routing to get back to Moncton.

John

Hey All,
I am kinda new here and have been doing more reading then posting. I have to post about my trip of the Cabot Trail and southern shore of Nova Scotia. I know there are people here from all over but anybody within riding distance who hasn't driven the Cabot Trail should plan on it sometime in their lifetime. It was incredible! Not just the scenery and the very friendly people but the hair pin turns are awesome.

Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunninberg are very nice as well. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will put a few up.

John

Hi John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in Fredericton I've ridden the Cabot Trail twice: once on my Volusia (sold) and last year at CFR on the Feej. Indeed, a fabulous weekend and a ride I'll do again - soon.

ME

 

[MEM]

CFR was the first weekend of September last year. Remember that Sunday when the dregs of Hurricane Hana blew threw? THAT's what I rode home in. All part of the Riding Adventure :yahoo:

Hi Mary Ellen,
It was a great trip even though the weather could have been better. We made it a little different by coming across Nova Scotia and taking the Digby ferry to Saint John. It made a different routing to get back to Moncton.

John

Hey All,
I am kinda new here and have been doing more reading then posting. I have to post about my trip of the Cabot Trail and southern shore of Nova Scotia. I know there are people here from all over but anybody within riding distance who hasn't driven the Cabot Trail should plan on it sometime in their lifetime. It was incredible! Not just the scenery and the very friendly people but the hair pin turns are awesome.

Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunninberg are very nice as well. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will put a few up.

John

Hi John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in Fredericton I've ridden the Cabot Trail twice: once on my Volusia (sold) and last year at CFR on the Feej. Indeed, a fabulous weekend and a ride I'll do again - soon.

ME

 

[sportsguy]

Always pleased to hear folks enjoying Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail. There's a reason why Car & Driver (...maybe Motor Trend) has it on their "Brest Roads to drive in North America" list all the time.

I actually grew up in Cape Breton and spent a couple summers as a bellman at the Keltic Lodge in Ingonish. I rode a GS500e back then, and LOVED the weekly commute home to Sydney.

It truely is an excellent road to ride. Ridden slowly, the views are magnificent and the riding days relaxed and easily managed. For those turning up the wick, there's more than enough technical riding to keep you entertained.

As with many beautiful places, the height of the summer can see lots of tourists, which means slow traffic at times. Thankfully, the views provided around the trail make it worth the slower pace. With limited passing opportunities, keep a close eye open and be ready to use the power of your FJR.

Folks around the trail are generally open, polite and happy to meet you. Keep in mind, though, to police your stuff and stay alert. While safe to the 99th percentile, it never hurts to lock up your stuff. With many tourists around, you never know.

My own feeling is the best times to visit the Cabot Trail is in June or September/October. In June, the facilities are all open, the weather (generally pleasant) but tourists light. In the fall, you'll still have tourists, but this is compensated for with the fall colors as the leaves change for the winter - mind the corners if leaves are falling (after windy nights, for example).

It takes about 5 - 6 hours to drive around the entire trail, so a good idea is to plan one full day to ride & explore, with overnight stays in, for example, Sydney (the day before you ride the trail - Louisbourg is a great way to spend the day before, touring the living history fortress), and then stopping in Baddeck for the night after your riding day on the trail. Warning here - book early as Baddeck tends to fill up quickly. You will also notice higher room rates in Baddeck.

Though I have relocated to the West Coast (Seattle), I still compare all rides and drives to the Cabot Trail as a measure of a truely excellent driver's/rider's road.

Very happy to hear folks on the forum have enjoyed it.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Cabot Trail:

 

[FjrHoop]

I'll be making my way out there in two weeks, it's nice to see good reports about places I'm planning to ride.

 

[MEM]

Cabot Trail:

... overlooking Pleasant Bay and you'd just run that stretch of twisties - a couple of times

 

[Canadian FJR]

The Cabot Trail is always a good time. 680km round trip from home.

Canadian FJR

 

[Jonn46]

Hey Mem, yes I remember that weekend vividly, I had a sailboat get smashed because the wharf system blew away and my boat ended up sitting on the beach. It is still at the boat repair shop. I was speaking with the insurance company on Friday and they are considering writing it off:-(

Sportsguy, it was the Keltic Lodge that we stayed at. Beautiful place as well I was traveling with the head chef from the Windjammer here in Moncton. He knew the chef at the Keltic Lodge as well as at The Digby Pines. The Digby Pines as you probably know is as nice or nicer then the Keltic Lodge.

For all who are planning on doing the Trail beware of the moose! There are a lot of moose there. It is not a problem if the weather is nice but you can get some extreme fog there and you don't want to have a 1200Lb moose to suddenly appear standing in the road.

If it is a dry sunny day enjoy the twisties!!!

 

[Jonn46]

Charismaticmegafauna (jeez thank god for copy and paste;-) Nice pic, I know exactly where that was taken. Actually we looked out over the bay in that same spot and we could see a couple of whales feeding.

 

[FJR Flyer]

Did the Cabot Trail in June '96 on the FJ. Great ride, great folks, and lobster almost every day from roadside stands, family restaurants, etc. There was a cool little leather shop somewhere on the trail. Got a belt that I still wear.

 

[ctfjr]

It truly is a great ride. Not the fastest or twistiest but a load of fun. We took the ferry fron St John NB to Yarmouth & took a few days to ride the circumference of the island. Met some great people staying in B&B's. Then rode home via Moncton & down the coast of Maine. Too bad that was in my 'film' days - I really have to get a negative scanner!

 

[sullivan]

Hey All,
I am kinda new here and have been doing more reading then posting. I have to post about my trip of the Cabot Trail and southern shore of Nova Scotia. I know there are people here from all over but anybody within riding distance who hasn't driven the Cabot Trail should plan on it sometime in their lifetime. It was incredible! Not just the scenery and the very friendly people but the hair pin turns are awesome.

Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunninberg are very nice as well. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will put a few up.

John

Hi John - welcome to the Forum. I'm in Fredericton I've ridden the Cabot Trail twice: once on my Volusia (sold) and last year at CFR on the Feej. Indeed, a fabulous weekend and a ride I'll do again - soon.

ME

Can't help but notice the nice 09 CFR tag on your signature.

Envious.

Your website still up? Haven't been online in a while to read it.

Take care. Sull

 

[MEM]

Can't help but notice the nice 09 CFR tag on your signature.Envious.

Your website still up? Haven't been online in a while to read it.

Take care. Sull

Sully! How are you?! yup - website is still up but the photos disappeared. Don't know why. But all my CFR photos are here

You can get a CFR tag next year when you make a run north. Perhaps for CFR 2010, I'll be able to actually hook up with the Southern Maine contingent