The Happy Animals

I woke up this morning feeling tired. Yesterday was quite a day of cycling, with almost 4,000 feet of climbing in total. No wonder I was worn out! I slept well and had a hearty meal the night before (Cape Breton fish and chips with salad), but after cycling for seven straight days without a rest, I was feeling it. We also had to bike a few miles to find a place for coffee and breakfast. That short distance (maybe 2 miles?) with an empty stomach and no caffeine made me feel like such a weakling! I had no energy and wondered how I would manage to cycle the 50+ miles ahead, especially with the hills.

Fortunately, we found a great little bakery and café at the south edge of Ingonish Harbour. I immediately ordered coffee and a stack of three blueberry pancakes, craving some energy. They did the trick! It was amazing how quickly my energy returned.

View from the top of Mt. Smokey overlooking a very moody Atlantic Ocean.

We joke a lot about how much we eat. It feels like this is the first trip where we eat so much that we might actually gain weight during the journey! However, with all the climbing lately, I can tell that the energy burn may be outpacing our caloric intake each day, which is hard to believe!

Thank goodness for blueberry pancakes and ginger-molasses cookies (which we also bought at the bakery and ate along the way). They kept me going all day, which was without a doubt, a tough one. The temperature was chilly due to the winds and clouds, and I kept hoping the sun would break through, but that golden giver of warmth was pretty shy today. At one point, it even tried to rain on us. I was getting quite cold when, out of nowhere, in a land devoid of any signs of civilization, another bakery and café popped up along the roadside! This one was called the Clucking Hen. We grabbed another cup of coffee and enjoyed our ginger-molasses cookies (I also put on another layer of woolies) and was in heaven.

The Clucking Hen

A note on the names of cafés, coffee shops, creameries, etc., on Cape Breton: there is a trend to name them with an adjective followed by an animal. For example, The Clucking Hen, The Dancing Goat, The Wandering Goose, The Galloping Cow, The Dancing Moose, The Lawless Lobster, and The Cranky Cyclist (well...I made that last one up!) I do love this naming style; it’s so fun!

The only moose I may see is this one made of wood.

We have less than a week now to make it down to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I admit I feel a bit sad that our time in Cape Breton is almost over. We left the National Park today, and tomorrow we’ll be back on the mainland of Nova Scotia. I thoroughly enjoyed being out in the wilds of nature, even though I never saw a moose.

The lupines are nearing full bloom!