Day Six

Up this morning @ 6:00, on the road before 7:00. My route took me away from town, so no coffee first thing. This was not a good move. It resulted in a headache that lasted through noon. Plans today were to drive the Cabot Trail aroung Cape Breton & affive in North Sydney in tme for the ferry to Newfoundland. The west coast of Cape Breton was by far the most picturesque. Lots odf elevation & winding roas with spectactular views. It was hard not to pull off at every overlook. I took lots of photos, but was still in search of a good cup of coffee. I gased up & got coffee before heding into the National PPark that makes a big portion of the north end of the Cape. Just before noon I pulled into a little fishing village and a little restaurant called the Chowder House. I could tell it was the thing to do based on level of activity around this little frame building stuck up high on a little point overlooking a high jagged coast line to the South. Seafood chowder & hot tea for me. It was cool with a steady wind off the ocean. After lunch it pretty much downhill literally. I had been to the highest elevations and soon left the Park. The road was rough & winding & had become an obstacle to get to the Ferry. With several delays for road construction, I was beginning to be concerned about the time. Fortunately, the road from the Cabot Trail over to North Sydney was good & fast. Except for a close encounter with a logging truck the road put me into Sidney before 4:00. Ferry check-in was before 7:15. By 8:00 the lot had begun to fill up with every imaginable vehicle & cargo. Road equipment, new cars, lime, potatoes, motor cycles and yes, cars for the race were there too. I had several conversations with car owners milling around. Downtown North Sydney was adjacent to the Ferry so most people walked over for supper. The Ferry was a monster and been sitting in front of us since before my arrival. The stagging lot was something like a rail yard without the rails. We seemed to be lind up according to length. The longer vehicles(trucks & trailers were driving straight in into the lower levels, while cars went up an exterior ramp, went the length of the boat, made a 180 degree turn & went up another interior ram, then another 180 degree turn to a park on the 4th level of vehicles. Later after reading a posted chart, I realized that the boat had 7 levels above these frist two mechanical levels. Levels numbered 5, 6, & 7 were the "people section". I spent most of my time on #7, port side, wher my assigned seat was. The boat is probably 20% full, but the cargo section must be full. They were loading right up to the time we left. Oh! I put on my motion sickness patch aroud 3:00. I've been OK despite sme rough water. We were told that during the night there were a couple of waves that broke over the bow. I question that, but I remember slaming into some pretty good ones after midnight. My sleep was linited to maybe 3 or 4 hours. Thins were quiet, just couldn't get comfortable & it got cold in the cabin before dawn.