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Cabot Trail

Captivated by Cape Breton

August 11, 2014 by Kirsten Neil 4 Comments

Driving the Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Scenes from our journey along the Cabot Trail, one of the world’s most scenic drives.

Posted in: Photography, Travel Tagged: Cabot Trail, Canada, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Photography, Road Trip, Travel

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A northern lights photo dump to go with all the mi

A northern lights photo dump to go with all the millions of others being posted right now. Captured the Big Dipper in a few. 💫

We drove just north of Stony Mountain last night and watched for about a half hour. Was magnificent.
—
#ckvacays #auroraborealis #northernlights #auroras #auroramax #skyporn #nightskies #exploremb #manitoba

Toodle-oo, UK, you were a cracking fun time. 🇬🇧♥️

Our last stop on our England road trip found us back where we started…in London. After dropping off our rental at Heathrow, we took the tube to Westminster and spent a day exploring that part of the city.

We started by walking over to Buckingham Palace to take a selfie in front of all the people taking photos of the guards. Then we walked over to the golden Canada Gate. Then we strolled through St. James Park oohing and ahhing at all the birds and spring blooms. Then it was a walk over to Trafalgar Square to look up, way way up, at the statue of Wellington sitting atop a ridiculously tall column. It’s silly, really. Then it was on to see 10 Downing Street, Big Ben and the buildings of Parliament. Then across the bridge to go high up in the sky to see the city from the London Eye. (Yes, I did mean for that to rhyme.) We then ventured over to Covent Garden for a fine steak before heading over to the gorgeous Great Scotland Yard Hotel (@gsy_london). There, we went behind the secret bookcase door and entered Síbín Speakeasy to sip on some fancy cocktails while listening to the silky vocals of @bethanniehare. Her voice was perfection. What a day. 🙌🏻🙌🏻

Our two-week road trip through England found us going from Manchester to the Peak District to Cambridge to Canterbury to Dover to West Bay to Stonehenge to Bath to The Cotswolds to Kenilworth to Oxford to Windsor and finally back into London.

We explored historic sites, looked in awe at soaring vistas, visited many many pubs, watched a real football game, drove the most gorgeous and romantic roads, looked at sheep, went for high-tea, partook of a traditional Sunday roast supper, walked where some of our favourite (and not so favourite) characters in books, tv, music, film and history have trod as well and enjoyed every bloody minute of it! (Except getting colds.)

And even after all that, we only scratched the surface here. But it was epic to us nonetheless. 😊♥️
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels#lovegreatbritain #ukroadtrip #england #london #unitedkingdom #sibinspeakeasy #londoneye #london🇬🇧 #westminster

The Cotswolds. 🐑🐑🐑 “Cots” are sheep e

The Cotswolds. 🐑🐑🐑 “Cots” are sheep enclosures. “Wolds” are gentle hills. And you get an insane amount of both when you visit the area. It’s soooo pretty. The towns are all close to each other, many with unique names (Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper Slaughter, Stratford-upon-Avon) and the route connecting them all is called the romantic road for good reason. 😘♥️

You definitely feel like you’re in a different era of time there. The only thing out of place are the vehicles instead of carriages. But you could clearly see how these towns would be bustling with horses and soldiers and ladies and gents long ago. I certainly felt like I was in a scene from an Austen novel or one of those cheesy historical romance books I loved to read when I was younger.

We were both getting over colds when we were there so we imbibed enough tea to fill the Boston harbour. We also enjoyed our cozy room above @TheBellstow pub in Stow-on-the-Wold.

We then spent two days there driving the romantic road and going off route to visit a couple other spots like Stratford-Upon-Avon to see Shakespeare’s home and his wife, Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

We also visited Kenilworth Castle, a medieval fortress and Elizabethan garden that’s now in ruins since the English Civil War in the 1600s. It was founded during the Norman conquest of England in the 1120s as a formidable fortress then later transformed into a palace by Robert Dudley to impress his love Queen Elizabeth I. She dropped by, stayed awhile, but still didn’t marry the man. 😂

It was fascinating to go through the ruins and garden and see and learn about all the iterations this almost-a-thousand-year-old fortress has gone through.

Oh, and we enjoyed a Sunday roast supper at the pub we were staying above. With gigantic, perfect Yorkshire puddings. Delish! Sorry, @sherkins. 😉
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #thecotswolds #cotswolds #ukroadtrip #romanticroad #lovegreatbritain #stowonthewold #kenilworthcastle #englishheritage

Bath, where I had tea with Mr. Darcy. Specifically

Bath, where I had tea with Mr. Darcy. Specifically, the BBC Colin Firth version…via a large photo…on the wall. If that’s as close as I’ll get to one of my favourite literary characters, I’ll take it. 😂🫖🎩

Bath was a pretty little city we visited on a weekend with what seemed to be every woman in the UK. This place is “hen party” central. (Hen party = bachelorette party) The whole place was inundated with LARGE groups of ladies mostly in pink everywhere you turned. I even saw a goth hen party at one point (minimal pink, maximum black eyeliner) and a bride-to-be being forced to walk an inflated balloon hen. Ok.

Maybe it’s the 2 for 1 happy hour cocktails they serve pretty much everywhere we went in Bath that beckons all the ladies. 🍸🍸

In our short stay, Chuck went to a pub to watch a match, while I visited the charming @thejaneaustencentre to have high tea with Darcy. Afterwards, we met up to go take an actual bath in Bath by visiting @thermaebathspa. The place had saunas and steam rooms and lots of spots to enjoy some heat. Even their glorious rooftop pool was heated enough to keep the chilly breeze at bay. And give us a chance to see the city from up high. It was a great spot to wind-down our day.

I added a couple videos at the end to show how pretty (and narrow!) it is driving the country roads of the UK. Gorgeous even in early spring. 🚘🇬🇧
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #bathuk #ukroadtrip #thermae #thermaebathspa #janeausten #mrdarcy #janeaustencentre #teawithmrdarcy #hightea

“Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell. Where the b

“Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell. Where the banshees live and they do live well
Stonehenge! Where a man’s a man
And the children dance to the Pipes of Pan.”

Ok, so maybe Spinal Tap and their tiny Stonehenge replicas (old person referencing classic movie here) are not quite accurate, and you don’t see children dance to the Pipes of Pan at the actual Stonehenge, but the place is still grand nonetheless.

Years ago, my aunty visited this place (when you could walk within the stones) and she said it made her eerily uncomfortable for some reason. I did not have that feeling. I was mostly awed by how people moved those giant rocks 5,000 years ago when they didn’t have any machinery.

I was also struck — as I often am at places this ancient —at how it is even still standing. People have been fighting on and for this particular island for centuries and centuries and it’s still standing. I think that about a lot of the places we visited while in the UK.

Stonehenge was more impressive than I thought it would be. Originally, I was more, “well, we’re in the area, we should go, right?” But once you get to the rocks, they really do impress. And they are situated in a beautiful setting. ♥️

I think that’s all I can say to wax poetic about big rocks.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #stonehenge #lovegreatbritain #stonehengerocks

The southern coast of England is blustery and cold

The southern coast of England is blustery and cold, but also charming and stunning.

One of Chuck and mine’s favourite shows is Broadchurch. And one of the reasons we loved it was because it looked so beautiful. Like a crime show wrapped up in a tourism ad. 😂

So, we decided to drive to West Bay where they filmed the show. It did not disappoint. The scenery all around, whether it was on the coast or in-land, was a delight. And once we reached our destination for the night, The George, we were utterly charmed. Our hotel was an old pub on the main floor with rooms above.

As soon as we walked into our room we smiled. It was so charming. There was an old-school four poster bed and a small seating nook in front of a bay window. They had tea and cookies out for us and we immediately dug in. (Did I mention how cold we were? We drank tea incessantly in the UK. 😂)

We were only in the area for a night and since it was so chilly out we decided to stay in and enjoy the cozy room and eat at the delicious pub down the stairs.

A short, but sweet and cozy stay. And when I looked upon those West Bay cliffs I could hear David Tennant yelling “MILLAH” at Olivia Coleman in my head.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #westbay #bridport #lovegreatbritain #england #broadchurch

Canterbury, you are a charming little minx. We sta

Canterbury, you are a charming little minx. We stayed here for only one night, so only had time to visit its gigantic Cathedral, but the town is bustling and cute as a button. If I knew how adorable it would be we would have stayed another day.

The cathedral was impressive in both beauty and tumultuous history. Chuck especially loved the place and felt a deep connection to it spiritually. As we were there until closing, we were treated to some beautiful hymns as choir practice was just starting.

After the cathedral, we strolled down St. Peter’s Street passing by The Friars and Kings Bridge to Westgate Gardens beside the River Stour, which houses a 200 year old Plane tree that has a massive trunk on it.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #canterburycathedral #canterbury#lovegreatbritain #england

The White Cliffs of Dover is where we caught colds

The White Cliffs of Dover is where we caught colds. Stupid beautiful cliffs. 😂

I mean, it was a beautiful spot to stop and the chalk cliffs are stunning to look upon, but we froze our asses off there! The winds were insane. And sooo cold. We didn’t last long, but the chill took forever to get rid of. Then we both got sick. 🤒

Was it worth the visit? I dunno? Maybe in summer? I felt like I was going to be flung from the cliffs the wind was so powerful. 😆

We weren’t there for more than an hour before getting back on the road and settling in to our stop for the night in Canterbury, which was utterly delightful.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #whitecliffsofdover #dover #lovegreatbritain #england

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A northern lights photo dump to go with all the mi

A northern lights photo dump to go with all the millions of others being posted right now. Captured the Big Dipper in a few. 💫

We drove just north of Stony Mountain last night and watched for about a half hour. Was magnificent.
—
#ckvacays #auroraborealis #northernlights #auroras #auroramax #skyporn #nightskies #exploremb #manitoba

Toodle-oo, UK, you were a cracking fun time. 🇬🇧♥️

Our last stop on our England road trip found us back where we started…in London. After dropping off our rental at Heathrow, we took the tube to Westminster and spent a day exploring that part of the city.

We started by walking over to Buckingham Palace to take a selfie in front of all the people taking photos of the guards. Then we walked over to the golden Canada Gate. Then we strolled through St. James Park oohing and ahhing at all the birds and spring blooms. Then it was a walk over to Trafalgar Square to look up, way way up, at the statue of Wellington sitting atop a ridiculously tall column. It’s silly, really. Then it was on to see 10 Downing Street, Big Ben and the buildings of Parliament. Then across the bridge to go high up in the sky to see the city from the London Eye. (Yes, I did mean for that to rhyme.) We then ventured over to Covent Garden for a fine steak before heading over to the gorgeous Great Scotland Yard Hotel (@gsy_london). There, we went behind the secret bookcase door and entered Síbín Speakeasy to sip on some fancy cocktails while listening to the silky vocals of @bethanniehare. Her voice was perfection. What a day. 🙌🏻🙌🏻

Our two-week road trip through England found us going from Manchester to the Peak District to Cambridge to Canterbury to Dover to West Bay to Stonehenge to Bath to The Cotswolds to Kenilworth to Oxford to Windsor and finally back into London.

We explored historic sites, looked in awe at soaring vistas, visited many many pubs, watched a real football game, drove the most gorgeous and romantic roads, looked at sheep, went for high-tea, partook of a traditional Sunday roast supper, walked where some of our favourite (and not so favourite) characters in books, tv, music, film and history have trod as well and enjoyed every bloody minute of it! (Except getting colds.)

And even after all that, we only scratched the surface here. But it was epic to us nonetheless. 😊♥️
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels#lovegreatbritain #ukroadtrip #england #london #unitedkingdom #sibinspeakeasy #londoneye #london🇬🇧 #westminster

The Cotswolds. 🐑🐑🐑 “Cots” are sheep e

The Cotswolds. 🐑🐑🐑 “Cots” are sheep enclosures. “Wolds” are gentle hills. And you get an insane amount of both when you visit the area. It’s soooo pretty. The towns are all close to each other, many with unique names (Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Upper Slaughter, Stratford-upon-Avon) and the route connecting them all is called the romantic road for good reason. 😘♥️

You definitely feel like you’re in a different era of time there. The only thing out of place are the vehicles instead of carriages. But you could clearly see how these towns would be bustling with horses and soldiers and ladies and gents long ago. I certainly felt like I was in a scene from an Austen novel or one of those cheesy historical romance books I loved to read when I was younger.

We were both getting over colds when we were there so we imbibed enough tea to fill the Boston harbour. We also enjoyed our cozy room above @TheBellstow pub in Stow-on-the-Wold.

We then spent two days there driving the romantic road and going off route to visit a couple other spots like Stratford-Upon-Avon to see Shakespeare’s home and his wife, Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

We also visited Kenilworth Castle, a medieval fortress and Elizabethan garden that’s now in ruins since the English Civil War in the 1600s. It was founded during the Norman conquest of England in the 1120s as a formidable fortress then later transformed into a palace by Robert Dudley to impress his love Queen Elizabeth I. She dropped by, stayed awhile, but still didn’t marry the man. 😂

It was fascinating to go through the ruins and garden and see and learn about all the iterations this almost-a-thousand-year-old fortress has gone through.

Oh, and we enjoyed a Sunday roast supper at the pub we were staying above. With gigantic, perfect Yorkshire puddings. Delish! Sorry, @sherkins. 😉
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #thecotswolds #cotswolds #ukroadtrip #romanticroad #lovegreatbritain #stowonthewold #kenilworthcastle #englishheritage

Bath, where I had tea with Mr. Darcy. Specifically

Bath, where I had tea with Mr. Darcy. Specifically, the BBC Colin Firth version…via a large photo…on the wall. If that’s as close as I’ll get to one of my favourite literary characters, I’ll take it. 😂🫖🎩

Bath was a pretty little city we visited on a weekend with what seemed to be every woman in the UK. This place is “hen party” central. (Hen party = bachelorette party) The whole place was inundated with LARGE groups of ladies mostly in pink everywhere you turned. I even saw a goth hen party at one point (minimal pink, maximum black eyeliner) and a bride-to-be being forced to walk an inflated balloon hen. Ok.

Maybe it’s the 2 for 1 happy hour cocktails they serve pretty much everywhere we went in Bath that beckons all the ladies. 🍸🍸

In our short stay, Chuck went to a pub to watch a match, while I visited the charming @thejaneaustencentre to have high tea with Darcy. Afterwards, we met up to go take an actual bath in Bath by visiting @thermaebathspa. The place had saunas and steam rooms and lots of spots to enjoy some heat. Even their glorious rooftop pool was heated enough to keep the chilly breeze at bay. And give us a chance to see the city from up high. It was a great spot to wind-down our day.

I added a couple videos at the end to show how pretty (and narrow!) it is driving the country roads of the UK. Gorgeous even in early spring. 🚘🇬🇧
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #bathuk #ukroadtrip #thermae #thermaebathspa #janeausten #mrdarcy #janeaustencentre #teawithmrdarcy #hightea

“Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell. Where the b

“Stonehenge! Where the demons dwell. Where the banshees live and they do live well
Stonehenge! Where a man’s a man
And the children dance to the Pipes of Pan.”

Ok, so maybe Spinal Tap and their tiny Stonehenge replicas (old person referencing classic movie here) are not quite accurate, and you don’t see children dance to the Pipes of Pan at the actual Stonehenge, but the place is still grand nonetheless.

Years ago, my aunty visited this place (when you could walk within the stones) and she said it made her eerily uncomfortable for some reason. I did not have that feeling. I was mostly awed by how people moved those giant rocks 5,000 years ago when they didn’t have any machinery.

I was also struck — as I often am at places this ancient —at how it is even still standing. People have been fighting on and for this particular island for centuries and centuries and it’s still standing. I think that about a lot of the places we visited while in the UK.

Stonehenge was more impressive than I thought it would be. Originally, I was more, “well, we’re in the area, we should go, right?” But once you get to the rocks, they really do impress. And they are situated in a beautiful setting. ♥️

I think that’s all I can say to wax poetic about big rocks.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #stonehenge #lovegreatbritain #stonehengerocks

The southern coast of England is blustery and cold

The southern coast of England is blustery and cold, but also charming and stunning.

One of Chuck and mine’s favourite shows is Broadchurch. And one of the reasons we loved it was because it looked so beautiful. Like a crime show wrapped up in a tourism ad. 😂

So, we decided to drive to West Bay where they filmed the show. It did not disappoint. The scenery all around, whether it was on the coast or in-land, was a delight. And once we reached our destination for the night, The George, we were utterly charmed. Our hotel was an old pub on the main floor with rooms above.

As soon as we walked into our room we smiled. It was so charming. There was an old-school four poster bed and a small seating nook in front of a bay window. They had tea and cookies out for us and we immediately dug in. (Did I mention how cold we were? We drank tea incessantly in the UK. 😂)

We were only in the area for a night and since it was so chilly out we decided to stay in and enjoy the cozy room and eat at the delicious pub down the stairs.

A short, but sweet and cozy stay. And when I looked upon those West Bay cliffs I could hear David Tennant yelling “MILLAH” at Olivia Coleman in my head.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #westbay #bridport #lovegreatbritain #england #broadchurch

Canterbury, you are a charming little minx. We sta

Canterbury, you are a charming little minx. We stayed here for only one night, so only had time to visit its gigantic Cathedral, but the town is bustling and cute as a button. If I knew how adorable it would be we would have stayed another day.

The cathedral was impressive in both beauty and tumultuous history. Chuck especially loved the place and felt a deep connection to it spiritually. As we were there until closing, we were treated to some beautiful hymns as choir practice was just starting.

After the cathedral, we strolled down St. Peter’s Street passing by The Friars and Kings Bridge to Westgate Gardens beside the River Stour, which houses a 200 year old Plane tree that has a massive trunk on it.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #canterburycathedral #canterbury#lovegreatbritain #england

The White Cliffs of Dover is where we caught colds

The White Cliffs of Dover is where we caught colds. Stupid beautiful cliffs. 😂

I mean, it was a beautiful spot to stop and the chalk cliffs are stunning to look upon, but we froze our asses off there! The winds were insane. And sooo cold. We didn’t last long, but the chill took forever to get rid of. Then we both got sick. 🤒

Was it worth the visit? I dunno? Maybe in summer? I felt like I was going to be flung from the cliffs the wind was so powerful. 😆

We weren’t there for more than an hour before getting back on the road and settling in to our stop for the night in Canterbury, which was utterly delightful.
—
#ckvacays #kirstentravels #whitecliffsofdover #dover #lovegreatbritain #england

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