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Day 14. Final run back to Ottawa skirting around Montreal on the north. Home around 5pm. Total distance traveled is 2700 miles or 4300km. Hinny didn't miss a beat the whole time. It was a great trip even though the weather was not on our side.

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Day 13. We decided to set off early and get breakfast on the road. We have traveled route 132 before but it never gets boring. First stop was a boulangerie in Cacouna for a coffee and pastries and drove down to a small park on the shore, where there was a headland that had been a first nation worshipping area that had been commandeered by settlers and used for pleasure boat launching etc. It had been returned to to them for the original purpose and had a real spiritual feel to it. Next stop was another boulangerie at riviere du loup and the stopped at St Jean Port Joli to eat it. We crossed to the north Shore at Quebec city and stayed overnight at Pointe de Yamachiche which is a river delta that is a nature reserve. Walked down a 2km path to watch sunset.

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Day 12. A dry start to the day but rain started around 10am and it rained cats and dogs. Could hardly see out of the windshield at times. We followed the coast road to Campbellton and then cut across the Gaspe peninsula and followed the south Shore road 132 stopping for a walk and fish and chips at Ste Luce. We stayed at a camping spot on the beach at Trois Pistoles and were treated to the most spectacular sunset that photo can't attempt to portray.

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The coast is composed of a bunch of peninsula. We decided to skip past the next on and drive straight to Miramichi and then explore the larger peninsula that hosts Caraquet. The New Brunswick tourist board website oversold this. We were expecting a foodie experience but had a hard time finding a decent coffee. A lot of places had closed for the season. However we stopped at a couple of interesting spots including pabineau falls. You could park up right on the slabs of rock at the side of the falls but there were lots of teens arriving and we figured this could be a late night so decided not to stay.

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We stayed in a parking lot at Youghall beach and got talking to an ex vangon owner who said we could stay at his house. There was a VW eurovan parked right behind us.

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Day 11. Lazy start to the day after a camp fire and star gazing last night. This is a dark sky reserve and the star display was beautiful. The milky way looked like a white cloud. We had a full breakfast including British style baked beans and then went to see the beach on the sand bar before hitting the road. The beach goes on for miles and is beautiful soft sand. Something we have noticed in all of the beaches we have been to, is that the stuff washed up is all natural ie no plastic and other human waste. Here's hoping we can keep it that way.

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Day 10. Up early and off. We were on the road by 8am and stopped for breakfast on the way. Short drive today hugging the beautiful coast to Kouchibouguec National park which is a unique ecological environment. Very peaceful and quiet. Sun has just set and we are sitting by the fire waiting for the stars to make an appearance.

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The rest of the day was really rainy so we took the opportunity to get some miles under our belt and made it back to Pugwash. We arrivesd quite late and just pulled into a roadside spot for the night. It was still raining.

So far we have traveled 1500 miles or around 2600km. To put this into perspective, Lands end in England to John o Groats in Scotland is 874 miles.

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We stopped and made breakfast at Inverness and then had a 4km walk along the beach.

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Day 9. We stopped overnight at chimney cove and here is the view out of the van door for our morning cup of tea before setting off.

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We headed from the north coast over the mountains in the central region and then dropped down to the west coast. Hinny had to climb up and down some really long and steep inclines. Needed to drop down to second gear but she handled them well. We stopped off for a few short hikes including the gypsum mine.

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Day 8. Here is the scene from our camping spot at Meat Cove just as we are packing up to leave after a windy and wild evening.

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We were reluctant to leave that beautiful spot last night at Wreck Cove but set off around 11am. We stopped off at a couple of beaches along the way for coffee and got to Meat Cove tonight, which is the most northern community in Nova Scotia. It is accessed via a very dodgy dirt road. It is wild and bleak. Reminds me so much of Scotland. The road signs are in Gaelic and they even have midges to complete the illusion of being in Scotland.

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Dorothy did some good iOverlander research and found this sweet spot right on a wild beach. We had to drive down a really rocky track to get here but no trouble to Hinny with all of that ground clearance. We can hear the waves crashing and smell the sea from the van. There were some seals bobbing their heads out of the water but every time we got the camera out they disappeared.

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Got onto Cape Breton today. First stop was for some chowder in Baddeck.

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It rained really heavy all day long. Apparently it was the remnants of a tropical storm that had previously caused havoc in New York City. We drove into Nova Scotia today and overnighted at a camp site in West Linwood. We fancied takeout so asked around and Big Mammas was recommended. The takeout is in a disused post office and they give you a lot of food. We bought the fish platter between us and couldn't finish it !

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Woke up this morning to rain and boy has it rained today. Here is the scene just before we set off for the day. We had our cup of tea watching the herons feeding. You can see them in the background. We stopped and made breakfast at a place called Pugwash and bought a mosquito zapper from the home hardware store.