Day 7, Saturday 27 September

The sky was grey as we set off to go the fairly short distance up to the Skyline Trail, a loop of trail through the forest with views out over the Cabot Trail. As I was chatting to one our Australians, I noticed a smallish grey bird beside the footpath, which appeared to have no fear. Stopping to watch it, other females came out of the undergrowth, followed by a black male with red "horns" and its tail fanned a shaking as it displayed to its harem, oblivious to us. We were told later that they were spruce grouse, not surprisingly, food for every local carnivore.
We took the fork to a splendid stepped boardwalk down a point looking in both directions out across mountainside and the sea. No cetaceans in sight.
The party split to either a longer walk back, which Ian did, spotting a raptor and another chipmunk on the way, or to return the same way, which I did, with one our Swiss people. She pointed out that some of the tree groves looked as if they were settings from a Tolkien story.
As the walks had taken less time than expected, we were a bit early when we stopped for lunch at a clean and smart picnic sight. It was a bit telling when a coach tour turned up, everyone creaked and groaned their way off the bus, each with their large lunch sacks, and made their way into the wooden building where there were tables for them to use. We stayed out in the sunshine, looking up at the mountains around us.
Chad stopped at a couple of gifty shops to kill a bit of time then took us on to the sea kayaking centre. This was a sea-water lake which had no direct access to the sea but had moon jellyfish. Ian learned from a local that the sea seeps through the sand banks and must sometimes go over the top.
At the Eagle North Sea Kayaking Centre, most of us were suitably togged up and I was paired with Anya who flatly refused to steer, so went in front. I found the foot-pedal-operated steering counter-intuitive - pushing away with the right foot to steer to the right.
There were five kayaks out, including two singles with Chad and the leader. We paddled out to the left to be shown small oyster rafts, a moose skeleton and a gypsum cliff. The sun and sea were blue and we were surrounded by steep forest -  a stunning setting.

Carrying on, we were taken through a more marshy area towards reeds where we could see waders. Michael had us get out of the boats and make our way across the dunes to the beach on the other side where the sea was crashing dark blue. He gave us fresh Cape Breton oatcakes and hot apple tea -delicious. He then proceeded to give us a short history of the bay and its first and most recent shipwrecks. The former befell a group of rich French businessmen who had been travelling with much of their wealth and possessions, some of which are still appearing on the shore. The latter involved Michael's father and much booze found on board after the ship had been abandoned. It broke up a few hours later when the cargo of oats and split peas soaked up so much seawater that it burst apart. He was a brilliant story-teller - at this time of the year. At other times he line-fishes for halibut from shore, or manages his 450 lobster pots.
When we got back into the boats, the wind had risen and all the double kayaks had difficulty getting out of the shallows. In the end, Anya and I were towed out, much to the disgust of Monica and Radhika. It was a bit harder work getting back to the base, and we were taken back the way we came instead of going across the other side of the lake, which was more exposed to the wind.
Back at the centre, the non-kayakers came back from their long walk to the same beach from where Ian had been photographing the waves and us in the distance.
Altogether, it had been a wonderful trip.
Michael had told us about a camp just up the road where oysters could be tried at the little shop. Ian had one but I was not tempted. He couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
On down the trail with more amazing views along the forested coastline, we came to the best hotel yet, the Castle Rock Inn. It had views from its balcony and dining room out across more woods and the sea. With two dinner tables, we divided into the girls' club and boys' club, quite subdued after the exertions of the day.