This should be a primo year to do Cape Breton. Last year was the biggest overhaul of resurfacing and re-engineering parts of the Cabot Trail in ages. I'd be envious of someone going this year because I went last July when a lot of it was chewed up by heavy equipment at work.
I went solo and I can get by on the very simplest of accommodation and meals. Without knowing your budget or window of time to spend, quick rundown:
- Include at least 1 extra day in your Cape Breton itinerary as a backup in case you get rained out on your intended day to ride the Cabot Trail. It's too nice a route and takes that extra attention that will be spoiled by dealing with rain. I got rained out my first morning there and instead visited the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in Baddeck.
- If you are traveling on the cheap, I stayed at a bike friendly motel in Margaree River for $80 in July. They can be found on Trip Advisor. Book ahead.
- They roll up the sidewalks around dinner time and observe Sundays like Ontario used to in the 1950's. It's village life. You might use 3 neighbouring villages to find a grocery store, a gas station and a restaurant. What worked for me was my good meal of the day was lunch when I was sure the restaurants were open. Pickup fresh food, fruit, rolls, etc. and makings for coffee to take back to the room for dinner in case the restaurants closed before I was done riding and make sandwiches for the next day and something for breakfast. (Did I mention I'm cheap and I seriously prefer to ride?)
- Someone already mentioned, do the route counter clockwise so your lane is the one out at the edge, nearest the ocean, most of the time. If you're speedy or you landed two days of nice weather, I guess you could reverse it on the second day. Watch your fuel status. No worries, just don't get complacent and think stations are open 24/7 everywhere.
- As well as a tourist trap, it's a real, working road that almost the entire peninsula depends on, shared by large delivery trucks, campers, buses, locals, etc. Do the trail on weekdays.
- Take advantage of all the well situated and roomy lay bys to stretch and take some scenic pics to remember those days.
The rest of Nova Scotia (I've gone as far south as Lunenburg in two trips) has pretty good condition roads and sensible signage.
New Brunswick I just use as a way to get to Nova Scotia so I've only slabbed the Trans Canada Highway #2. OMG - what a dreary dreary route. I'm maybe biased because on both trips it was 100% heavy rain for the entire province, end to end in at least one direction. North of St. Leonard, you can expect knowing French to be handy in NB.
....if you don't, it's 100% useless.
