Ingonish is where the Cabot Trail finally shows you the Atlantic. The road has spent hours in the hills of Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and then it drops to a long, curved beach with a spit of land reaching out to sea, and the water is the dark blue of the open ocean. On the spit, Middle Head, a hotel and a walking trail stand on a narrow ridge with the surf on both sides, which gives you the sense of being at the end of something.
The villages here were built by fishermen, Gaelic-speaking Scots who came in the nineteenth century, and Acadian and English families who worked the cod. Gaelic is hardly spoken now, but the fiddle tradition is very much alive, and in summer you can find music in halls, pubs and kitchen parties from Baddeck to Chéticamp. The Highlands National Park, established in 1936, protects most of the land around the village, and a pass is required to stop within its boundaries.
For a rider, the Cabot Trail around Ingonish is the highlight of the loop. South of the village the road climbs Cape Smokey, a steep mountain shoulder with a sheer drop to the sea on one side, hairpin bends and an elevation of around three hundred and sixty metres, and the view south along the coast is one of the best in Nova Scotia. The surface is mostly good, but frost heave and patching are common, and on the exposed sections the wind can push a bike sideways. North of the village, the road runs through forest and the interior highlands toward Chéticamp, with long, sweeping gradients and moose warning signs. Take the signs seriously, particularly at dawn and dusk.
The weather on the Atlantic coast can change fast. Fog rolls in off the water, often burning off by midday, and a warm morning can turn to a cold, drizzly afternoon. September and early October are the best months, with clear air, cool nights and the maple leaves turning scarlet on the hillsides, though in peak foliage the road is busy. Midsummer is warmer but more crowded, and the black flies and mosquitoes can be annoying inland.
Ingonish has gas stations, small shops, restaurants and a few places serving fresh seafood, with lobster, chowder and haddock as the standard offers. Fuel is available in the village, but between Ingonish and Chéticamp, a distance of over seventy kilometres across the highlands, there are almost no services, so top up before you cross. A walk on the beach, where the sand is coarse and the sea cold, is a fine way to end the day.