Views of Bay St Lawrence

Photo #1 looks a bit north of east across the Bay St Lawrence Road from the churchyard of St Margaret’s of Scotland Church in St Margaret Village towards the Cape North Massif on whose flanks the village has been built. In the foreground, the land slopes fairly steeply downhill; at first, I thought I had held the camera awry, but I had not — it’s that the cemetery across the road is on a slanting hillside. The terrain of the Cape North Massif is deeply accidented along its length and on both its sides; the gap seen in the centre is due to an unnamed brook which flows down off the massif into Deadmans Pond. Alas, given the lack of the sun, it is a bit hard to see how far the colours have progressed; the oranges in the trees in the foreground appear to be fairly recent, intermixed as they are with greens. Whether those on the flanks of the massif are further along is hard to say.

The view in photo #2 is to the north from Bay St Lawrence Road a few metres/yards north from the churchyard. Deadmans Pond lies across the middle ground of this photo; a hill, which appears to be a huge dune thrown up by the sea, rises above and beyond Deadmans Pond; the Gulf of St Lawrence lies beyond at the horizon. Alas, the white and grey skies above dampen the colours of the waters in this photo — they sparkle on a sunny day. The green grass indicates no serious frost has yet touched it, though there are colours in the trees about, relatively recent as best as one can tell.

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Photo #3 looks a bit further to the east from the same location as in photo #2, focussing on the harbour mouth. The crane at the left of the photo sits at the western end of the dune seen in photo #2; it and the unusual number of trucks and other vehicles parked there, attest to the work underway on the pier on the south side of the harbour entrance. Two fishing boats are seen moored at the dock at the left of the photo; the main marina is at the far right of this photo, out of its scope.

Photo #4 looks to the northeast from the same location as the two previous photos towards the end of the Cape North Massif. The aforementioned Money Point Lighthouse Trail begins at the end of the Money Point Road and climbs up the the massif at the far right of this photo and outside of its scope; it is easily the hardest climb I have encountered on Cape Breton Island, going very steeply up the side of the massif. There are fine views from the upper half of the trail of the coast and of the area below the massif.

The colours in photos #3 and #4 appear to be browns, but this is likely the effect of the lighting and lack of sun; although some trees have clearly lost their leaves from the recent winds (e.g., that in the lower right of photo #4), most have not and appear to be in the early stages of change, like those seen in the previous photos on this page.

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Photo #5 is taken from the Bay St Lawrence Road shortly before it ends at the harbour entrance. This view is a bit east of south and looks back across the marina and Deadmans Pond towards the Cape North Massif. The dullness of the light this day can be judged by the dullness of the brightly coloured boats, which appear here far darker than they really are. Some of the boats have already been pulled for winter; notice those on the far shore to the right of the boat ramp at the left of the photo.

I’m sorry that the photos here are not brighter than they are, as Bay St Lawrence and St Margaret Village are both very beautiful places that more than repay any visit.