Views from Saunders Cove

The Tuesday of the festival, I did a fair amount of driving. I stayed on Boularderie Island after the Monday concert in North Sydney, drove to Lower L’Ardoise at the south end of the island for the now annual Sounds and Supper by the Sea event—an afternoon of musical entertainment and conversation with friends followed by a lobster dinner—and returned for the evening concert in Sydney River. On that morning, I drove out the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 105) towards North Sydney to the St James Road exit (Exit 15), which I took to Hillside Boularderie on the east side of Boularderie Island and turned left onto the Hillside Boularderie Road, which leads one along the northern shore of St Andrews Channel to the Groves Point Provincial Park and then back to the Trans-Canada in Bras d’Or, a lovely drive along the water over much of the distance. The photos on this page, marred a bit by a surfeit of white clouds and haze in the air, were taken on that drive from a convenient pull-off at the side of the road along Saunders Cove.

Photo #1 looks across St Andrews Channel at the Long Island area from Saunders Cove along Boularderie Island. Just off centre is Mouse Island, which sits a bit south of Youngs Point at the far left. Long Island is offshore and spans much of the photo; it is about 4.4 km (2.7 mi) long and rises to over 80 m (260 ft) at its highest point, according to the topographical map; neither of its points have names. Beyond the far end of the island at the left, one can make out through the fog/haze the Boisdale Hills in the area near Barrachois Harbour and the Barrachois Provincial Park.

Photo #2 looks to the left of photo #1, with which it overlaps considerably. Mount Cameron rises above the shore at the left, but is still pretty much shrouded by low-lying clouds. The locality of Long Island Main lies inland from Youngs Point across the water from the nearer end of Long Island. A very scenic drive leads along the east side of St Andrews Channel from Bras d’Or to Georges River to Long Island Main to Barrachois Harbour, where it runs into Highway 223, often called the Grand Narrows Highway.

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Photo #3 is a much wider-angled view than the two previous ones, showing the coast of St Andrews Channel from Georges River at the left to Long Island at the right and Mount Cameron, a part of the range known as the Boisdale Hills, rising just inland of the coast. So far as I am aware, neither roads nor hiking trails lead to the summit of Mount Cameron.

Photo #4 looks down St Andrews Channel between the tip of Long Island at the far left and Roderick Head on Boularderie Island at the far right. On a clear day, one would be able to see the Washabuck Peninsula in the Iona area in the centre of the photo, some 45.5 km (28.3 mi) to the south of Saunders Cove, but too much haze in the air obscures the view for that to be possible this day.

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Photo #5 is a more detailed view of the right portion of photo #4 and includes land to the north that is missing altogether from that photo. The land at the far left is further south along Boularderie Island, likely in the Point Clear area, though it is too hazy to say for sure. Kempt Head is the southernmost tip of Boularderie Island and is south of Point Clear and hidden by it from this vantage point. Boularderie Island is some 40 km (25 mi) long (ten times as long as Long Island across the channel) with a width ranging between 3 km (2 mi) and 10 km (6 mi); this photo certainly attests to its length!

Photo #6 looks much closer at hand to near the head of Saunders Cove. A gull is floating serenely in the water and the trees on the banks give a good idea of the state of the colours at this point during the festival. Notice the beautiful red tree at the right of the photo, partly hidden by a mostly green tree only beginning to change. It’s a lovely spot with lovely views!