Eric Stendal

Date: Sunday, 13 September 2026

City / Region: Chéticamp, NS –> Antigonish, NS

Weather: high of 19° today, but mostly in the car, other than a few walks about, and very light wind – again with no rain. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun.

Morning Summary

Shelley and I left Chéticamp on our way to Antigonish. We passed by Inverness Beach area and tried to go down there, but we were unable to find out how to do so. We did end up in a campground near the water, but that wasn’t the location we were looking for, so we continued on.

We made our way to the Glenora Distillery! This is where we stopped to visit the gift shop and take some photos. There was a tour which had just started, but with Maggie in tow, we were not able to partake – but no biggie – the gift shop was well stocked.

We bought a bottle of their 18-yr-peated single malt whisky. This whisky was made back in 2008 and used actual peat from Scotland to make it. At the time, they made this 18-yr version along with another 16-yr version. The 16-yr is sold out, and I bought one of five remaining bottles of it from the gift shop. Once this is gone, it is gone and they won’t be making any more of it. I told them they should start planting and growing some peat bogs somewhere!! (Nova Scotia does possess some peat bogs of its own, but not the same as in Scotland – they just cannot com-peat).

They also had some cigars that were infused with their whisky so I just ‘had’ to buy one of those to try. They were $29.00 a piece and for $4.00 extra, you could buy a cigar tube to carry it in – well, of course, I bought the set…..

It was a short drive from the distillery down to Port Hood where we stopped in at the local Co-Op and Shelley bought us some ‘sammiches’, trail mix, water, and a couple ‘a cheesezesz…. We brought these to the Port Hood.

We found a picnic table and ate our food, enjoying the sound of crickets in the bog next to the dunes and sandy beach.

After eating, we ventured out along the boardwalk and sandy pathway which led out onto the beach where we took our shoes and socks off and walked along the sand and into the rolling surf. It sure felt refreshing!

Afternoon Summary

We left Port Hood and continued on through to the Casno Causeway where we had entered Cape Breton Island all those days ago. We had now completed the circle of the island!

Our hotel in Antigonish is the Microtel Wyndham just off the highway. We arrived at around 2:15 pm and since check in was for 3 pm, we were able to check in early.

Evening Summary

After bringing our items up to the room, Shelley did some laundry in the hotel ($2.00 to wash and $2.00 to dry) and that gave us some fresh choices of clothing to wear tomorrow.

We opted to eat at Gabriel’s Pizza next door (10% coupon). She enjoyed the Club Sandwich with salad on the side and I had their Meat Lasagna served with Garlic Bread. Very tasty. We saw on the table an advert for a pizza involving the Ottawa Senators!

Daily Highlights

• Our best moment of the day was discovering how lovely it was at Port Hood. We couldn’t get over the sand dunes, beach, and surrounding area. So relaxing.
• The funniest moment for us today was watching the look on Maggie’s face as she tackled eating half of a boiled egg from Shelley’s hand at breakfast. Hilarious!
• Well, discovering that Glen Breton made a peaty scotch! And that I was able to snag a bottle to try. Pretty cool I must say.
• We learned about the lawsuit involving Glen Breton – they were challenged by Scotland to not use the word “Glen” as it meant “Scotch” and their product was not “Scotch” by definition. The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. Read about it here: Scotch Battle

Logistics

• We did a little bit of walking today on the beach, but it was a very short day of driving. We enjoyed relaxing at the hotel – the pool, laundry, relaxing in our room, bath….
• Gas was $1.913 at the pump this afternoon. Supper was bought along with some fine whisky, a t-shirt, some postcards, a few pins.
• Early to bed for us as we prepare to leave early enough to be in line for our ferry reservation to Prince Edward Island.

Closing Thoughts

This was a shorter driving day for us but it was very relaxing. Our stay in Chéticamp was cozy and we enjoyed discovering Port Hood and the surrounding area. I especially enjoyed being able to visit the distillery where that first sip of Glen Breton was tasted in Halifax at CUT Steakhouse.