Yesterday (day 10) was a travel day for us, thankfully uneventful. We stopped in Port Hawkesbury (the nearest city to Cape Breton Island) to pick up another side mirror extender and some groceries, and then made our way west to Tatamagouche, where we are camped at Sunset Watch Campground. This is a typical RV campground except for the fine views of the ocean, which we can enjoy unobstructed as we were placed in the very front row. This morning there were seals laying about on the rocks at high tide, but so far away as to make picture-taking pointless.

But today we played another of the fine golf courses here in Nova Scotia, the Northumberland Links, named for its location on the Northumberland Strait, with its distant views of Prince Edward Island. Oddly enough, the first thing that struck me about this course was its clubhouse, probably due to the large plantings of miscanthus which surround it.

I’m really taken with this miscanthus stuff (it’s the tall, wavy grass with the long, white fronds) and can easily see it around my mailbox, except for the fact that it is apparently invasive, so I will have to give this some thought.

Anyway, Northumberland Links is an outstanding golf course, one of the best we’ve played here, although not the equal of Cabot Cliffs. However, at around $48USD, it’s a much better value. We were once again paired with a helpful member, Rob, who was invaluable in avoiding the hazards and playing the correct lines from tee to green. Although I remain the undisputed King of the 3-putt, our scores would have been even higher on this difficult course without his aid. Rob said that now, after last year’s Hurricane Fiona, you can see the ocean from every hole on the course, as the hurricane destroyed so many trees. So, there are lovely views everywhere, although the back nine really runs along the shoreline with the best views.

All in all, Northumberland Links is a lovely and challenging course which I would highly recommend to any golfer visiting this area. But speaking of hurricanes, the remnants of Hurricane Phillippe are forecast to make landfall on the Maine/New Brunswick border on Sunday, the day on which we are scheduled to travel to Yarmouth, NS prior to boarding the Cat ferry to Bar Harbor, Maine the next day. So it is unclear what impact, if any, this storm will have on our scheduled plans. We built our itinerary around the Cat ferry, as its last scheduled trip for the season is Monday, October 9; if that trip is cancelled due to weather, we’re really going to have to improvise! I hope to update you with more current information tomorrow.