After a half hour it felt like we were driving to the top of the Earth, but when a sign at Stewiacke announced that the little hamlet stands exactly midway between the equator and the North Pole, we realized we were only three quarters that far. When they say that, they mean it. On the dirt road by our lodge, a kilted bagpiper was on duty 24 hours a day. He was carved from a tree trunk by some skillful artisan using a chainsaw. Located right on the coastline, it's surrounded by postcard vistas.
Gulls circle the rocks out front and wild deer run freely through fields behind.
Guests here have included King George V of Holland. It sells Cuban cigars in the lobby. It was paradise. I awoke the first morning to the smells of wood and varnish from the hewn logs around me and staggered outside to meet a glorious dawn sun gleaming off the still ocean. The village itself glows with quaint charm.