We had not planned to go back to Cape Breton. We were there about 7 years ago and loved it but didn't feel there was that much new to see. However, it was raining much of the time that we were there and so when we woke up to beautiful weather a few days ago we decided to visit again and see what we missed in the fog the last time. It was beautiful!
We started out with a bike ride in Judique on the old rail line. We did a portion of the Judique Flyer trail which had a good gravel surface and was open to hikers, bikers and ATV's. Kind of strange to see ATV's coming down the trail but it looked as if there was more ATVusage than bike usage.
We found a nice campground near Mabou and had dinner, cleaned up and then went into Mabou
(MAW boo, as we were instructed to say) to visit the Red Shoe Pub. We discovered this pub, owned by the Rankin Family on our last trip and were excited to go back again. We listened to Andrea Beaton, a cousin of Natalie McMasters. She and her friends played wonderful traditional music. http://www.andreabeaton.com/bio.htm
The next day was foggy but soon cleared so we decided to continue up the coast.
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| Red Shoe Pub |
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Mabou in the fog
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We visited some of the small towns, resupplied and went on to Cape Breton National Park. We stopped to hike the Skyline Trail and the views were amazing.
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| Cape Breton National Park |
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Skyline Trail, the boardwalk is on the summit to prevent erosion.
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After the hike we settled in at a small campground on the Aspey river , Big Intervale. A few other campers arrived and we were invited to join them for some talk and music. One of the men belong to a choral group The Men of the Deeps, composed of former coal miners. http://www.menofthedeeps.com/home.html He played guitar and sang songs from both the US and Canada. These guys have been coming to the same place for a guys fishing week end for 21 years! A young woman from Toronto also joined us and at times we were lost in the conversation that covered everything from fracking and Canadian politics and tv to hockey.
It is wonderful to be around people who share a love for music. We heard some Canadian regional songs new to us and sang along to some old favorites like Gordon Lightfoot. We were also impressed how truly friendly the people here are.
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| Looking out towards White Point |
Sunday morning dawned bright but a short shower started as we left camp. It cleared quickly and we drove around to the Atlantic Coast for more beautiful views.
In White Point some one had left a pile of lobster traps and a bucket to deposit $5. Thinking that this was the perfect souvenir I jumped out and picked one. It is a little bigger than I first thought but we were able to stow it in the truck.
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Such a good deal, right?
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We were needing (yes we needed them) scones and tea as well as internet so we made a quick stop for both. A few miles later a stop at a used book store and ceramics studio led us to Paul Cranford, retired light house keeper, musician and publisher. He explained that he wanted to learn to play the fiddle and Cape Breton was a great place to do that. As a light house keeper he would be have a one month on, one month off schedule. This would give him time to take lessons, meet other fiddlers and practice. He was able to do both and now retired runs his business with his wife, a potter.
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| Wildfire Pottery and Used Book Store |
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Owner and fiddler Paul Cranford
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We finally made our way to North Sidney, NS where we purchased our tickets for the ferry tomorrow to Newfoundland! 7AM ferry which means that we need to be in line at 4:45AM! We are camping about 3k from the ferry and so will be up and out early. We just found out that we must be under 20ft long to travel the cheapest way and so we must take off the bike rack and bikes and stow them inside the camper. Doable, I think. So now off to get dinner put together and figure out how to stuff the camper with the bikes. Next post Newfoundland!
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