Days 27 and 28 - Beggining our Cape Breton Island journey

Monday July 8th, 2013

When you plan a vacation, often one region or city sounds more exciting than others.  On this trip, Cape Breton Island followed by the Fundy Coast are the most intriguing regions for us.

Lonely Planet describes Cape Breton Island as “one of the most scenic destinations in the world”.  When we drove the perimeter of this island last year, the rain was driving and the wind whipping.  We often could not see past the hood of the car. 

This year, we made sure to get more than a glimpse of this glorious place.  We booked 10 days in Cape Breton National Park in Cheticamp, NS to make sure of it.  Surely there would be a day or two in there with blue skies and no fog.

The view from a two minute walk from our campsite
at Sunset Sands RV Park in Port Hood, NS

Today we will drive 3 ½ hours to Cape Breton’s Gaelic region, about an hour south of the Park.   We reserved a spot in the community owned Sunset Sands RV Park in Port Hood for 4 nights , which is situated next to a beautiful beach with breathtaking sunsets. The sites are…well… ok I guess.  The campers are not right on top of each other and if you ignore the screaming kids, it is fine.  What makes for an entirely different experience is getting to know your traveling neighbors, and spending time sharing itineraries,, experiences, and cultural backgrounds with them.

I realize most RV'ers have one foot in the grave,
but this is convenience!  ( Sunset Sands RV Park )

It was time, unfortunately, to refuel.  We try to give our business to the small, independent service stations whenever we can find one where the gas pumps are accessible to the RV with the car attached. 

After finding  such a place, we pulled up to the pumps and  the young  attendant’s  eyes popped out of his head!  He quickly ran over to provide his “full service “, and as the amount increased past the $200 mark he started to giggle.  I was really happy for the guy, after all, he might be able to make payroll this week, but we didn't share in his glee.  When it stopped at $280 he was gushing all over us, and insisted we keep the pen we signed the charge receipt with! He had never had such a big sale, he said!  I joked with him and asked if the special this week was “spend $280 get a pen?“  He laughed, still all smiles and said “yeah”.  I am sure our great big gas guzzling rig will be the topic of conversation at his dinner table tonight.

We were at a fish market and saw these incredibly rare lobsters!
Wikipedia states that one in two million are blue, and that
one in 100 million are true albino ( lacking color pigments ) this
one does have a slight blue pigmentation though.  

Tuesday, July 9^th

The Canadian Rail Trail runs again through Port Hood so we just had to ride another section of it.  It’s trails are so well groomed, and the grades are slight due to their original design as a railroad track.  What is not to love? 

When we first arrived at the trail, we were faced with a BIG decision.  Go right, or go left.  The folks in the office had said to go right, yet she had never actually been on the trail.  A man at the trailhead, who sounded like he was very familiar with both sections, preferred the left for the fantastic views, but we would have to ride about 6 miles to see them.  We took his advice and happily started off to the left. 

Even though the incline is slight, it does require peddling all the way. No big deal ( for the first 6 miles ) then we started to wonder where the view was.  Yes, the woods and wildflowers that flanked each side of the path were pretty, but mile after mile even the most avid horticulturist would get bored.  Mile 9. Still no view. 

If you ever wondered if bicycling could possibly be considered “ resting “ for a bad ankle, the answer is NO.  It definitely  is not. My ankle was sore, and I knew we had to ride all the way back.   Norman went ahead to see if the beautiful "view" was just around the next bend, and found a trestle bridge with a little river to look at about ½ mile up.

We sat on the bridge for quite a while and had our lunch, as I took a little nap, dreading the long and boring ride home.

Ohhh...  can I rest a little longer? 

What we found amazing, was that in our 11 miles of peddling, we only saw one couple.  This place was deserted. As you can see in the picture, we were not too concerned with on coming traffic.

  So….. when nature called, I felt pretty safe in using the “ facilities “ on the edge of the road. ( After all, poison ivy could be lurking in the underbrush.)  Low and behold!  You guessed it!  Around the corner charged a motorcycle!  I am not sure who was more embarrassed, but I am still laughing about it. I never knew I could pull a pair of pants up that quickly! 

Cross Canada Rail Trail. 
 Port Hood to Mabou section
Pretty good picture considering I was peddling while taking this!

We relaxed for a couple of hours, and cleaned up to go to the The Red Shoe Pub, in Mabou.  It is well known for its live Celtic music, food, dancing and it's fun atmosphere. It disappointingly was a quiet evening, but we enjoyed the uplifting music of the piano music and the accompanying accordion player.

I understand the weekends are hopping with various types of music from Cape Breton Island. I would have loved to hear a spoon solo. My grandfather taught me to

play the spoons.

                                                  We then crossed the street to witness a Ceilidh ( pronounced kay-lee) which is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing.  They are still popular in the rural parts of Ireland and Scotland,( and of course, in Cape Breton Island.)

There were two fiddle players and a man on an electric piano that played various jigs.  We quickly learned that precise foot-tapping is an integral part of playing this music.

Musical gathering or " ceilidh " at the town
Community Center

While we were waiting to be served dinner across the street, Norm struck up a conversation with a young fellow who was from the area.  Turns out he was the guest fiddler tonight at the Ceilidh.  He had told Norm that he plays piano every night at a pub in Cheticamp, which is our next stop.  Maybe we'll see him again.

We were pretty tired, and for some reason we both found that all the songs they played sounded nearly the same, so we snuck out during intermission. 

It was a long, but wonderful day.