You’re Somewhere Near Hear
A sign we passed somewhere …
13000km on the trip! According to Goggle we are 5,985km from home
73 days on the trip! According to Goggle we are 2 days and 7 hours from home
215 hours in the car together! According to most, we must be crazy!
Day 73 - We took the ferry from PEI over to Nova Scotia ($91. - but you only pay 1 way) and drove the backroads all the way to Truro, home of Stanfield’s “The Underwear Company”, since 1859. Robert Stanfield, former Premier of N.S. and Leader of the Federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was the grandson of the founder. Watch out Rotary Trivia players, some of this stuff you just might be asked about so read up blog fans! We’re in a really nice B & B in Dartmouth, friendly family and nice and clean, but I don’t get the B & B thing when there is no breakfast! Roger says it’s different because it’s an Airbnb. Go figure, it beats me! We did go to M.E.C. in Halifax and bought an AeroPress coffee press like Barbara had in Bangladesh, so we are somewhat appeased. Staying in Halifax was out of the question - way to much $$ .
Day 74 - we got up nice and early and drove 110km to Bridgewater to EV charge before continuing to Lunenberg for our afternoon on the Bluenose II. That’s where we were when we got the call that the adventure on the Bluenose is cancelled “due to heavy rain and thunderstorms in the forecast”. We were devastated! , but we pulled up our Stanfields and headed to Peggy’s Cove, where Roger took a most amazing photo, which you will see hanging on our wall when we get home
Catching a picture with the infamous light house was a challenge between the 3 tour busses coming and going, everyone on board wanting the same picture of course.
But we did get this one with my long sought after Captain. Wish I could take them both home!
Ponder point - who was Peggy of Peggy’s Cove?
- the wife of an early settler?
- the sole survivor of a shipwreck nearby?
- Samuel de Champlain’s mother Marguerite?
- a little girl too young to remember her name?
- the lady we met in Canmore or Cochrane who said her name was Peggy and she’s from Peggy’s Cove?
You decide which you like best and tell the story like it’s the only truth!
September 2, 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crashed into St. Margaret’s Bay, approximately 8km s.w. of Peggy’s Cove with a loss of 229 people aboard. Nearby Blandford Cove became the staging area for first responders and many volunteers in their own boats to help recover the bodies from the water. The HMS Halifax was also nearby and assisted. There is a memorial and internment site in the bay and when we were visiting the memorial we met Karl, one of the crew on the HMS Halifax on that day. Wow! Serendipity strikes again - it was his 1st time at the memorial.
Day 75 - Halifax is a great city built from the water up - and I mean up, it’s steep! We got there early and got a parking spot, no easy feat apparently. There was lots happening on the Waterfront celebrating the North American Indigenous Games hosted there. We visited Halifax Central Library, a very cool building built like a stack of books and great view of the harbour from the rooftop, EV charging too but we weren’t about to give up our parking spot for it. The old library, which stands empty a few blocks away, was built in 1951 and apparently sits on top of some of the adjacent cemetery, therefore can’t be demolished, so it just sits there empty, and has since the new one opened in 2014!
We took a fun city/harbour tour in the Harbour Hopper - downtown through the Citadel Hill, learned details about the explosion in Halifax Harbour in 1917 and the relationship borne between Halifax and Boston through that event and how it is still celebrated every year at Christmas when a tree is sent from Halifax to Boston, great tour all through downtown and the harbour. Also learned that Halifax dispatched the 1st ship to aid the Titanic (there was no ice in the harbour) and that it has the most bars per capital. Rachel and Matt were great guides and a lot of fun. Elspeth and I did a similar venture when we were at a Rotary District weekend in Seattle.
I have included a picture of a Royal Canadian Navy ship in the collage because it is flying a Pride flag, and they are flying at City Halls, libraries and even a few post offices across the country, but Mission wouldn’t fly it at our City Hall. If the Canadian military can fly the Pride flag I see no reason our small little town should be so weird about it!
Off to pick up my sweater from Tatters in the Maritime Museum District on the Waterfront and stopped in to visit Carrefore Atlantique Bookstore - and we hit a gold mine! The young woman, Allison (who I cannot find my picture of her anywhere!) was so keen and knowledgeable and gave us a long list of bookstores to visit in Cape Breton and Newfoundland, even a couple in Nova Scotia I think. She also toured us through Puffin Gallery and she knew something about every piece there! Both shops are owned by Michel Levassieur since 1994 showcasing Atlantic Canadian culture and art in all its multitudes. Michel is also a wealth of information, and like most bookstore owners we have met, does it for the love of the shop and all it holds.
When we talked about out trip and where we were from, Michel told us “I know Mission, I have a wife there!”
We left the city of Halifax quite overwhelmed and exhausted, so after a quick pose with Spiderman we headed back to Dartmouth, and again it poured!
Day 76 - We caught the 16 and under mens box lacrosse games at the Indigenous Games between Eastern Door and the North (Quebec First Nations and Inuit) vs Wisconsin, with EDN winning 20-4. It was awesome to watch but we couldn’t stick around for the BC Semi-finals later in the day because we’re charged up (free at nearby CAA) and ready to head to the coast to Cape Breton Island.
All this is important to know, because as we left Dartmouth it was starting to rain, and before long we were driving head strong into the storm that blasted Halifax, Bedford, Lunenburg and multiple other areas. It was the heaviest rainfall in the Halifax area since Hurricane Beth in 1971, dumping 3 months of rain in 24 hours. Manhole covers were blown off, roads were wiped out, people were on the roofs of their vehicles, power lines were down everywhere, St. Croix was evacuated because there was threat that the dam would burst and 4 people were missing. Our drive was next to impossible, visibility was zero at points and we had to pull over and stop, and all this on the heals of a devastating month of wild fires. (Tell that to the guy beside us in the ferry line up idling his big Ford F-150 XLT for 2 hours to keep his air conditioning running because ‘climate change’ has made it so damned hot!) Grrrrh, good thing Roger won’t let me get out and ‘have a word’ sometimes.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/widespread-rainfall-warnings-alerts-in-effect-1.6914299
Hwy 167/7 along the South Shore through Chezzetcook-Musquodoboit Harbour (try to fit that on a postcard!) and made a stop overlooking the ocean for Roger to have a MCSS meeting - nice office I must say
The folks at Sheet Harbour Information Centre were amazing, even phoned ahead and found some EV charging stations for us (a little range anxiety is beginning to set in) then on to Sherbrooke and beautiful Daysago B & B alongside the river.
Sherbrooke Village was established in 1867 and now the town is set up similar to our Barkerville in BC, with restored homes and businesses depicting life as it was. Sherbrooke was first settled by the French in 1650, then gold was discovered in 1861 and miners came from all over Canada to stake claims.
Day 77 - It’s pouring! We drove across the Causeway to Cape Breton Island - Wow! Just outside St. Peter’s at Chapel Island there is a compelling display on the roadside of Red Dresses, about 20 of them - very powerful and gave cause for pause and reflection. Especially on the heals of the blockade being taken down at the entrance to the Winnipeg landfill.
St. Peter’s has an EcoVillage started in 2019 by a couple who came from Germany 20 years ago. It is still in growing stages and we couldn’t get any information without an appointment, which we didn’t have time to do. Here’s the sign with a link if you want to check it out. We also wanted to tell them about the Heatherstone Village in Powell River where our friend Elke lives, and the one that Gerry P. is in the process of setting up in Maple Ridge.
The drive along Bras d’Or Lake on Hwy 4 is lovely - it is an inland saltwater lake in the centre of Cape Breton Island, has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. Nestled on Bras d’Or Lake is Big Pond, hometown of Rita MacNeil and I had really hoped to stop in and have tea at Rita’s Tea House but it is no more :( At the end of her shows she would always say “If you’re ever by Big Pond, stop by for tea”. RIP Rita
We stayed at At The Harbourfront in Sydney, NS and it was fantastic - and right across from the ferry terminal. Our hostess Heather was most accommodating, very kind, gave great tourist information, and a fantastic cook. And the room was wonderful. Great place to do some more blog work - it’s a lot, let me tell you! Hope you’re enjoying them though, because it really is a lot of fun and gives us a chance to look back on some great stuff.
Another big thunderstorm! The sidewalks were like rivers and the roads like lakes. Another news breaking weather event.
Day 78 - I know I said no more lighthouses, but you gotta see this one - it was the first lighthouse erected in Canada, the 2nd in North America. It’s on the Louisbourg point, and you can see by the pictures that it wasn’t the best of days, but beautiful.
Off to the Fortress of Louisbourg, and man did it rain! We thought we might lose our route back to Sydney because the road was washing out on the way in, but subsided. The Fortress was set up in 1719 by the French to support their fishery and protect the salt fish supply they sent back to France (Catholic country that did not eat meat on Fridays, during Lent or Passover). It went on to be a thriving port and trading centre, but eventually fell to the British in 1758 and the British demolished the fortress walls. The difference between a Fort and a Fortress is that the latter has women and children living there; the Acadians and Mi’kma’ki were the workers and lived inside the walls in camps. The fortress began to be recreated in the 1960’s and 80’s and provided much needed work for the coal miners when the mines shut down.
The Mi’kma Interpretive Centre at the Fortress was wonderful and I watched with interest as a young woman embroidered with porcupine quills. This is a sample:
The basket making is in jeopardy because of a beetle that is attacking the Black Ash that provides the bark for the weaving. A young man sang a few songs and they are very different, with more percussion, from the songs our aboriginal people in the west sing. He played a ji’kmaqn made out of black ash wood, played by tapping it against one’s hand or knee for some of the songs, and played the drum for others. As at home in BC, a lot of work is going into restoring the language and culture of the Mi’kma
We stopped at Kiju’s in Membertou (thanks Lynda) to try their traditional Mi’kma Four Cent Bread Skillet which I couldn’t have because the signature sauce was a cream cheese base! Dang.
Day 79 - off to downtown Sydney and the post office is closed! Nova Scotia is in a State of Emergency following the torrential rains and floods, including postal services. Canada Post never shuts down!
But we had a great visit with Alison at On Paper Books, and independent bookstore that also has some good quality used books, and music etc. by local artists. Alison opened during the COVID years, then forest fires, now road construction has torn up Charlotte Street in front of her shop.
The Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design and the Eltuek Arts Centre are well worth the visit, lots of wonderful and unique work done by some very talented people, and exhibited beautifully.
Down on the waterfront most of the little shops are closed - only open when the cruise ships come in, but we did get a couple of pictures -
Marconi Station - we visited the site where Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the 1st wireless message across the Atlantic from Table Head, Nova Scotia to Poldhu, England. It’s quite amazing to look out to the ocean for an uninterrupted view all the way to England! Pretty amazing, and I vow to explore more of BC’s West Coast because I’m sure we have some fascinating stuff there to explore.
Ponder point - I know of 3 Sydneys/Sidneys and all are by the sea: Sydney, NSW Australia, Sidney, BC and Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. What’s with the name Sydney/Sidney?
Cape Breton Miners Museum - in Glacé Bay, an amazing site paying tribute to the region’s long and rich history of coal mining. There is a lot of history there and so well recorded, including decisions made by mine owners to put profit over safety, and the strike of four successive years in 1922 where BESCO dropped the pay for the miners.
We did the simulation exhibit vs the ‘get right into the mine’ tour - a little awkward for someone of Roger’s height, and the other exhibits were great. But the take away your breath one was outside in the Miners Memorial Park, a tribute to the #26 Colliery Explosion, Feb. 24, 1979 killing 12 miners. Every lunch box surrounding the central statue bears the name of one of these men.
The museum is also home of the famous choir of miners - The Men of the Deeps. If you haven’t heard them, here is a YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYirgfhgqqrrsuBabNps32w?feature=gws_kp_artist&feature=gws_kp_artist
Drove right into a parade on the way back to North Sydney in Scotchtown celebrating The End of The Cold, a week long event that wraps up with a parade and fireworks. Sounds like a fun community - on their website they list such events as Sofa Sundays live performances, sales and any weddings that are happening in the community! And the diner had Festive Poutine - fries, turkey, stuffing, gravy and cheese!
And that pretty much wraps up Cape Breton Island and Nova Scotia folks.
3 islands behind us - Montreal Island, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island, and 1 to go - Newfoundland! Gee, if we had taken the Lougheed it would bring it up to 5 islands including Nicomen Island and Seabird Island!!
See Ya!
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