Last part of trip with brother Will and bride Pam – this is year 11 that we have traveled together!
The Island is bigger than expected and the claim to fame, Cabot Trail did not disappoint. We hit all the orange spots on the map, the guys just driving us girls around.
Word of caution, the roads here are the worse we have ever encountered. Poor Wanda got shaken up pretty badly and will need a good maintenance overhaul when done.
Sydney: not much going on in this town. You know it is a bust when the #1 attraction is the Big Fiddle.
Marconi Trail and Louisbourg Area
This period of 1730-1850 was French, then British, then French, then British. There certainly was a love-hate relationship here, with the British deporting the original settlers back to France, then same people came back 4 years later only to overruled again by the British (these are the Arcadians). Then there is the Scots and I cannot figure out how they escaped just under the wire.
Fort Louisbourg
The fort and the village inside was burnt to the ground by the British in the 1800’s (they did not want the French to have it); reconstructed in 1960’s. Docents were in period costume (this is a French cod fishing village and fort) and were bilingual. They were “stationed” in the various homes and of course knowledgeable about whose home/shop we were in and what went on there during that time.
Fresh rolls representing what the soldiers ate was being made as we toured – naturally we snagged a few, fresh churned butter, coffee was the morning snack!
Miners Museum: coal was big in Cape Breton in the 1800’s and the veins ran under the ocean. As the story goes, big business gets greedy, and buys up the mines then turns around and build housing for the miners which they rent back, have the only store in town which to buy groceries and clothing and even take a “tithing” from their paychecks for the church. In otherwards, they own the mines and the people who live there. We opted not to go down into the mine – it was the only sunny day we have had out of 12, so we did the museum inside and out.
BRAS D’OR (Arm of Gold)
Baddeck: very prominent Scottish influence in this area – of course, this is the place to go for biscuits, eh?
Baile nan Gaidheal (Highland Village)
Another recreation of a Scottish settlement with a twist. Instead of focusing on a certain period of time, say 1830, this was laid out so you walked “thru time” with each building representing a different period of time. Started with 1 room sod houses and ended with shingled 3 to 5 room houses, even the loft is now partitioned off into rooms. From primitive to lavish even had washing machines! All the buildings had people in period dress and they pretty much stayed in character. Brother Will lucked out again as one of the homes were baking up cinnamon rolls and we were invited in. Was a welcomed treat for us weary, wet (yes still raining) travelers. One of the pics is labeled the “mystery” – see if you can guess. Answer at end.
Cabot Trail – Canada’s Musical Coast
Everywhere you go in Cape Breton people tell you that you have to spend time on the Cabot Trail. What they did not tell us was the 12% grade to haul the rigs up! And they conveniently left out that this “trail” was paved about 20 years ago and has not been touched since. We left North Sydney and headed for Ingonish. A fairly sunny day and we were able to see the cliffs, lobster boats swirling around bringing up traps, picking out the lobsters, rebaiting and throwing them back in for another day. But I will say that road was so rutted that Ty, even though he is a destination driver, stopped at most of the pull outs just for a rest!
Ingonish – lucky to get into a Provincial Park at the last minute. The area is pristine beauty with the water, waterfalls, green (should be it has been raining almost everyday!). Toured the Alexander Graham Bell museum which the focus was on aeronautics, very little about the telephone. I was itching for a hike so the group followed me on a 3.5-mile trek around Warren Lake. Nice hike except for the mosquitos loved Pam’s eyes. By end of hike, it was apparent that her eyes would be swollen shut before nightfall.
Meat Cove – we were remiss not asking how this place got its name; it is located on the most northernly tip of Cape Breton. The ride up was spectacular with the sheer cliffs and ocean below. At the very tip of the island is a campground with the most spectacular views ever so far. We sat at a picnic table and feasted on our lunch.
Still no moose, no whales, no seals, a few eagles, lots of squirrels and birds that despite the rain are up first thing in the morning.
Cheticamp: Now we make the swing around the tippy top to get to the other side of the island – more hikes in store for us and maybe music? Yes indeedy!
Skyway Trail: if you are going to hike in Cape Breton Highlands National Park this is THE hike. Not hard at all to get to the Vista’s of the ocean BECAUSE it is downhill. Means it is a 2.5 trek back up. I hate hikes that are uphill going back, especially when it is hot. What you say? Hot. Yes it was. 80 degrees!
Salmon Pools hike – well we tried to hike this; sounded beautiful to walk up a stream see all the salmon spawning but not to be. Trail under construction.
Le Buttereau so instead we do this hike. Again the vistas. Along the path were the remains of 4 families who lived in this area in 1900. Can’t imagine that.
Kitchenfest – why it is called that? But we did hear some good fiddle playing to go along with the BIG Fiddle
Disaster Strikes Not Once But THREE times!
It is brother Will who has all the RV problems not us!
Pulled into last stop of trip, Inverness and disaster number 1 strikes. The landing legs (front legs of the RV) have failed and won’t come down all the way. Will and Ty take the gear all apart and discover the “worm screw”, whatever that is, is stripped.
Disaster Number Two: Now there is a process to setting up – I go inside get out chairs, then go outside and bring down the landing gear while Ty hooks up the water and electric. So we are doing that and because the landing gear is messed up that is where our focus is. Then Pam says – OMG there is water pouring out the back of your rig! I run inside and seems something in the sink bumped up (remember those roads I talked about?) and turned on the faucet and plugged up the drain. While we are doing the landing gear, the sink filled up and overflowed. Galloons of water. Thank heavens there is no carpet in the rig, just flooring.
AND Number Three….To top it off, the water pump has failed causing the water coming in from the city lines to fill up our holding tanks.
We call it a day, have cocktails, and watch the most beautiful sunset of the entire trip!
Sad thing is this IS the last night, as we need to cut it short and head back to Sydney to see if we can get the landing gear fixed.
Epilogue
We sadly said our good byes, hugs and kisses till next time and hooked up Wanda and headed to Sydney, calling 8 RV repair shops along the way. Only one would take a look see and tell us what they think the problem is, but no one can get us in until 2 weeks from now.
Guardian Angel
Sometimes things have a bright side and Ken was ours. We can’t unhook Wanda from the truck because of the landing gear won’t extend enough without failing and we need wood blocks to build it up. Ken, who was doing laundry with his wife – that is how I met him, listened to my woes and volunteered to take me to the lumber yard. And boy am I glad he did, not only because we would have had to haul Wanda but mainly Ken speaks lumber yard talked. Ken is a “long haul truck driver” , sweetest man you will ever meet, goes up to these gruff looking men and says “hey, you owe me $5.” These guys now look all confused, and Ken says “naw just messin’ with ya. eh?” Thank you Ken.
Did manage to secure a water pump which Ty installed. You Tube (gotta love that) shows this guy reaching into compartment, turning a few screws and replacing the pump. Easy peasy. Not so much for my guy. See pic. The pump is way in the back of garage, behind a panel and under a sink trap. Only 1 trip to hardware – that is a good thing.
Wednesday the 12th of July we board the Newfoundland Ferry minus Wanda for the last leg of our journey up in these parts. 3 more weeks of fun! But I hope the weather improves a little.
Mystery Item: It is a dog thread mill. They would put the dogs on the mill and they would walk or run and that is attached to the grinding wheel by a pulley system. Pretty ingenious.
Parker is already trained for this job!
Did you figure it out? Let me know!
Thanks for reading this!!! Comments welcomed.
My first thought was the mystery item was a primitive tread mill. But I thought for human exercise, not dogs.
You were on the right track!
I was so excited you were finally going to be able to go to those places in Canada and now I’m exhausted just reading about all the repairs you had to make, to say nothing of hiking 2.5 kilometers or miles uphill on the return portion of a hike. Makes me glad I have a home to stay home in. I’m also disappointed that you are experiencing so much rain. On my last trip to Alaska it rained every day and I found that quite depressing. The one day the sun shone most of the day was so much more fun. But you seem to be able to keep your spirits up, good for you.
All the repairs are just part of the Great Adventure just taking it in stride! As for the rain, have decided it is better than the heat and smoke cause at least we can get out and do stuff, but I agree it did get a little depressing. One thing is I bought a really nice rain jacket years ago and now I get to use it, every day! ha