Day 38: StanFest III
Well, I think you know the drill - get up and go hear great music.
Well, I heard some Dan McKinnon, Lucy Idlout (from Nunavut), Dahmnait
Doyle and more Oh Susanna. The fog started to roll in after the concert
with Fubuki Daiko (Japanese drummers from Winnipeg) and stayed most of the
night. It added a bit of water to the cold for the night's concert
but it was still pretty good. I stayed for Dahmnait Doyle and the Holmes
Brothers (blues) but I could only handle a few lines from George Fox (no
offense to any fans) before I had to head out. I was lucky enough to
have a nice hill between me and the concert so I didn't even hear the odd
twang coming across. Since I cut the evening a bit short I was dozing
off by 1:30am.
Day 39: Moving on
Somewhat rested but still a little
tired from the weekend, I packed up my tent and bade my hosts farewell as
I travelled on. I stopped in at a trail in Little Dover called the
Black Duck trail and enjoyed the views of the waves. The trail was
a bit far from the water so I ventured out on the rocks to get a few more
dramatic pictures. There was a network of boardwalks that the local
trail association had spent considerable effort in constructing but Mother
Nature must have felt the need to play with them over the winter because
they were in considerable disarray.
I decided not to travel too far so I set out to find a site at the
Seabreeze Campground in nearby Fox Island. I set myself up on site 7 and
then headed back to Canso for some Fish and Chips. I took a nap and
then picked up a few groceries before heading back to the camp. I made
up a bit of dinner and enjoyed the sunset before settling in my car to listen
to a few CDs and doing some writing and then went to bed.
Day 40: Cape Breton Ho!
I got up and packed my gear and
headed off toward Cape Breton. I stopped to see the Queensport and
Eddy Point lighthouses before making my way across the Canso Strait to Cape
Breton. I headed into Port Hawksbury and found a DQ for some dessert
- oh, and some lunch, too.
I was ready for another C@P site and I discovered that the local one
was across the street so I stopped in. After checking email, I tried
to connect to the internet with my computer. My password didn't work
but a temporary one did so I updated my web site for all my loyal readers
(I know you're out there).
I headed off to the Isle Madame in search of a campsite but there
was none to be found. I tried a B&B but I couldn't get through
to anyone so I headed on. On the scenery side, I stopped at a few beaches
and wharves trying to get a good view of the ocean so I could look for whales
but I didn't have any luck. I stopped at the Lennox Passage PP and
to see the lighthouse then made my way to St. Peters I found a campground
but they weren't open to tenters so I decided to find a bed at one of the
local motels.
Once registered, I headed out for a burger and then scouted for a
place to watch the sunset. I ended up at the Battery PP and tried to
make the best of a cloudy sunset before heading back to my room. I
didn't have a phone so I couldn't connect to the internet so I settled for
the TV for a bit before nodding off.
Day 41
With less to pack, I was on the
road fairly early and headed off. I stopped at the Battery PP to take
a few shots of the lighthouse before heading out of town. I found a
trail on the internet that passes a lake just outside of town that indicated
it was good for mountain biking so I headed off on two wheels to check it
out. I almost found the right road but it soon was overgrown with young
trees and I was reduced to walking. I found the lake and realized I
had actually found one of the side trails. I made a half-hearted attempt
to find the right trail but since I suspected the trail wouldn't be very
passable I soon gave up and headed back to the car.
I drove down toward the coast and stopped at the Michaud Beach PP
for a bit. The waves weren't that exciting so I headed along some twisty
dirt roads for a bit before rejoining the highway. I scanned the map
for some interesting sights but the lighthouse views weren't that good so
I headed off to my next hike. There's a nice coastal hike at the edge
of Gabarus that I decided to head out on. The trail is mostly an ATV
path so the going was pretty easy. Once I got to the end, I decided
to make my way back along the rocky shore itself. It took a bit longer
but was much more enjoyable.
After
cooling down for a bit, I headed on to Louisbourg. I found a nice
inexpensive spot right on the harbour and set up on site 39 amongst the Boy
Scouts that were in for a day. With my tent up, I headed off for the
C@P site since there wasn't any phone jack available. Back at the site,
I made some steak and pasta and then decided to drive around the harbour
to get a better look at the sunset. It was quite nice but I headed
back to the site too soon since I noticed a few nice reds and oranges over
the buildings from my campsite.
I decided to call Sympatico support just for kicks and found out that
nothing has been done yet. I made a reservation for the ferry to
Newfoundland then headed to bed.
Day 42: Rain, rain, go away!
I heard some rain a few times before getting up in it for a wet day.
I headed off to the Louisbourg Fortress and put on my rain coat and
hat - hoping that I would stay dry. Once on the site, I realized that
I wouldn't stay dry for long since the rain was coming down sideways with
the wind and my jeans were soon soaked through. I wandered for a bit
and then joined a walking tour to get some of the highlights. After
the tour, I hit a few more buildings and then headed back to the car. I
changed into dry clothes and then headed down to the beach where the English
landed to watch the waves. You couldn't drive too close to the beach
and it was still raining so I watched for a bit from the car and then headed
back to the campsite.
I was only going to stop for a bit before heading off to the C@P site
but upon arriving I noticed that my tent wasn't where it was supposed to
be. As I approached, I found out that the wind had blown my tent upside
down. I righted it and feared to look inside. To my dissappointment,
my sleeping bag and pillow were soaked as were the tent and my air mattress.
I headed to the C@P site anyway and then decided to move to a dry bed
for the night.
I was able to get a refund on the second night at the campground and
headed to the Fortress Inn. I started to set up my sleeping bag to
air out but I realized I would need a bit more so I headed off in search
of a laundromat. The main one for the town was packed so I headed to
the other RV site in town and asked if I could use theirs. Three cycles
later, most of the sleeping bag was dry so I headed back to the motel and
set out everything else to dry as much as it could. I went out to dinner
(nice salmon) and then on to the Louisbourg Playhouse to hear the Spirit
of the Island '01 musical program. It had one of the performers from
StanFest and was packed with laughs and good music. The father of the
young fiddler was sitting next to us and took every opportunity to snap a
picture whenever she looked his way.
Back at the motel, I tried to connect to the internet a few times
but gave up and went to bed.
Day 43: Back to the Trails
With clearer skies above I set
off for some more hiking. I decided to stop at the Louisbourg Light
(the original was the first one in Canada) to snap a few pictures since the
day before wasn't that good. There's a hike along the rocks to another
British landing site but I decided to head on to the next hike instead.
I drove out of town and stopped soon after at Little Lorraine on a
small inlet. There's a 13km hike that starts in nearby Main-a-Dieu,
circles the actual Cape Breton and ends at Little Lorraine. I
decided to load up my pack and bike and cycle to Main-a-Dieu and then hike
back along the coast. The trail was relatively easy to spot most of
the time and when it wasn't, you just follow the shore for a while until
you see it again. I've decided on a new strategy when dealing with
coastal hikes - especially those hiked after a good rain - 'When faced with
the choice of shore vs inland - choose coast'. On a few occasions I
decided to hike inland as a bit of a short cut. The first time I ended
up in a bog trying not to get stuck and the second I ended up bushwhacking
just to get back to the shore. Aside from that, I got to see a few
lobster fisherman close up and a couple of seals (although one was dead on
the shore) and an eagle. The trip took longer than I expected so either
the trail was longer than posted or I've been on very easy trails the last
while.
Once I
got back to the car, I cooled down a bit and then went and picked up my bike
in Main-a-Dieu. From there, I travelled on to Glace Bay. I was
on the lookout for a campground near New Waterford but after an hour of looking
(and some dinner at KFC) I tried calling only to discover that they're closed
for the season. I got similar stories at a few B&B's so I gave
up and headed to another motel for the night. The one benefit was that
I was able to connect to the internet again so I could upload an update,
check email and download some trail information for Newfoundland.
Day 44
With another cushy night's sleep behind me, I packed up and headed
to the Miner's Museum in Glace Bay. I arrived just in time for a tour
of a portion of an underground coal mine. The ceiling dropped to about
5 feet so I was stooping and crouching a lot. It was quite interesting
since they had a compressed air drill operating for us to try. After
the tour of an old style mine, we took a virtual tour of a current coal mine.
The level of automation is considerably different as is the efficiency.
After the tours, I wandered through the exhibits and watched a video
before heading on.
Next stop was a National Historic Site on the site of Marconi's first
transmission of a message over the Atlantic. All that's left are a
few concrete foundations but the towers looked quite impressive. A
full scale remake would be neat but not very likely. I'm looking forward
to seeing the site in Signal Hill in Newfoundland on my travels.
With the sights behind me, I headed off to Sydney. I toured
downtown and then hit a grocery store. I decided to stay in Sydney
for the night and then head around to the ferry in the morning. I
registered at the Royal Hotel on the waterfront and then headed off to catch
a movie. I stopped at KFC (yeah, again) and then went to see AI. It
was a little different than advertised but more like Kubrick (although I
didn't really see his name in the end credits).
Back at the motel, I prepared a bit of computer stuff and then connected
to the internet with the owner's phone line before doing some writing and
heading to bed.
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