Beautiful Cape Breton and the Fortress of Louisbourg

Monday, June 17, 2013

After ordering my electric assist motor and leaving my bike in the capable hands of Paul, the owner of Cyclesmith in Halifax, we left town by late afternoon on Thursday and drove north and across Nova Scotia. Just before Truro and the turn east, we camped for the night at Scotia Pines Campground. Friday morning we headed for Cape Breton. We are due back in Halifax on Thursday or Friday, so we decided to see the central and eastern parts of Cape Breton Island and come back later for the west and the Cabot Trail. It was beautiful to see the spruce forests and the change from flat coastal areas to hills and small mountains as we drove north. As we crossed the causeway to the island, the rain started again... We took the direct route up the Canadian Highway to the bottom edge of the Cabot Trail and the Cabot Trail Campground just outside of Baddeck.

We've both been nursing minor colds the last few days, so we spent the rest of Friday relaxing around the RV. Saturday morning the skies cleared, again...and we drove into Baddeck to see the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Nicely done museum with replicas of the plane and the first hydrofoil boat he created with a team he and his wife assembled. The plane was used for the first manned flight in Canada. The hydrofoil was way ahead of its time and wasn't adopted for use until long after his death. Of course, the museum explored his invention of the telephone as well.

Alexander Graham Bell Museum

View from museum

Reconstructions of early airplane and hydrofoil

Museum gardens

With the afternoon left to explore, we wanted to get a taste of the Bras D'Or Lakes, so we did a driving circuit around part of them. Combined, They form the largest saltwater lake in the world with small outlets at the north and south ends. There's very little development of the shores. The area is primarily influenced by the cultures of the indigenous Mi'kmaq, the Scottish (Gaelic) people, and the Acadians. Gaelic and Acadian French are still spoken in some areas. Lovely drive. We took a small ferry across the last stretch of lake and drove back to the campground.

Saint Anne's Bay at Englishtown, looking at the Cabot Trail

Great Bras D'Or Bridge

Light near bridge

Ferry at St. Patrick's Channel

Sunday morning dawned with a clear sky! I sound incredulous about blue skies, but we have found that the weather forecast changes almost by the hour. The last month here has been so rainy that Halifax is about to break a record. It didn't take long for us to stow and go! We retraced some of our travels from the day before, but when we got to North Sydney, almost as far north as we could go, we took a few kilometer detour to check out the Newfoundland Ferry dock. We have reservations for July 10. The day was so beautiful that we almost scrapped our plans and tried to board then instead. We watched it load, and hoped for good weather when we cross!

BIG ferry that we will take to Newfoundland in July

Frolicking wildlife in North Sydney Harbor

The town of Louisbourg and the national historic site of the Fortress of Louisbourg was our next destination. The Fortress of Louisbourg is the largest historical reproduction of its kind in North America. Since we knew that rain was coming in again the next day we quickly checked into the town's waterfront RV park and had a lunch. The fortress is only a few miles away, so a short drive took us there. This is still considered shoulder season here, so we were able to park right at the site, instead of having to take a shuttle from a farther away parking lot.



We just missed the English speaking tour, so we decided to wander about on our own, and go back for the tour the next day. Our year long Parks Canada Pass gets us in for free, so it makes it economical to go back again the next day. A lot of the buildings are closed until July 1 when the park is considered open for the tourist season, but we were still able to see a lot.

View of Fortress from across harbor

Rocky shore outside walls

Model ship in Fortress Chapel window

Governors Wing and Barracks

View of Historic town from Fortress Wall with modern day Louisbourg across the bay

Moat filled from tidal gates

Draw Bridge over Moat

Historically accurate lawn maintenance

We came back to town and walked over to the Grubstake Restaurant to take advantage of their Father's Day special. Greg got to have mussels for his appetizer and local haddock. (Sorry, forgot the photo!) About midnight we heard the rain on the roof, again...Guess the rain doesn't stop the lobstermen. Their boats were all out early from the dock next to our campsite. After checking the weather radar we decided to go back to Louisbourg for the 11 am tour. The rain was supposed to stop before noon, so we hoped to luck out. We joined our tour guide, who was dressed in rain clothes instead of her costume, and spent most of the tour ducking into storehouses to stay dry. Her talk put together the missing pieces from our random walking around the day before.

Our campsite next to the lobster boat pier

Grubstake restaurant

Historically Accurate weather

Frederic Gate where visiting ships were welcomed

Our tourguide with pragmatic rain gear rather than period costume

Afterwards we walked past the guardhouse for the entrance to the Fortress and the governor's quarters. We noticed that a fire had been built inside and stopped in to warm ourselves. We ran into the costumed soldier we spoke with briefly the day before. What an interesting history lesson we received! Using our map he gave us a detailed description of the fortress, the battlements, the military chapel, and the story of the two sieges by the British. He tied it all in with the regional history, and talked about the people living there during the time it was occupied. He told us a bit about himself. He is also a many generation Acadian, like our guide at Port Royal, and since he started working there found out his seventh Grandfather owned one of the houses in the restored town. He is from Cheticamp, the Acadian village on the west side of Cape Breton. When we were finished sharing, he gave me a card with his names. Pierre La Joie is his 1744 name, and Re'al Beaudry is his 2013 name. I gave him a card with the blog address on it and told him to look for his photo on it! Hope you are reading this! Merci, again for the great history lesson!

Pierre La Joie

We walked back into the restored village area and entered the restaurant. The Park runs it in a tavern and serves a menu typical for this 18^th century colony. Greg had fish soup and I had pea soup, both with bread. Cups of coffee and tea made it a meal. The tavern was cold, but the health department doesn't allow fires to be built in the fireplace. Our waitress was chatty and we learned that most of the people working there are bi-lingual. We did hear a lot of French being spoken by the staff and visitors. Everyone is greeted with, “Hello, bonjour!”

Lunch!

As we wandered toward the parking lot, we stopped to check out the vegetable and herb gardens. A gardener came over, not in costume, but in brown coveralls, and asked if we had any questions. That turned into another fun discussion as we quizzed him on the identity of the herbs and vegetables that had wintered over, and his plans to plant heirloom vegetables once the rain stopped. We got into a discussion about gardening in his climate and reproducing an 18^th century French garden. As experienced gardeners we had something to contribute to the discussion. He shared some garlic seeds from last year's garlic with us. As the fog swirled around us, we had a discussion of the on-going upkeep of the building and grounds and the effects of the climate on them. The fortress and village, whose reproduction was started in the 60's, have now been in existence longer than the actual town was in the 1700's. As fences and roofs are replaced, they may look historically accurate, but they are using treated lumber, and waterproof underlayment on the roofs to help them last longer.

Hard to grasp that the growing season Starts in July here

 As we walked back to the rig we reflected on how great it is to have the time to have these discussions. We don't have to be in a hurry to get to the next place. What an interesting day we had talking with people who are passionate about what they do! Tomorrow we will stay another night. The RV park gave us a third night free, so we will take advantage of the local laundromat and catch up with a few other chores before heading back towards Halifax.

Lobster boats in the fog next to campsite