New Brunswick to Cheticamp Nova Scotia

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Nova Scotia, we still are not sure when we were here last. We were tenting and staying in B & B’s. The car was my Jeep and it had a car phone, some time after ’94 but not much after. We crossed from New Brunswick with the thought of going straight through to Cheticamp, the western entrance to Cape Breton National Highlands Park where Cheticamp Campground was to be our initial base of touring. The advisor at the Visitor Center said it was another 7 hours, and we had already been on the road for 4 hours. We reset our sights for Thursday night on Pictou, another 2 hours up the road. We found our way to Harbour Light Campground just outside of town. The facilities were complete and the WiFi was mostly high speed. The place was “comfortable” not particularly neat but well kept. The entrance was scary, sort of like falling off a cliff as we came off the highway. Once we leveled out it was fine. Getting out was easier.

We toured Pictou and remembered touring it on our first trip and not being particularly impressed. It is a fishing town and its big claim to tourist fame is the PEI Ferry landing. After walking the waterfront and visiting a couple of galleries we stopped to share a kiddy size Wild Blueberry Ice Cream dish. That was indeed the highlight of the day. We returned to Gee 2 for dinner and our various projects. We befriended the RVers on either side of us. One couple was celebrating their 50th Anniversary and the others were of similar or somewhat younger vintage. They were both full timers, having no home but there very nice 40 foot Diesel Pushers. We parted in the morning headed our individual directions Cape Breton. I expect we may run into them out here, although they are working around from the Baddeck side first.

It started to rain lightly as we drove and continued to do so on and off most of the way. As we finished setting up in the drizzle I put up the awning to provide us some dry space outdoors, but the wind kicked up so I stowed the awning and it really started to rain hard as I closed the door. We decided to sit tight. Have dinner on board and get some projects completed. We had a lot of phone calls all day starting with an early call from Yechiel to say that he had resubmitted his paper for publication on deadline just minutes before. We looked a the clock and realized it was 6:15 AM in LA where he lives and he had been up all night finishing the rewrite. Ten hours later he called to say the publisher had accepted it as is (a bit too long) for publication. We all will sleep better tonight. He needs to have this in line to be published for his tenure review.

The trip continues to be enjoyable, the views are glorious and the people friendly. I am sorry to disappoint those who are used to the “Perils of Paul(ine)” in these journals, but we are getting better at it and the coach is well broken in and behaving fine. How’s that for putting the evil eye on myself?

It is Sunday evening as I write. It has rained on and off for the past two days while we have been here. Yesterday we went to the laundromat for some excitement and clean clothes. Most of the people in the Cheticamp Laundromat were tourists. We all got talking and we somehow got talking the most to Roberta and Isaac Hantman. We parted after agreeing not to go to lunch together. We met again at the Coop Food Market and we invited them back to the coach to eat their lunch and continue talking. We got to the coach and the gnats and other small flying things were so pervasive we could not stand outside. As such things seem to happen we took a nice long hike from the coach away from the insects up to some salmon pools (fishing sites) and continued talking.

On the way back they said there was a French Arcadian Music Review they were planning on going to. Carol and I thought that was a capital idea and agreed to join them for dinner before the review. As we waited for the show to start, it became clear that the four of us might well be the only non French speakers in the arena. The entire review with a couple of minor exceptions was in French. Fortunately most of the action was broad and clear Gisele the husband could not be bothered with the music and dancing in his living room. How he was able to avoid foot tapping, or other reaction to the very lively music and step dancing I will never know. He even participated in two square dances, without missing a beat or a turn while appearing to be totally disinterested. That was the action, the rest was great music, dancing and singing. A special guest fiddler showed up and performed at the intermission. How he was able to get the music he did out of his electrified fiddle with his clearly self taught approach I will never know. He clenched the neck in his left hand in a manner that did not permit him to move up the neck and he held the bow several inches up from the frog. The fiddle was perpendicular to the ground and the bow seemed to go up and down. It was a painful sight, but the sound was grand.

After the review was over and the bows were taken, the fiddler came back on stage and began to perform again. The cast began to reappear in street clothes and took turns step dancing to the music for the fun of it. It was a sight to see them dancing in thong sandals and sneakers, but it did not seem to limit them in the least. During the performance we were seated in front of the hostess of the B and B where the Hantmans were staying. After the show she invited us to join them for breakfast as her guest. We accepted with alacrity. The breakfast was delightful, French toast with home made syrop (French spelling). We parted from the Hantmans once again and set off to pack up lunch and get out on the trail. We took our time making several stops along the way until we came to Skyline trail head. This was promised to be at 2 to 3 hour hike. We took three and a half hours, but that included a a couple of stops to stare at a moose and her calf alongside the trail and other stops, especially at the headland where a boardwalk has been built to protect the environment. This overlooks the road and the Gulf of St Lawrence. While there we had another unplanned stop as we ran into the Hantmans again, they were returning from the headland as we were still on our way out. We parted, again. It was worth the trek and then some. We took the back trail of the loop which was much less well manicured than the trail out. This took a bit longer as the trail was rough and muddy in places not to mention 50% longer. We are moving to Baddeck tomorrow. I hope we will have internet service so I can post this, otherwise it will just keep getting longer.

We have not made plans for the Labor Day weekend (or is that Labour Day up here in Canada). We may end up dry camping whether we chose or not.