Driving With The Boys: CAPE BRETON ISLAND

céad mile fáilte ("kad meel-a fall-sha") translates as "a hundred thousand welcomes" and that's what we found when we headed on to Cape Breton Island. The people are tremendous and very quick to welcome you into their world. To maintain the Gaelic roots of the people, the Provincial Government supports Gaelic educational programs. Bilingual roadsigns are posted in English and Gaelic in those parts of the province originally settled by Gaelic speakers versus those in other provinces which are posted in English and French.

We stayed in a beautiful campground in Baddeck and had a chance to visit some of the highlights of the Island. After settling in on August 22, we headed out to explore the world famous Cabot Trail on the 23rd.

The Cabot Trail loops around the northern tip of Cape Breton, 185 miles or 298 km long. The Cape Breton Highlands National Park lies along the Cabot Trail, most known for providing world class hiking. The big commercial draw to the trail is whale watching, visiting the museums and galleries and sampling some of the finest sea food in the world.

We stopped at several shops along the Trail including a leather shop where we saw a lot of the usual leather goods but the artist, John C. Roberts told us about one of his greatest thrills, that being he was commissioned to produce all the leather buckets for the Russell Crowe's movie "Master and Commander" so if you ever watch the movie, remember all the leather buckets you see on the ship were made on Cape Breton. We also stopped at a very eclectic clothing store, a pewter jewellery store full of gaelic stuff, a Scottish/Irish heraldry/tartan shop, a great chowder house and a few others.

The next day we heading up to the northern end of the Island and the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada. The Fortress was the largest reconstruction project every undertaken in North America. The original settlement was founded in 1713 by the French and developed over several decades into a major fishing centre responsible for exporting thousands of tonnes of cod to France and Europe every year. The Fort was besieged twice in the war with England and was finally destroyed in the 1760s. Actors are everywhere both military and civilian. It really is a portrayal of a thriving hub of French culture and living in the new world. We got to see real live rifle demonstrations as well as the noon blast of the big cannon on the battlements. Susan was especially interested/fascinated to watch the ladies making lace by hand - they use 20 to 40 bobbins at a time with a very fine thread and then use straight pins, placed in a pattern to weave and knot the thread into lace. We had a traditional lunch at the soldiers tavern which was pea soup (for Kerry) and fish soup (for Susan) which she found to be similar to a chowder but much thinner but tastier. We also went to the bakery where you could buy one of three types of bread. Soldier bread which was 80% rye and 20% wheat - very dry but very hearty (they got one a day to eat), Gentry bread which was a 50/50 mix of rye and wheat and then Royal bread which was pure white (marshmallow) type bread. This is the main gate:

The town's streets and actors,

That night on returning to Baddeck we attended the Baddeck Gathering Ceilidh. In modern usage a ceilidh (pronounced Kay Lee) is a traditional Gaelic social gathering and involves playing only Gaelic folk music and dancing. The evening was a huge success and we really enjoyed the music, the dancing and the atmosphere.

The next day we visited the summer home of Alexander Graham Bell (1845-1922) which is on Bras d'Or Lakes near Baddeck. There is a Parks Canada museum there which displays a lot of his artifacts, models, drawings, etc. Teaching deaf children to speak in order to talk to their parents was how he started out and then he expanded this to developing the telephone so we could all talk to each other. He then went on to research transmitting sound on sunlight, creating man-carrying kites, airplanes and a marine record-setting hydrofoil boat. It really was truly fascinating to read about his work, his ideas and then see how he developed them into real every day life.

Afterward we headed out to Mabou where we visited the Glenora Distillery. Their product, Glen Breton Rare Canadian Single Malt Whisky is the only single malt whisky produced in Canada. We had a great tour along with a few tastings and then off to lunch in the restaurant where a Ceilidh was happening. So, with a few Air do dheagh shlamtel! (To your excellent health) we enjoyed our visit. All the water used to make the whisky comes from one small creek on the property and is made entirely on site.