Our neighbor, Donny, the lobster guy from New Brunswick,
told us that people on Prince Edward Island kept things neat and tidy, and that
Nova Scotia was hardly worth visiting.
He was half right. PEI is
on the other side of an eight mile bridge which we could see from our
campground. Not a scary drive
because it was low and because the cement railings were high.
The island is a bit off the beaten path and is full of prosperous looking dairy and potato farms. Rolling country like Clayton County, with red soil and pretty seascapes. The farms all seemed to have very new-looking, nice houses. They are famous for their potatoes, so we bought some from a roadside stand.
The northern shore is Anne of Green Gables country, with all of the tourist trap shops appurtenant thereto. Maybe the best part of the day was a bowl of Cows ice cream, which next to Millers, might be the best I’ve ever had.
The next day we were off to Nova Scotia, and drove all
the way across the province to the town of Baddeck, where we have camped on the
shores of Lake Bras d'Or (arm of
gold) for four nights. The town is
on the southern end of the Cabot Trail, which was the big draw for us, but it
has turned out to be a delightful, beautiful place to spend some time.
 |
| Harbor at Baddeck Cape Breton Nova Scotia.
The first full day we cruised for a couple of hours on the
Amoeba, a two-masted schooner built by the current owner’s father over 10
years and launched in 1977. The
son, John, has been sailing it for over 25 years now and spends summers here with every other winter in Antigua.
We arrived early enough to chat for a while with another couple, who
were from Scotland, and had a very interesting opinion on the vote for
independence. (The results were
not available before press time.)
|
 |
| Sailed on Lake Bras d'Or. |
Just then a bus arrived from a cruise ship, and we were
joined by about 20 other folks, including a couple from Ankeny bedecked in
Iowa State gear. The cruise was
delightful and included a close up look at the estate of Alexander Graham
Bell, who spent a great deal of time here working on plans for the first
Canadian airplane and the hydrofoil boat that set a world speed record. We went to the Bell museum today and
were very impressed, both with the man and the museum. Meanwhile, back on the schooner, the
captain would periodically wave his copy of Sailing for Dummies and ask us
how to spell some nautical term, so he could look it up.
The day ended with a musical show, called a Ceilidhs
(kaylee), which celebrated the Celtic origins of the province. It’s an old Scottish custom of people
getting together to play music and sing, primarily with fiddles, but lots of
other strings flutes, and whatever.
This one was very polished and quite a production, but most are just
people getting together to jam and enjoy celtic music. We tried to attend another, smaller,
more local performance tonight, but there was a SOLD OUT sign on the door when
we arrived.
 |
Our sailing sloop.     |
No comments:
Post a Comment