Baddeck, Canada

Inverness, Canada

Mabou, Canada

Judique, Canada

Baddeck, Canada

Lesson learned today – how to change the propane tank.

Last night, it started to rain at about 10 pm and was rainy and windy right through the night and got down to about 8 degrees. At about 4 am I heard the heater fan come on, as it does to get the air circulating and then the click of the ignitor and then nothing except the fan. And then after a few seconds the fan went off. Yup, out of propane. Fortunately it stayed relatively warm in the trailer and as long as I was under my summer duvet I was fine. I knew the office would exchange my propane tank but the office didn’t open til 9 am. So, it was a good excuse to stay in bed for a while this morning.

I hadn’t changed the tank before and I struggled a little with the wing nuts holding the straps that hold the propane tank on the hitch, but with the help of my pliers, I managed to get the straps off and the tank over to the office. Didn’t take me long at all to get the tank changed out.

The rain kept up and the wind came and went all day, gusting quite high at times. I was glad not to be on the road today.

The day was spent in coffee shops, a couple of gift shops, reading and watching netflix. Fortunately the forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday is good, as I have a couple of more places I want to get to on the west side of the island before leaving for PEI on Friday.

Louisbourg, Canada

Today I was off to the Fortress of Louisbourg. But before I get there, let me do some housekeeping.

First of all, thank you so much to friend Allen who did some research into Puffins and discovered this great website that has a link to a live webcam in a puffin burrow! So you can watch the little guys minding the nests and presumably once the egg is hatched you’ll see Mom and Dad feeding the little one.

http://explore.org/live-cams/player/puf fin-burrow-cam

Secondly, the black and white sea bird that kind of looks and acts somewhat like a penguin from the pictures at Bird Islands yesterday is a Razorbill.

OK, now on to the Fort. In the 1960’s when many of the coal mines were shutting down in Cape Breton, the federal government decided to do a reconstruction of the Fortress to use as a re-training centre for the building trades. They have reconstructed approx. 1/4 of the site of the 18th century fort on the foundations of the original site. The Fortress of Louisbourg was one of the busiest ports on the eastern seaboard at the time it was in full swing and the location was primarily chosen because the French needed access to the important cod fishery. It is a good natural harbour which stays mostly open during the winter, and it was strategically important because of it positions near the entrance to the St Lawrence.

This is my second trip to the Fortress of Louisbourg and this visit was different that the last. It’s still considered “shoulder season” in much of Cape Breton, with the full tourist season not in full swing until July 1st. Travelling in the shoulder means less crowds and more ease of accommodation but it also means the weather might not be so great, and the programming at some of the museums, etc is not yet in full swing.

This is the case at the Fortress of Louisbourg. They are opening more buildings every day but they are not yet all open with period costumed interpreters in them as was the case when I was last here. However, they are running some shoulder programs and I participated in two today.

The first was called Time Traveller and we were taken to three different locations to have the life of the inhabitants explained to us in the first person by the interpreters. One was a soldier, the second the mother-in-law of an officer and the third was one of the women from the town outside the fort who worked in the Tavern. I learn better with verbal instruction and so listening to their stories helped me imagine life in the fort in 1744.

The second program was a tour of the main street along with an overview of the history of the fort and the context of this fort in the overall history of New France and the struggles with the British. I’m not going to go in to the history here, but suffice is to say, the French and British fought, the British won, the fort went back to the French in a treaty, then they fought again, the British won again, then the British blew up the fort so it wouldn’t be used any longer.

Afterward I had a delightful lunch in the “inn” and the menu was fashioned after what would have been served in the 1740’s. The only utensil used then was a spoon, the only china was a rough tea cup, and the rest of the dishes were pewter. Pea soup and beef stew were on the menu today along with bread they bake on site as well. (Bread was an important part of the solder’s rations.)

I happily spent from 10 – 4 pm at the Fort and although it was not a warm or bright day, the rain held off until I was on my way back to my cozy trailer.

P.S. The location of the Fortress is not coming up correctly so I’ve used the town of Louisbourg instead The historic site is further south than the town.

Sydney, Canada

Baddeck, Canada

Englishtown, Canada

Twice before on trips to Atlantic Canada I’ve tried to go on excursions to see Atlantic Puffins. Once was on a trip to St. John’s, NFLD and the other was on Grand Manan Island in SW New Brunswick. Both times I was scuttled by poor weather.

The best opportunity to get up close and personal with these cuties is at Grand Manan where you are actually able to get off the tour boat onto a small island where they come once a year to nest, and from blinds and in a very controlled environment you can get within feet of them. I was on the list for 3 days in a row and wasn’t able to get out on any of those days due to heavy swells.

However, today, just outside of Saint Ann’s Bay, off the coast of Cape Breton Island, I was finally able to see these adorable sea birds in person. I went with Donalda’s Tours departing from the government wharf at Englishtown. Donalda and her husband have been lobster fishers for 30+ years and 15 or so years ago they started doing these bird island tours as well. Their typical day starts with a 3:10 am alarm to get out to check on their lobster traps, re-bait them, get the catch back to the wharf and weighed and sorted as per their outstanding orders. All this before their first puffin run at 10:30 am. And our 1:30 tour came in at 4:30p. That is their routine 6 days out of 7 for the two months of lobster season. Not for the faint hearted.

As you’ll see from the pictures, even using a 175mm telephoto lens, you can just barely make out the markings of the puffins. We couldn’t get too close to the islands, both because of conservation efforts and because of the lobster pots around the islands. If you google Atlantic Puffins you’ll see why I am so enamoured by these little guys.

Of course we saw many more sea birds than just puffins, as well as gray seals, eagles and just as we were coming back we got the added bonus of seeing a mink whale. I didn’t get any pictures as it was totally unexpected.

Also unexpected was the eagle picking up a fish about 5 feet from my window. I managed to get a picture of it on my iPhone because I was checking my emails as we were headed back to the harbour. Someone alerted us to the eagle and so I looked up in time to see it coming and got the picture. In the right place at the right time.

After the tour out to the bird islands, I stopped in Baddeck for dinner at the Bell-Buoy Restaurant overlooking the Baddeck harbour. Attached is a video of the view from my seat and the entertainment provided all evening. Music is such a huge part of the Cape Breton culture.

All in all, another excellent Cape Breton day.

I’m starting to understand why the tourism folks current catch phrase is “Your heart will never leave.”

PS I’m so glad to hear from so many of you who are remembering their trips to this part of the world and re-living it through my blog. If you’ve been here or to Prince Edward Island and have suggestions for me to check out something you did and enjoyed, please, please let me know. I have no set agenda and happy to receive advice!

Baddeck, Canada