JAMES: Had to get an early start today. We are on our way to Cape Breton Highlands PP to hike the Skyline Trail. Apparently the Skyline Trail is super famous, so famous that parking has become limited and you have to reserve a space before you arrive.
Our parking reservation was for 9 am and we have a 90-minute drive to get there. The park is on the northern tip of the peninsula. It was a scenic drive on winding, wooded highway up through the low mountains and across the valleys. We got there as soon as the visitor center was opening. We got our bearings and drove to the Skyline Trailhead. The only caveat: the park ranger informed us that the Skyline Trail was closing at noon today due to high winds. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant or what the danger might be but we knew that we had better get going. We found the lot and set out.
SUSAN: Rain of course the day we planned to hike the Skyline trail...the drive north had no sun but the colors on the trees were really enhanced by the muted sky. Driving up to Skyline from visitor center there was significant road construction which slowed us down even more…we had to wait for lead car. But when driving the highway, the road hugs the side of the mountain to the sheer drop to water along with beautiful leaves. It was so breathtaking.
JAMES: There were moose warning signs everywhere. The bull moose are in rut and aggressive at this time of year. Of course all that does is make us more eager to see one. It’s a fairly flat, hard surfaced trail so walking was pretty easy.
JAMES: The walk is a loop and at the farthest point out on the trail there is a boardwalk that extends another 1/2 mile, affording great vistas of the ocean. The only problem was, the winds picked up and were blowing fiercely. At one point I got blown off of the boardwalk. They had a rope for a hand rail for safety. We walked about halfway to the end and had to turn back. It was literally too risky to continue.
SUSAN: The hike was really quite flat and easy with a very gradual up but the wind made it hard! They told us in the visitor center that they are closing the park today at Noon due to the high winds. At the scenic overlook it was treacherous! The wind was so crazy and a guy coming up the walk growled at me “Hang on to your glasses!” I guess his wife had her glasses blow off her face! Because of the wind we didn’t even go to the end. Once back up (still windy) there is an option to do a loop that was 5 to 6 miles.
John, Christine and I opted to just go back the way we came, Jim opted for the loop. The hike back did go faster but it was still challenging due to the wind. We saw a spruce grouse on the trail which didn’t seem afraid of us an stayed put as we approached. Another interesting point on the trail is the exclosure they have created to save the trees from being damaged by moose. So they have it enclosed to keep the moose out. Much to Jim’s disappointment we did not see a moose. Once back at the car we waited for Jim about 20 minutes for him to arrive
JAMES: On the full loop I had some nice scenic vistas but it was so windy that I had to put up the hood of my raincoat to keep my hat from blowing away. I walked about another hour and looped back to the car. While I was walking, a young park ranger came by riding an off road bike looking to get hikers off the trail so that they could close it.
SUSAN: We drove further into the Cape Breton highlands to a few scenic overlooks. The scenery was so gorgeous— even though it was void of sun. We turned around near Pleasant Bay and headed back toward Chéticamp for lunch.
JAMES: We drove on and stopped at a couple of other scenic vistas. But by now rain started falling, mixing with the strong winds to make it pretty miserable outside. We decided to find lunch. When we had visited Louisbourg Fort on Monday, one of the guides, who grew up in Chéticamp (close to where we were), had recommended a restaurant for lunch called the Fish Stop. It was a solid recommendation. I had the daily special- fresh pan fried sole with sweet potato fries and coleslaw. The plate came with four filets and a mountain of fries. I ate it all! John ordered a local favorite for dessert, blueberry cake with homemade caramel sauce. Whoa! Our waitress was a local with an intriguing Acadian accent. She was fun to talk to. She told us about Acadian cooking which could be summarized as having no spices or exotic ingredients. I asked her why then do the Cajuns in Louisiana have extra spicy food. Did they leave Cape Breton in search of flavor?
Susan: When we got to the restaurant found out it was actually Seafood Stop. I got an Arnold Palmer and they put sugar around the rim of the glass like a margarita— seemed strange to me and it was way too sweet!
We drove the hour and a half drive back to Mabou and decided to eat in at our house tonight before the concert so we stopped at the grocery store and picked up cheese and bread -- John made some tasty grilled cheese sandwiches. Back at the house we warmed up, rested and showered.
JAMES: At 7 pm we headed for this evening’s music program. It is in the same venue as last night. We will meet Gail and Doug again. They were in Baddeck today visiting the AGB Museum and the interactive music performance. We had made some tentative plans to meet up earlier but they ended up going straight to the show from there.
SUSAN: Tonight’s concert was at the same venue as last night, the Strathspey Performing Arts Centre. Interestingly even though it was at the same venue as the night before it was a totally different vibe. The emcee was part of the performance and read lines to open both the first act, at the open of the second act and at the close.
JAMES: It was an interesting show. A little of this and a little of that. Some spoken word- a great story from a local Mi’cmaw man who told the story of the Great Bear, the Big Dipper in the sky and why it changes positions with the seasons. There was an interpretive dancer who swooped and swayed at times across the stage and even ran through the audience with her arms wrapped in lights. The emcee had a lot to say, there was a theme throughout about sand slipping through your fingers or something. The music was very good. There was a folk singer guy named Dave Gunning who was really interesting. He reminded me of a Canadian Greg Brown. He has put out many CD’s and a couple of children’s books featuring the lyrics of his songs. He is the first performer all week who has explicitly spoken about the horrible US President in the context of 90% of Canadian newspapers printing a false conspiracy theory front page story about the Canadian Prime Minister who dared to stand up to Trump. Plus he writes great songs. You go man!
SUSAN: The performer I enjoyed the most in this concert was Dave Gunning. He is known [according to Wikipedia] for the incorporation of story telling into his live show. In particular, Gunning relates anecdotes of notable characters from Pictou County and performs impressions of musicians that he has worked with over the years. As Jim mentioned earlier, he discussed his opinions of Donald Trump and sang a song that was great … I so appreciated the fact that despite the fact US leadership sucks he wants to continue to interact with his US neighbors! [His featured section is a 1:12:36 in the video linked above.]
Other interesting things about this concert were the unique instrument played by the pianist called the Uillean pipes which is the national bagpipe of Ireland. The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellowsstrapped around the waist and the right arm (in the case of a right-handed player; in the case of a left-handed player the location and orientation of all components are reversed). The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity. Some pipers can converse or sing while playing. The bag which the bellows fill is clamped under the other elbow, which squeezes the bag to control the flow of air to the reeds (which make the notes).
JAMES: I might have mentioned before that during the intermissions of the shows that we have attended, free desserts treats are offered. There are dozens of beautiful, tasty offerings all made by volunteers. Of course there is a donation jar, but it is a great bargain. There are also tables where they sell merch and CD’s. One of those was for the festival drivers fund. The festival drivers are volunteers who drive performers wherever they need to go. That includes the four hour drive to and from the international airport in Halifax and among the many scattered towns and venues of the festival. They sell compilation CD’s from past festivals to raise money to pay for local kids music and Gaelic language sessions.
It’s been a go-go schedule for us for the past four days. A lot of sitting in the car and rushing to the next meal or event. We were all pretty pooped when the show started and I think everybody drifted off a time or two during the show.