Cape Breton

Upon leaving PEI, we drove quite directly to Cape Breton Island, which is the northern part of Nova Scotia. There is just a short causeway that you cross to get from the mainland to the island. At the Visitor Center I was loaded up with books and brochures so I could get thoroughly confused in a short period of time. I think they are trying to get rid of this year's materials by overloading every poor tourist who walks in the door. The most important piece of information we got was that the Celtic Colours International Festival is starting on Oct. 10 and runs for 10 days or so. That allowed us about 4 days to do the Cabot Trail, supposedly one of the most scenic drives in North America. We also wanted to find some of the Celtic music that is played all over the place around here. We stopped at several venues along our route and they were really crowded and had a cover charge so we finally ended up at the Glendora Distillery. For the cost of our wonderful dessert and coffee we were treated to an evening of acoustic music, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and a couple of numbers involving spoons. We spent that night next to a dark cemetery and church, it was a little spooky...

 

The next morning we felt as if we had missed something the previous day. We had rushed by the homes of Natalie MacMasters and the Rankin Family (renowned Celtic musicians) and felt the need to go back to the little burg of Mabou. Good thing we did! It was a blustery day and the weather was expected to get worse so we needed to kill some time. The Red Shoe, a restaurant in this tiny town, had free music offered from 5-7 and then fiddle jamming at 8:30. We found some WIFI and I spent 3 hours scouring the Festival website to figure out a plan for the week. After much consideration and considerable confusion, I finally purchased tickets to two concerts and filled in more time with possibilities from the many other options offered for free and low cost. The festival is not just about music, there are events involving art, history, biking, hiking, community meals, storytelling, workshops, dance, and lectures. The venues are all over this large island so to figure out a few days of participating was much more difficult than you might imagine.

Fall color along the Salmon Pond walk

Well, after all that hard brain work I went for a nice long walk and when I got back it was about time to go hear some music at The Red Shoe. This restaurant is owned by several of the Rankin sisters and they serve very good food and have live music nearly every day. We ordered the corn bacon chowder and it came in a large bowl with two thick slices of warm, homemade bread. A fiddle and guitar couple played traditional Celtic music that kept our feet busy. After the couple was finished playing the real fun started. At 8:30 they just open up the restaurant to fiddle players who come in droves to play together. At one point there were at least a dozen players, aged 12-70 fiddling away. The music would start out slowly so they kids could play along and then it would get faster and faster until just the best players were playing. A group of kids involved in a Gaelic language program sang a few songs and several of them danced to the fiddle music. It must have been time for the kids to go home and go to bed because at one point the bagpipes were brought out. In such a small space one set of bagpipes can really rattle the windows! The crowd thinned out considerably and by the time the second piper had his turn the evening was over. We really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and spirited music.  It is wonderful to see music binding the generations of a community together in a way that we don't see in the States. It is a driving force in the culture of this place, an island settled by Acadians, Scots and Irish. 

Rock Sculpture by Thayer

Rain pounded down on us the next morning, but we were armed with things to do, thanks to my research from the previous day. We started with the Salmon Museum which should really be renamed the Salmon Fishing Museum. Located near the famous and lovely Margaree River it houses an enormous collection of rods, reels, tied flies, photos of famous salmon fishermen(bet you couldn't name even one!), miscellaneous fishing equipment, poaching gear, nets...and a bit of information about Atlantic salmon. There was a very cute little old lady who showed us around and answered our questions. I did learn some interesting things about Atlantic salmon and the history of fishing here on Cape Breton Is. Atlantic salmon are different from our Pacific salmon in several important ways. After hatching they spend two or three years in the river, growing slowly, until they are ready for the sea. Once they get to the sea, they grow very quickly because of the increased food supply, they live in the sea for several more years. Like the Pacific salmon, they return to the stream of their birth to spawn, but they do not die after spawning. They return to the sea and live to spawn several more times before they die. Since 1984 commercial fishing has not been allowed, and sport fishermen are limited to 4 fish per year and they may only use flies to catch them. It is big business here, people come from around the world to fish the beautiful streams, ponds and rivers. I get the feeling that "catch and release" is the method that most employ these days. They may not keep any fish over 63 cm. The rivers do not have dams on them and the logging regulations attempt to protect habitat unlike our northwest rivers. 

We visited several other places, I saw the Cape Breton form of rug hooking and talked to some hookers in a store. Their work is more detailed than what I am familiar with and is very pretty. Some of the tapestries looked like paintings and are quite famous. We also visited a wood shop where they make beautiful cutting boards out of larch wood. 

Cape Breton hooking

Larch wood cutting boards

We moved along our route to Cheticamp, the gateway to Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We scoped out the music scene, deciding on the Doryman Tavern for our musical entertainment for the evening. A young lady named Chrissy Crowley played some very energetic fiddle music with an equally energetic piano accompanist. It was quite different from the traditional music we heard the night before but we enjoyed it very much. Their hands move so quickly that they are just a blur!  They were quite engaging and really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. We spent the night in the parking lot behind the tavern and got a good nights sleep in preparation for tackling the park in the morning.

Lobster trap wreath