1-2 August 2019, Thursday and Friday
1 Aug: Today we decide to take it easy and remain in camp. O and I are eagerly looking forward to this afternoon’s thunderstorms and cooling trend. We do some minor equipment repairs, read, birdwatch, swat mosquitoes and mix up some chocolate mousse for a cool snack this evening. Although we hear distant thunder, the rain never materializes. We wile away the evening reading: O – geology, and me – “Evangeline.” What better place to re-read Longfellow’s poem than here in the land of the Acadians.
2 Aug: We have a lazy morning today as we bake a orange chocolate chunk cake for breakfast and then strike camp. Heather MacLeod, a delightful older woman stops by to chat. She is the volunteer host at Caribou-Munroes. She is full of information. Next year we should make time to see the Hector, a replica of the worm-eaten ship that brought the original Scottish settlers to Pictou. She says we should be sure to stop at the Red Shoe Pub for some authentic Cape Breton music while we are near Mabou. She also suggests a visit to Louisbourg Fortress, south of Sydney, where re-enactors stay in character as French inhabitants of the 1740’s. She warns us not to wear red when we go or we will be accused of being British spies.
O and I finally are on the road shortly after noon. We stop for groceries, acquiring a strawberry rhubarb pie for breakfast, and then drive to Cape Breton. Along the way I look up alternatives to hiking and purchase tickets for a Sunday matinee in Baddeck of a play called “He’d be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin.” Sounds like fun! We also look up the live music schedule at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou. Then we take a wrong turn in Whycocomagh and drive 6 miles up an unpaved mountain road before we decide both our Garmin GPS and Siri have led us astray. We return to the main road and find a small sign for Whycocomagh Provincial Park. We have a lovely, shaded campsite! (#17 for those who might be making plans to visit,)
