3 August 2019, Saturday
Our strawberry rhubarb pie makes a tasty breakfast. Soon we are on our way to Mabou, about a 25 minute drive to the west to find the Red Shoe Pub, a popular place for both locals and tourists. It is owned by two Rankin sisters. The Rankins are an extended family from this area and are renowned for their many musicians. Tonight a Rankin family member and his friend from Ontario will be providing entertainment at the pub from 7-10 pm.
Having located the pub, we drive on to the visitor information center in nearby Inverness seeking more detailed maps of the area, and also a recommendation for an ice cream stop. It seems tourist maps and Mabou Highlands hiking maps are in short supply. Before heading to Inverness, O had stopped at many shops in Mabou. He finally found a Mabou Highlands Hiking Trail map at an antiques shop called An Drochaid, Gaelic for ‘The Bridge.’ In Inverness we are referred to the local ice cream bar at the Inverness Pantry. Most of the small villages we visit today have less than 1000 inhabitants. On the advice of the young woman at the Inverness Visitor Center we drive a scenic, unpaved loop around Broad Cove Marsh. From the road we are treated to some beautiful vistas of the coast.
After driving the loop, we head south down the southern part of the west coast, back to Port Hastings and its visitor center. There, O is quite pleased to find brochures on geological features of Cape Breton and notes on where they can be viewed. Now it is time to drive back to Mabou and the Red Shoe Pub. There is quite a crowd at the door when we arrive at 6 pm. The hostess takes my name and says we will have to wait outside as the pub is unusually busy tonight. The wait is likely to be an hour. (That’s actually fine with us because the music begins at 7.) She glances down and sees my cast. “Oh,” she says. “I hate to make you stand outside with crutches. Follow me.” She leads us to a corner by the bar, grabbing a chair for me. O goes up to the bar and orders a Red Shoe Ale. We sip the beer slowly as we wait for our table, enjoying conversations with other patrons. The hour passes quickly.
O and I are finally seated right at 7 at a small table with a great view of the performers. We are treated to a variety of folk music and folk rock tunes. We also share our table with a couple from PEI who are on Cape Breton for a harness race. They have a two year old filly that they own together with 5 other families. O and I end up staying at the pub for the entire show which ends at 10 pm, after which we wind our way through dark country roads back to Whycocomagh.
