6 August 2019, Tuesday We drive from Whycocomagh Provincial Park north and west to the Margaree Valley and the southern portion of the Cabot Trail which circumnavigates Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Buddy MacMaster’s fiddle tunes are playing in Vincent as we travel. He was a pre-eminent Cape Breton fiddler. We soon arrive at the Normaway Inn which I booked because of their Wednesday night Ceilidh featuring music and dance.
5 August 2019, Monday It’s early afternoon as O and I drive back to the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique. Here one can attend an informal Ceilidh while enjoying lunch. There is also a museum focusing on the history of Celtic music and dance. As I hobble in the door on my crutches, O announces to the two young women at the desk that I have come to learn
4 August 2019, Sunday This morning, or rather early afternoon by the time we are on the road, we head back to Mabou for the Sunday Farmers Market. It’s a crowded place! I hop up the 20 plus steps to the Mabou Athletic Center drawing comments of “Wow, you’re brave!” “Or foolish,” I reply with a smile. Inside the center are many vendors of local crafts; weaving, knitting, wood carvings,
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
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:
30-31 July 2019, Tuesday and Wednesday After another decadent breakfast at Pur and Simple, and a number of phone calls to orthopedic surgery offices in Sydney, NS to schedule a follow-up visit for my broken ankle, we are on our way to Nova Scotia. The thermometer tops 31 C as we drive. We finally arrive at Caribou-Munroes Provincial Park, very near to where the ferry from PEI docks. Happily our
29 July 2019, Monday Today was supposed to have been our opportunity to see the Hopewell Rocks, but since we’ve already done that, and because the weather is quite hot (31 C) we decide to investigate two of Moncton’s museums. But first we breakfast at Pur and Simple, a breakfast and lunch franchise that got its start in Quebec. O and I are hoping they expand their range further as
28 July 2019, Sunday We leave PEI NP today, but before we say farewell to this province we drive to the North Cape. There is a lighthouse here and an Interpretive Center about wind energy. Many wind turbines spin gracefully in the breeze coming off the Gulf of St. Lawrence. O and I drive to the very tip of the cape and view red sand cliffs, great blue herons, ducks,
27 July 2019, Saturday Although I can’t do any hiking, we hop into Vincent after our breakfast of strawberries and chocolate pancakes and drive towards the eastern section of PEI National Park at Greenwich. It’s a scenic drive through small villages, along coast and bays and past signs advertising Sunday night ceilidhs. After 1 ½ hours we arrive at the Interpretive Center where displays discuss the formation and migration of
26 July 2019, Friday We sleep in, cook up a potato cake for breakfast, saw another plank for leveling Vincent, and then head towards Charlottetown. We stop at Sobeys on the way to restock some basic groceries. I ask one of the workers if the strawberries are local. “No,” he says, “our strawberries are late this year, these are from Nova Scotia.” That’s close enough for us. We buy two