Upon our departure from the North Sydney KOA, we left the beaches and mountains and headed for the inland area of Cape Breton. We first headed south to the bucolic town of Iona where perched on a hill, overlooking Bras D’Or Lake sits the Highland Village Museum. It was one of the best living history museums that we had ever attended and it told the story of the Scottish immigrants evicted from their homes during the highland clearances and settlement in Cape Breton. The interpreters were knowledgeable and Annabel asked great questions of them. One interpreter even sat and sang Gaelic work songs with us while working a wool blanket.
After tearing Lisa away from Iona, we took the world’s shortest ferry to return to the town of Baddeck where we grabbed supper at the Bell Buoy Bistro and then attended the Ceilidh at St. Michael’s Parish Hall. We tapped our toe to the fiddle/piano duet of Dawn Beaton and Jason Roach, but Annabel was dancing around the room until she hit her limit and fell asleep on Mom’s lap.
The next morning we took a circuitous route to the town of Judique for their lunchtime Ceilidh which featured two excellent high school musicians. Annabel was dancing up a storm again, which was dangerous with the food being served. We managed to sneak in some bites of fish and chips between tunes.
We found a campsite just off the island of Cape Breton, but headed back to Port Hawkesbury for their Tuesday night Ceilidh which featured a large group of musicians (John and Bill Petterin, Rachel Davis, Darren McMullen and Jason Roach) playing toe-tapping Scottish music. Annabel repeated her freestyle highland dance and managed to stay up for the end of the show.
We are spending the night in Linwood, Nova Scotia and planning to start heading west. Tomorrow should be a Fun-d(a)y.
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