Cape Breton Island Day Ten and Eleven

We left Port Hawkesbury and made our way toward the Cabot Trail to take us to Sydney.  This trail leads all around Cape Breton Island up and down mountains and across rivers.  Travelling along we stopped at the small town of Mabou because we saw a church steeple.  

St Mary's Church

The inside of the church.  

Notice the tartans hanging on the columns

We drove on further and stopped at St. Joseph du Maine.  You can see how close the road is to the ocean and how the road twists and turns.

We are so high up here looking down into the valleys.

Another stop at Lakies Head.

We drove through Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada and down the eastern side of Cape Breton Island.  I wanted to stop at Ingonish at the Keltic Lodge because I had been there 38 years ago and I wanted Lynda to see it.  

Keltic Lodge

Bridge over Big Bras D'or

We looked down on the bridge and then after many twists and turns we drove over it and then onto Sydney.  That was one long drive.  It took us over 7 hours.  It would have been about 5 if we hadn't stopped a few times along the way.

On Sunday we decided that we should go to church.  We found one not far from us with Mass at 10 am and decided that we would have breakfast and then head over there.  We found it but couldn't find a parking lot where we could park.  The sign out front had no mass times so Lynda stopped someone on the street and she told us that this was one of the churches that had been closed.  We figured we would forget it and start out on our way to Glace Bay and Fortress Louisburg for the day.

We drove into Glace Bay and the GPS told us that we arrived at our designation.  Just around the corner was a huge Catholic Church and the sign out front said that Mass was at 11:15.  We checked our watches and it was 11:20 so we went in and Mass had just started.  

St Anne's Church at Glace Bay.

After Mass was over we went back into the church to take some pictures.  

The main altar.

There were 2 very large stained glass windows, one on either side of the church.

We continued on to Louisburg.  Lynda wanted to travel along the coast so we stopped at a few beaches.

This one had a gorgeous beach.  The sand was very firm.  The water was very cold and I ended up with wet sandals trying to put them back on and trying to get the sand off my feet.

To get to the beach you walked along the boardwalk to the pods which ended at the beach.  This way you didn't have to walk through the tall grass.  This is tick country here.

We finally got to Louisbourg National Historic Site.

We had had no lunch so we went to the bakery and had French Toast and tea.  Because it was early in the season it closed at 5 pm so we had very little time to spend here.

Everyone was dressed in period costume

The Guard at the Main Gate.

I climbed up to where the cannons were overlooking the fort.

We took a short cut back to Sydney and went for a hot tub and then dinner in the dining room downstairs.

Tomorrow we head back to Halifax for a few days.  It will take about 4 hours to get there.

Peggy