North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Halifax, Nova Scotia

We rose to a beautifully sunny morning and no wind at all. What a change from the past two days in Port aux Basques!!

Looking out of our hotel window, we could see one of the ferries moored in the terminal. It looked like the Blue Puttees and it occurred to me that we could have stayed on it all night, but then I zoomed in with my camera and saw the name, The Highlanders, which is the Blue Puttees' sister ship. We had not understood the name of our ship, but were told that it is the name of an infantry regiment who wore blue puttees (leg-protectors) instead of the regular khaki-coloured ones.

We saw Bob and Thelma, who were driving straight to Halifax to meet up with their daughter Gemma and her boyfriend Nick, who had arrived there the day before. The rest of us were planning to see the site from where Marconi sent and received the first transatlantic radio transmissions.

It was a short drive from the hotel to the centre of Sydney, where we saw hundreds of runners participating in an annual 10 kms run. Kenny had seen that, all over Canada, people were running in memory of Terry Fox, a cancer sufferer, who had attempted to run across Canada. He left from St. John's and managed to get as far as Thunder Bay, where he was forced to stop. He died shortly afterwards.

We went to the harbourfront where there was this giant fiddle. It was erected recently in recognition of the Cape Breton fiddle music that was originally brought to Nova Scotia by Scottish fiddle players over 200 years ago. The fiddle was made of steel by a local artist and weighed over eight tons!

 

 

We left Sydney and drove to Glace Bay, where Marconi built his transmitting station in 1902. Unfortunately for us, the museum had closed for the season, so all we could see was the site and a few information boards. The first signal he received had been sent from Poldhu in Cornwall. It was a lovely location sitting on top of the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic.

We then drove due west across Cape Breton Island for the 300 kms to Halifax. We drove alongside Bras d'Or, the large lake in the middle of the island.

We then came to a tea room called Rita's and decided to stop and have lunch. We discovered the tea room was owned by a famous Canadian singer, Rita MacNeil. All over the walls of the tea room were her gold and platinum records. Then, who should come into the restaurant but Rita herself!

Kenny bought Wendy and me one of her CD's and asked Rita to sign it for us. Then we all posed with her for this group photo.

We left the tea room and continued our drive across Cape Breton Island. At one point near the causeway that links the island to the rest of Nova Scotia, we saw the canal which connects the sea to Bras d'Or.

The remainder of the drive was uneventful and we reached the outskirts of Halifax at around 5pm. We decided to take Kenny and DeeAnne to see Fairview Lawn Cemetery which we had visited last year, where some of the Titanic victims are buried. It was just as moving an experience as when we were last there.

Near the Titanic headstones, we noticed this grave. What a surprise to see a headstone with the same surname as Kenny and DeeAnne's!

Also in the cemetery is a single grave for the unnamed victims of the great Halifax explosion of 1918.

We left the cemetery and drove the final couple of kilometres to our hotel on the harbourfront. We met up with Bob and Thelma, as well as Nick and Gemma who will be travelling with them for the next week.

We ended the day with a lovely meal at Salty's, the restaurant where we celebrated the end of our Canadian drive in 2010. Tomorrow we say goodbye to Kenny and DeeAnne, who are flying back to El Paso. It will be very sad to see them go. Neither of us has ever known a couple to laugh as much as the Crouchers. What a wonderful tonic they are!!!