We leave on the night ferry tomorrow from North Sydney to Newfoundland. Nova Scotia has been a bit colder than we expected, but we still caught some hikes, sights and music along the way. It’s steeped in Celtic/Scottish history with a French tradition as well. Although indigenous groups are acknowledged in the information road signs, the place names are Anglo with Gaelic interpretation.
Some sights along the way: it’s free to get on Prince Edward Island , but either by bridge or ferry, it will cost you to get off!
Driving along the Northumberland Shore, we stumbled across a large locked gate to the Culloden Cairn, with a grassy path out to the ocean. It seems that after the battle of Culloden, where Scots were slaughtered, some survivors made their way to Nova Scotia in the late 1700’s. Their descendants built a giant cairn and get together every year for music and party at the cairn. It’s the kind of roadside attraction we love.
And the unique names of places…
We camped along the Cabot Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands national park; and we’re incredibly lucky to hike the Skyline Trail and the Middle Head Trail.
At the Celtic Music Interpretive Center we got in on some Cape Breton fiddling at a Caelidh (Kay lee) -
Today we wound up our time in Nova Scotia with a tour at the Mining Museum, complete with donning hard hats and going down into a mine, crouching lower and lower. A hard way of life, with tragedies over time.
Hoping to see moose 🫎 in Newfoundland, and puffin colonies too. Ciao!
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