Canada Day Walk and Previous Walks For June

Check Your Schedule For 01 July 2005 at 0900am, CANADA DAY WALK EVENT.
Petersfield Provincial Park in Westmount.
The walk leaders for this event will be Barb and Cal Thistle; wear something red or a canadian symbol, check out last years Trail Photos on the proper dress code for this special event; Barb and Cal know how to dress for this special day!!

Come out and have fun, there is a community picnic, games and displays, local veterans will be honoured on this day, sponsored by the Westmount Canada Day Committee.

There were 16 walkers at our last walk, Sunday,June 26th, in Point Aconi, this turned out to be a very pleasant walk, the weather was great, the start point was at the former DEVCO Prince Mine entrance gate, this was the last working underground coal mine on the island.
Bill Boutilier lead the walk and we got to see a close up view of the Point Aconi Power Plant, then proceeded down a country road, more of a trail then a road, a walk into a well hidden but great beach. During the walk we also got a view of the area that may or may not be used as a strip mine for coal, though there is the remanants of a former strip mine that is slowly beginning to heal as scare would upon flesh.
The highlight of the walk was the view from the Point Aconi lighthouse, the Bird Islands stand out off the coast and Cape Smokey could be seen in the far distance and we could see the Newfoundland ferry approaching North Sydney and a flottila of local fishing boats.!!
Normally I would like too put the same walk on again the following year, however we have the problem of not knowing if the area that we travelled on today will be there next year as there is a mining consortium wanting to re-establish a strip mine in this area. During this walk we encountered a small group who are trying to Stop Strip Mine in Point Aconi. They pointed out the area to be mined, the country side here would be devastated, the trail/walk would be ruined!!

I wish this group, my personal (Stop Strip Mine)the best of luck, though each of you are entitled to your own opinion as well.
We have made it a policy not to get political or walk for causes, each of us can do what we feel is correct for our community.

Our walk at Long Point Provincial Park, Sunday, 12th of June was led by Jim McLean, though we had to move the start point to Walkers Cove Road, as the trail at Long Point which leads into the Ceilidh Trail(Trans Canada Trail system)was in very rough shape; work is being carried out on the trail so there are many deadfalls and a water course.
At Walkers Cove Road we departed with 12 walkers and had a great view of the ocean and the Nova Scotia mainland, lots of great homes along the trail, at the 5k turn around point the clouds opened up and we experienced heavy rains on the way back, however all those who attended this walk were happy to have done this part of the trail and we had done it on full stomachs as all had attended the turkey dinner at the Creignish hall before the walk.
Volksmarchers and food seem to go well together!
Thank You Jim for a great walk, not to much you can do about the weather....

There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country.
A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken
at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.
- Paul Scott Mowrer

The above quote was taken from Lynda Kannes, e-mail signature block; do you have anything similiar you would like to share with us on this site?


The last word about Elizabeth Nifort, she is good and MAY be transfered to a ward in the next few days if all goes well. Flowers and a card were sent on behalf of the club.
Our friend Lionel Conrad will in his words, "go under the knife", continious knee problems.

FROM THE PRESIDENT and on behalf of the CHAIR OF THE WALK COMMITTEE: The schedule for 2006 is being prepared, the club members are asked to submit any new walks/trails you feel should be considered for next years events.

Come on folks get involved its your club too!!

HALF WAY POINT FOR 2005

and its almost Time to Clip the "+" Sign:

Its hard to believe that we are soon going into the second half of our 2005 schedule; on or about the 30th of June, we will be taking the plus sign "+" off the Year Round Events (YRE's) stamps. If you have not done a YRE this year you only have a short time to get out and do the five YRE walks with the "+" sign.

The IVV rules, for the YRE's, allow only one stamp for each walk event in your "Event Book" however for the year round events you may stamp your book twice a year, once with the "+" plus sign before the 30th of June each year and then you may stamp again on or after 1st of July without the "+" sign.

PLEASE NOTE: The group walk in Glace Bay on the 22nd of May was not a Year Round Event, therefore if you have not walked our Glace Bay YRE, you still have time to stamp your EVENT BOOK with the "+" sign and then walk again on or after 01 July.

Don't forget that those of you who have been frequent walkers, using our YRE's should have paid $2.00 at the start of the year and then only $1.00 thereafter when and if you are stamping your Distance Book.

THERE IS NO LIMIT ON THE STAMPING OF DISTANCE BOOKS, as long as you do the walk and register, put your $1.00 in the envelope, keep on stamping as you see fit.

At the beginning of the second term on or after the 1st of July you are asked to again put $2.00 in the envelopes provided and $1.00 thereafter for the distance (no limit on distance) stamp each time you walk the respective Event.

The Year Round Events are sanctioned by the Canadian Volkssport Federation and the IVV at a cost of $100.00 each to the club plus $10.00 for insurance, we have 5 YRE's on the Island at a grand total of $550.00.

Your donations of $1 & $2 and those of our volkssporting visitors to the island help to defer this cost and allows your club to continue to operate as a non profit organization.

There will be a $2.00 increase in the insurance rate , beginning 01 January, 2006 which is reflected in the price above for our Year Round Events. This will also effect our Guided Walks (GW's), we will now be paying a total of $40.00 for all of these sanctioned walks as well.

COME OUT AND SUPPORT YOUR CLUB!

SENIORS EXPO, HALIFAX, NS

PARTICIPATION BY THE ATLANTIC VOLKSSPORT CLUBS

Our Atlantic Director Lynda Kanne set up an information table at the seniors expo in Halifax and has sent the following messages outlining the results:


Hi everyone:

Just to let you all know that the Seniors Expo went well. We left there with very positive feelings. There were over 200 inquiries over the two day period. The main interest was in the Halifax/Dartmouth area although we did have several from the Valley area, Truro area, half a dozen from the Fundy area and eight people from various parts of Cape Breton mainly in the Port Hawkesbury area. Several schedules were handed out as well as information on who we are and what we do.

It would be very interesting to know how many new walkers show up at our walks that had heard about us through the Seniors Expo. Maybe over the next couple of months you could all ask them how they heard about Volkssporting and report back to me how many from the Expo.

I would like to give special thanks to Beth Moore and Sandy Bishop who came out to help on Friday afternoon and also to Roger Arsenault who did an excellent job of setting up on Thursday. Without their help I would have been doing it all by myself.

I am looking forward to doing it again next year and would like to have more help. So keep it in mind for the 2nd week in June 2006. Only a couple of hours of your time on the display and you are free to see the rest of the Expo and entertainment at no cost to you.

See you on the trails,

Lynda L Kanne
Atlantic Region Director
Canadian Volkssport Federation



There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a country.
A fine landscape is like a piece of music; it must be taken
at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes too fast.
- Paul Scott Mowrer

New Brunswick's River Valley Trailblazers

The following message was sent by the President of the former Oromocto Volkssport Club, now known as The River Valley Trailblazers.

This is very discouraging, disheartening news when a club must cancel all of its 20th Anniversary Events!

From Ray Mulholland:

IT IS WITH GREAT SORROW THAT I MUST INFORM YOU THAT DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST,
I MUST CANCEL ALL OF THE RIVER VALLEY TRAILBLAZERS' 20TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS.
IT IS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY AND I HAVE NOT RECEIVED EVEN ONE REGISTRATION FOR
THE DINNER IN A COVERED BRIDGE FROM OUTSIDE OUR CLUB.

PLEASE GIVE THIS EMAIL THE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION POSSIBLE.

River Valley Trailblazers
Ray MULHOLLAND, President
79 Waasis Farm Road
Waasis, NB-CANADA E3B 9A9
506-446-6979

Note to myself:
The Cape Breton Island Hoppers have a 10th Anniversary in 2007 and I have been working on a "Proposal to bring the Canadian Volkssport Federations Annual General Meeting and Convention to Cape Breton" in 2008???

Elizabeth Nifort, Dartmouth Volksmarch Club

A bit of sad and shocking news has been received from Lionel Conrod and passed onto our Area Director Lynda Kanne.

Elizabeth is well known to the Island Hoppers as she is the walk leader for most of the DVC walk events when they visit Cape Breton.

From Lionel: I thought I would wait until I had more details to tell you and also some good news to report.

Tuesday Report:

An unfortunate illness has fallen upon one of our most active and supportive Club members. Elizabeth Nifort suffered a brain aneurysm rupture on Monday. Elizabeth was about to visit her mother at Oakwood Terrace Nursing Home Monday morning and apparently was taken by the illness as she got out of her car; somebody spotted her and she was taken quickly to the Dartmouth General Hospital next door. Later, transferred to the Emergency at the VG - Infirmary site. Elizabeth was in the Operating Room for 8 hours, she is now responding to treatment but not out of danger. Absolutely no visitors, only immediate family members allowed. Elizabeth must get her rest and not be upset or excited in any manner during the next 8 or 9 days while in intensive care.

Close friends of Elizabeth, Tom and Hildegard Mahar, have passed the above information over to me. I was speaking with Hildegard again this evening after she had visited the hospital today. Elizabeth did open her eyes today and seemed to recognize Hildegard, she held out her hand and fell back to sleep. The surgeon is cautiously optimistic.

Wednesday Morning Report

The news from the hospital this morning has improved. Hildegard was speaking with the hospital staff this morning said that Elizabeth was eating a bit of Jell-O today and they indicated that Elizabeth was doing quite well.

Another member, who has contacts/relatives at the hospital, indicated that a "doctor friend" visited Elizabeth this morning. He told Elizabeth that her friends were concerned and Elizabeth said to say "hello". This doctor also looked at Elizabeth's charts and he thought the prognosis was good and when Elizabeth is out of ICU she could be receiving visitors.

NOTE: It is possible for a complete recovery after a brain aneurysm rupture.


Wednesday Afternoon Report

Hildegard Maher phoned Lionel after returning from a visit with Elizabeth at the hospital, with the following update:

Elizabeth is doing better than expected and may be out of ICU in a day or two. After that she will be allowed to have visitors. She is able to move all of her limbs, which is a good sign of a recovery. The nurse stated that Elizabeth responded to treatment very well and would probably sit her up in a chair today. Elizabeth was able to converse with Hildegard quite well and recalls seeing Hildegard last week. The staff have to wake Elizabeth every hour to ensure blood clots are not causing a problem.

Elizabeth is happy to know that Hildegard and Tom are looking after her little doggy. Hildegard was quite happy with her visit today.

Hopefully, we'll be able to pass on good news to you in a few days.

Please keep Elizabeth in your prayers.

Thanks to Lionel for keeping us up-to-date.

Lynda Kanne

On behalf of the Members and Executive of the Cape Breton Island Hoppers I would like to extend our best wishes to Elizabeth and a speedy recovery. We shall soon meet again, see you on the trail Elizabeth. Rollie

LONG POINT PROVINCIAL PARK

The Ceilidh Coastal Trail walk event takes place at Long Point Provincial Park; not the Community Hall in Creignish as in previous walk events in this area. The provincial park is approx 8-10 Km further north on Hwy 19.

Our walk begins at 2PM and registration starts at 1:30 PM, on Sunday 12th of June, the walk leader is Jim McLean.
This is a Guided 10K Walk Event, Rated at 1B, a nice easy stroll for all ages and abilities, though Rilla tells me a little to rough for a wheelchair.

There is a Turkey dinner available at the Creignish Community Centre on Sunday as well, between 11:00 AM and 2:00pm for $10.00 p/p, this is not organized by our club nor do we take responsibility for the great food and hospitality of the Creignish group.

A further foot note to this event: This walk event is registered in the "Parks are for People" pamphlet that I have been passing out at our last two walks, if you would like a copy contact me on the walk, as I have registered several other walks that take place in NS Provincial Parks here on our island.

Lets have a good turn out and a great walk event!

CEILIDH COASTAL TRAIL

LONG POINT, PROVINCIAL PARK on Sunday, June 12th at 2:00pm is the next walk event for the Cape Breton Island Hoppers with Jim McLean as our walk leader for this event.

Check our schedule of events for directions and if you want to participate in the annual dinner at Creignish we suggest you call the Community Centre for details, (902.625.1476).

The Walk Committee nor the club president cannot be held responsible for the dinner or any changes that have occured since the publication of our walk schedule!

Please note that our annual schedule of walk events and our Celtic Colours Walks are now on line.

My sincere thank you to Phil Irons for the work he has done in putting the schedule into our website.

SEE YOU ALL ON THE TRAIL!

INTERNATIONAL TRAILS DAY, NORTH SYDNEY

The Island Hoppers started out on the Trans Canada Trail at 10:00am, Saturday, 4th of June 05 with 16 participants.

We had great walking weather, not to hot, a cloudy day with a cool breeze that kept the men from sweating and the lady walkers from perspiring!

This was a separate IVV sanctioned event from our North Sydney, Year Round Event and the walkers had a choice to complete a 5, 10 or 15K walk.

The far end of this trail is a portion of the route that we (Island Hoppers) have neglected over the years but one that we will remedy in the schedule for 2006.

Isabel and Robin Grant, our walk leaders for todays event, are already planning a new walk for next year starting at Georges River so that we can enjoy a stroll along the Scotch Lake portion of the trail.