Tuesday, September 13, 2005

SEPTEMBER, PIPERS RESTAURANT GREAT FOOD, GREAT WALKING WEATHER

September is proving to be a great month for walking, the weather has been cooler and there is a walk every weekend for our members to pick from.
So far we have been to Inverness on Sunday Sept. 4th and then 11 of us accomplished a 16K walk or should I say HIKE into The Lighthouse at Cape North and Money Point.
From my previous post most of you now know that we Started at Bay Road Valley located between Sugarloaf and Bay St Lawerence.
The Start Point was located at a magnificient viewing point, overlooking Meat Cove and Bay St Lawerence villages.
The trek along the road/trail was spotted with some great views of the highlands and the beaches below near Cabot's Landing.
Along the trail we came across a number of Microwave towers and a coast guard communication installation; during the prewalk on the previous Thursday the crew here showed us photos of the facilities during the winter. The buildup of ice from one of the towers destroyed the roof of one building and the scenes of high snow banks was something that you would imagine only in the north of Canada, (well I guess you could say we were in the NORTH albeit Cape North, Cape Breton)

During the walk to the coastline and the approx 750m incline to the coastline we came across bear droppings and the signs of moose in the area. Fortunately we did not have to implement plan "A" if we had come across bear on the trail-we arrived back with all who came on this adventure!!

Slowly we made our way down into the coastal plain along a narrrow and rocky trail, there were many cries of OOPS!and more *@*@%!OOPS along the route as we upturned the loose gravel and rocks.

There was a strong N'or easter along the coastline as we then trekked 1.5k to the lighthouse with a view of St Pauls Island off the coastline and the Highlands to our left, this is apart of our island that very few will ever see, I and those who made this excursion could not give justice to really describing the area to others.

Lots of photos were taken and I hope to get them on the website soonest.

The return trip up the Mountain was definitely an endurance, a definite challenge, we proceeded by counting 40 paces, rest- deep breaths, 40 paces rest-DEEP BREATHS, after 7-8 stops we were all wondering if there was a top to this mountain and on a couple of occassion we sat for 5min.

WE returned to our cars exhausted but exhilirated, on a high, for accomplishing this 16k event. We started out at 10am and were back to our cars at about 5:15pm.

After the walk the entire group made its way to Pipers Trailer Court & Restaurant at Indian Brook, where the owner and our host, Charles MacInnis provided us with a great meal and a complimentary dessert with our dinner. Thanks Charles It was very much appreciated.

Check you schedule for Sept 25th and if you haven't received info about our walk at The Keltic Lodge on SATURDAY, 17 of Sept please contact me for details or continue checking the website for information.

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