Tuesday, August 08, 2017




CBIH Members,
Regretfully we must inform you that Karen MacNeil, a long time member of CBIH has passed away.
Our sincere condolences to James and Family.
Karen's obituary appears in the Cape Breton Post and online in InMemoriam.ca, see link below for further details



Karen MacNeil

 

Saturday, July 08, 2017

20 FUN, FITNESS AND FRIENDSHIP YEARS

A short synopses of a wonderful weekend in the CB Highlands National Park!

Do you have any photos to share? Please send them to bretonhoppers@hotmail.com

Additional photos available at: http://cbislandtrailphotos.blogspot.ca/

Happy Hikers on the Coastal Trail!😎

The CBIH celebrated 20 years of walking for Fun, Fitness and Friendship exploring the hiking and walking trails of Cape Breton Island in the Highlands National Park.

A weekend of walking and social activities such as a Meet and Greet began on Friday 30 June. Starting off with two walk events, one at Ingonish Beach and the Middle Head Trail and an afternoon stroll on the Clyburn Valley Trail along the Clyburn River and the Highlands National Park Golf Course.

Friday evening at the Ingonish Hall, members of CB Island Hoppers greeted our guest from other parts of the Atlantic Provinces with the other "F' in our motto "FOOD" , as wells as entertainment.





Barb Thistle enjoying Fresh lobster and clams
Dinner at the Ingonish Canadian Legion



We travelled to Ingonish at the right time as Fresh lobster had been available at all of the local Restaurants'

Members and guest staying at the Keltic Lodge had an additional evening of fun, as we enjoyed local entertainment in the lounge late into the evening 😁

While the rest of the province and other parts of the island had rain!! The Ingonish side of the island only had a light shower in the morning and the walk events at Warren Lake and Broad Cove Mountain continued as planned for our Canada Day walk event,



Broad Cove Mountain Look-Off - Canada Day
A message from Darcy Noble and Ron Kent:

Hi Cal and Barb and Rollie,
Memories of my trip to Cape Breton have been with me all week.  I loved your part of Nova Scotia, and your hospitality felt like a big warm hug.
Everything was so well organized and  I know that a lot of effort and helping hands go into making it seem that way.
It was a very memorable trip for Ron and I.  Thank you for creating such a special weekend for us all.
Darcy

From Ibel Scammell
Great anniversary weekend, CBIH!  Loved every minute of hanging out with you Capers on your beautiful island!

From Lee and Suzanne Lazaro 
Great shot of the Breton Hoppers on their walking weekend in Ingonish!  Wish we could have been there!! 
I do want to share that Lee & Suzanne did not let Canada Day go uncelebrated over here in Oregon. We were invited to a Canada Day BBQ by our friends Russell and Sylvia, who originally met at UBC in Vancouver (Sylvia is from BC originally.) I wore my Canada t-shirt and Suzanne had her maple leaf dress, and we drank Moosehead beer and barbequed salmon, and even sang Oh Canada!  Everything but watch hockey (although I did share one volkswalker's dubious claim to Suzanne and I that more Canadians watch curling on TV than hockey - I personally find that hard to believe.)
Congrats to the Breton Hoppers on 20 great years! 
Lee & Suzanne 


The participants had the choice of one of two events for Sunday, Mica Hill within the Highlands National park near Neil's Harbour or continue north to Bay Saint Lawrence and the Money Point Trail and the Kaufman Trail, near the most northerly part of Cape Breton. This part of the island overlooks St. Paul's Island, the most northern part of Nova Scotia.

Coastal Trail

After the walks/hikes on Sunday we settled in for a wonderful evening dinner at the Ingonish Legion with great food from Jason LeBlanc - Coastal Waters Catering, plus a great performance by Norm MacDonald and Bruce Courtney.

After the dinner the Atlantic Director for the Canadian Volkssport Federation presented volunteer pins to several of our members: Joe MacKinnon - 10 Years; Lucy Nardini - 10 Years; Barb Thistle - 15 Years; Elsie Buck - 15 Years; Cal Thistle - 15 Years; Rollie Coombes - 20 Years Several more to be posted later!

The Coastal Trail on Monday morning proved to be one of the most memorable trails for the weekend with many scenic views along the trail.

More photos will be published on our photo gallery.