WALK CAPE BRETON

IF THERE IS A STRIKE AT FORTRESS LOUISBOURG AND HOW IT WILL AFFECT OUR WALK EVENT!!??

I will be in contact with Park Officials on a daily basis after Thursday night the 12 of August and if there is any changes to our schedule I will inform all members and visitors by email, phones and any which way I can!!

Meanwhile the Walk(s) Continues and we ask that you register ASAP!

Louisbourg Walks!

Saturday 21st of August at 1pm, walk leader is Phil IronsStart Point is Hans Beck Sea Products, Main Street, Louisbourg
BBQ and Picnic after the walk at the Picnic area near the Lighthouse, Please register by calling 902. 849. 0747 or email rollie

REGISTRATION is a MUST for the walk event on Sunday 22nd of August

Start Point: Fortress of Louisbourg, Parking Lot at the Visitors Information Centre
A Parking Area has been reserved for this walk, please watch for our signs and follow directions of Park Staff.
Walk Leader is Rollie Coombes 902. 849. 0747

Please REGISTER NOW by calling Rollie or email,bretonhoppers@hotmail.ca

Cost for this event only, is $12.00, which includes your IVV STAMP and admission into the fortress and the Bus trip in and out of the fortress's facilities after the walk.

There is no seperate price for individuals who only wish to walk and then leave, sorry its all or nothing!!

Sign in at 08:30AM, Walk begins promptly at 09:00AM


Overview Of The Past 4 Weeks of Walking:

The Broad Cove Chapel Walk on the 11 July was led by Phil & Anne Irons.
Twenty-one (21) eager walkers showed up for this event along the Broad Cove Rd./Trail.
This is a great area for views of the ocean with fishing boats and whales off the coast.
However the day proved to be one of rain and more rain but our little troop of walkers pressed on and finished the 10K event.
Proving once again the die-hard volksmarcher will do anythng for that coveted IVV stamp and accumalation of distances in their books.
Our new friends from the USA, Kathleen and Phil Rice joined the group for this adventures.
The Rice Family are summering on the Island and have joined us for subsequent walks.
Welcome to our club folks, we hope your stay in CB will be a satisfactory and happy one despite some of our weather conditions!
A "tip of the hat" to all of you who Put Your Heel and Toe on our Island!

The walk event at Waddens Cove/South Head on Sunday 25 July had 18 walkers join our walk leader Shirley Pettigrew.
The sky was overcast but fortunately we had a great day for a walk to one of the oldest anglican churches on the Island; the plaque on the church was dated 1846.
This little white church fortunately or unfortunately is well hidden from the main road and with the well kept up cemetery could remind one of the song "Come to the little church in the glenn".If thats not the correct title then maybe someone can correct me.
During this walk we were to travel down "Sailor Dan's Road" and part way out to South Head, however the road was filled with very large puddles (small lakes) and over flowing streams that proved to be impassable or uncomfortable by foot.
Fortunately our walk leader had scouted out the area the previous day and had selected an alternate route which proved to be just as scenic with Scaterie Island looming across the bay at Main-A-Dieu.
Thank You Shirley for a great walk and foresight and proving again that the prewalk is very important or as we would say in the army "nothing is ever lost on a recce". ( the US army abbreviation would be "recon")

Sunday August 1st at 10:00am found 31 of our members and friends on the fishing craft BMW 2, heading out of the Main-A-Dieu wharf on a forty minute boat trip to Scaterie Island.
This adventure to Scaterie Island was organized by Bill Boutilier, originally Bill wanted to check out the island for a sanctioned IVV Event but as the word got around Bill found himself with a large contingent of members who wanted to go out as well.
Bill searched for a boat and capt. who would take us to the island and it was arranged to depart on Sunday 2 hours before the annual local pilgramage; this is the descendants of the original families who lived on the Island, they return each year for a BBQ, celebrate mass and explore the old homesteads.
Surprisingly this little 12Km Island had a school, a church and a thriving community at the turn of the last century. After reaching the island we were a little overwhelmed by the ruggedness of the landscape, the wonderful beaches, the thickness of the forest, there is a main trail to the lighthouse and we soon found out that one shouldn't wander to far off the trail.
On one of the beaches on the south side of the Island we came across the bones of a Fin Back whale and a large amount of drift woods and plenty of smooth shiney beach rock.
Walking towards the lighthouse which was shrouded in a light fog or haze there was the remains of a small gravesite which appeared to hold at least four persons, the names were no longer readable; from this point you could see the Atlantic to your left and right or is that port and starboard sides of the island with a strong wind in our faces.
The lighthouse guards a massive amount of reefs and shoals off the tip of the island. there are two homes next to the Light but have been abandoned for quite sometime and just beyond the doorway of one of the homes to the rear is a lone gravesite with most of the markings worn away by the weather.
We left the Island with fond memmories and we will try and put this on again as a sanctioned walk, however we will and must ensure that we are well prepared and organized, it will have to be an exclusive club activity as weather will definitely be a major factor in this trip.
A very hearty Thank You to Bill for the work he put into this exciting trip.

The Island Hoppers and their guests would like to thank Brian Wadden of the BMW 2 and his mate Tom Lahey for their professionalism, their guidiance while on the island, their overall devotion to the preservation of Scaterie Island. Thank You gentlemen!

Our favorite Trails Coordinator Bill Boutilier and the Club Vice President lead 20 walkers up to the Cape Clear Lookoff on Sunday 8th of August.
This was a 10K walk which was fairly easy except for one little (BIG) long hill. What a fabulous view overlooking Big Intervale and the river valleys and their tributaries, the highlands of the Margaree area and somewhere in the far distance was the Big Intervale Fishing Lodge.
A motorcyclist who met us at the lookoff showed a map with elevation of 400 ft??I will try to verify this in a future news letter, as a comparsion the information for Cape Smokey claim it to be 275m (900ft) and North River Falls at 32m (105ft).

Tuesday 10 of AUGUST

Five of our club members met with the bus tour "walking adventures international" and after leaving the Telegraph House at 8:15AM, we proceeded to Uisge Ban Falls for a 10K walk along the North Baddeck River Trail and then onto Uisge Ban Falls.
Our US visitors were very impressed with the trail, the scenery along the river, many were impressed with the prisitine condition of the forest and most of all the Falls.
There were 24 passengers on the bus and unfortunately one members was unable to make the trip due to an ankle injury, however he hobbled around the Village of Baddeck for the day.
Lee and Lorraine Dummer the tour guides for the group would like to return to our area, however their tour company has scheduled the maritimes for a two year hiatus, so with a bit of good luck we should see them again in 2007 during our clubs 10 year anniversary.
My personal thank you to Carmel Coffin, Lucy Nardini for leaving Sydney with me at 0620am, 20min earlier then planned, Thanks Ladies.
Many Thanks to Isabel and Robin Grant for joining us as well on such a wonderful morning and being great CB ambassadors.

The Acquilla Bus Tour out of NB with the "Bad Pennies", our tour group from the US as well were led by Matt Pernick. This group did a self-guided walk in the Village of Baddeck using our Year Round Event, located at the Telegraph House.They were in Baddeck on Saturday the 7th of August, my apologies to our visitors for not being able to meet with them, unfortunately our schedules could not be coordinated as well as we would have hoped.Hopefully the "Bad Pennies" will return and we can do a walk with both groups in the near future.