WALK CAPE BRETON

Louisbourg Walk Events Successfully Completed Whew!!!

The four L'Acadian walk events that were planned to celebrate the four hundred years of Acadians in the new world have been completed as have the L'Acadian Mondiale which was held in Clare, Nova Scotia.

Overall this has been a great success for our club, we had a chance to visit the Cheticamp area for two days of walking and touring that area plus some of the ladies in our club had the chance to shop as well; wherever there's a "going out of business sale" some of our favorite walkers can squeeze in some shopping between walk events as well.

The Lighthouse Walk

On Saturday, 21 August, registration began at 12:30 at the Hans Beck Sea products and by 1pm as planned 55 walkers from various location, such as the USA, Dartmouth, Truro, 'The Valley' and Ontario, strolled out of the parking lot under the direction of our walk leader for this event Phil Irons and assisted by Anne Irons.

This was an 11K walk to the lighthouse with a short detour along the Louisbourg waterfront and then the trek along Havenside Road with a stopover at the picnic area for a view of the Fortress Louisbourg, however today's view was obstructed by a blanket of fog and when we approached the lighthouse area the foghorn was giving off its strange eerie warbling sound into the fog.

Note: The sound of the foghorns seemed to have changed?? Or has my hearing finally detioriated....What!!

Iris Stevens who is with the Lighthouse society informs me that the light is not as bright as it once was and there is a project to restore one of the original generators and former lenses. The Lighthouse Society in Louisbourg has become bogged down with red tape as the LIGHT is on Parks Canada Property, the strings of bureaucracy are holding up much needed work on this historical site; The CBIH wish the Lighthouse society the best of Luck.

After arriving back at the parking lot, most of the walkers returned to the picnic site near the light for a bbq and socializing. The weather was overcast but comfortable for walking and we were able to enjoy Bill and Cals burgers and hotdogs, Thanks Guys.
A special thank you to our Ways and Means committee, Carol, Barb and Jean.
My special thank you to Shirley for coordinating the picnic area and overall supervisor and keeping me calm and in check throughout this experience.

The Fortress Walk (Fete d' St Louis)

Sunday, 22 of August was our planned 12K walk into the fortress; registration took place at the parking lot near the Information Centre and at approx 09:10 we stepped off, with a slight delay as Parks Canada would not prerequisite us due to the daily rotating strikes.

My sincere Thank You to the staff at the Information Centre for their professionalism in dealing with our group during their dispute with their employer; they worked with us in a very courteous and polite manner.

There were 48 walkers on this trek of Cape Breton history, of course as always there was rain and some fog as we began the march along the back roads leading to the No. 2 Gate but within 10-15 min the weather began to clear and we were soon shedding our raingear.

The commissionaire at the gate informed us that this was only "a light Louisbourg morning dew" and it would clear up shortly which proved to be correct and the rest of the walk along the ocean side and through the old ruins trail was indeed a very comfortable walking experience.

On this adventure we had several American visitors and many others from the "mainland" who had never been to Fortress Louisboug and I believe from my conversations with them that most will be back for more great walks in Cape Breton.

The remainder of this walk was through the Kings Bastion/Bastion du roi and along a portion of the fortresses high walls with the spectacular views of the areas where the advancing troops must once have stood looking at these majestic over bearing walls, we continued down into the town area of the fortress and allowed for a must needed break. While on this break many of the forts inhabitants made a point to introduce and talk to these strange visitors tramping through their streets. Some trading and bartering took place and we were on our way with local seeds for next years planting. We continued with the walk returning along the same road that we had entered the fortress and bid adieu to the security persons.

After reaching the parking lot and another needed run to the rest area, our books stamped, 12k marked in our distance books, all of the walkers for this event were directed to our bus and once again we entered the fortress "the easy way" and we spent the remainder of the day enjoying the spectacle of the "Fete d' St Louis".All the participants were now on their own to enjoy the day as they wanted and many of us headed for an authentic style meal at the Hotel de la Marine. Finishing a walk off with a good meal seems to be the tradition for this walker and most club members.

Louisbourg seems to be one of our most popular events and even with the Parks Canada Strike we were able to attract a total of 103 participants for the 2 day event with only a total of 6 cancellations.

There will be a walk next year to the lighthouse only, however the fortress will more then likely be on our agenda for our 10th anniversary.