Shirley Pettigrew leads the CBIH on Sunday April 22 at Mira Provincial Park.

What a great day for a walk in the park, 26 regular members showed up for this 10k event plus four new walkers to our organization.

Hope to see more of you out at our next walk in Glace Bay on Saturday May 12 at 2pm for our World Walkind Day Event.

The walk begins at the Miners Museum on Birkley Street, located off South Street.

World Walking Day is one of four walks in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the (CVF) Canadian Volkssport Federation.

A special stamp will be placed in your BOOKS plus an additional booklet will be provided that you must have stamped as well at the National Walking Weekend Event on Sunday May 20th (afternoon walk) at Uisge Ban Falls, International Trails Day on June 2nd in St Peters on the St Peters Rail Trail and July 1st in Sydney for our clubs original walk event.

RECAP OF WALKS YOU MUST QUALIFY FOR THE CVF SPECIAL AWARD:

GLACE BAY - WORLD WALKING DAY - SUNDAY MAY 12th

UISGE BAN FALLS - NATIONAL WALKING WEEKEND - SUNDAY MAY 20th

ST. PETERS - INTERNATIONAL TRAILS DAY - JUNE 2nd

SYDNEY - CANADA DAY & ORIGINAL WALK EVENT - SUNDAY JULY 1st

All four walks will be eligible for a CVF special certificate, a pin is available for $5.00 by registering with the CVF and will be sent out to you upon registering.

TALL SHIPS AT LOUISBOURG

The Cape Breton Ports of Louisbourg, Sydney and Port Hawkesbury will be hosting "The Tall Ships" on the same weekend as our 10th Anniversary walk program in Louisbourg.

Four ships will be in Louisbourg harbour July 20-21 and nine ships will be in Sydney harbour July 22-23.

This will be an added enhancement to our walk program. What a fantastic opportunity to watch these great sailing ships as we proceed along the shoreline at Little Lorraine on Saturday morning or you can glimpse these great ships while on our sunset walk to the fortress.

The "early bird walkers" can catch the ships at Louisbourg (20 July) Friday AM and then head to Catalone in the afternoon for our walk along the "Devils Hill Trail".

From the information I have at the present time (Cape Breton Post, Saturday, April 7, 20007) the ships will be in Sydney harbour on Sunday and Monday so anyone wanting to visit the ships or just get the chance to see them under full sail will be able to enjoy our weekend of walking and have plenty of time to see these magnificient sailing ships as well.

Your support is needed to make this a successful weekend for our/your
club. The Island Hoppers executive are working hard to make this an
unforgettable birthday celebration, please help by registering early for our dinner and walk at Fortress Louisbourg.

We must have confirmation of number of persons attending as quickly as possible. The official cutoff date is 8 July 2007 however a decision to cancel may have to be made sooner. If we do not have a sufficient number of walkers and diners we may have to forfeit the restaurants to a larger function.

The $40 cost includes the IVV fee for the "Louisbourg Then Walk", National Historic Site Fees, the Dinner all Taxes and Tips in addition we will be holding 3 walks on National Historic properties and a complimentary (free) picnic/luncheon this same weekend.

An online registration form is available on our website on LINKS >CBIH to the right of this page:

or: http://users.syd.eastlink.ca/~cbih/



A brochure and registration is also available at any of our walk events.

THE SECOND WALK EVENT FOR 2007:

Mira Provincial Park, Brickyard Road off Rte 22 (Louisbourg Hwy)

Sunday, 22 April, 1:30pm is Registration, Start Time 2:00pm

This is a very easy 5/10k event; enjoy the walk through the park
before the sunbathers and tourist show up; the walk is rated at
1B.

COMING SOON AND STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

http://www.capebretonislandhoppers.com/

In the near future I will take all of the present sites and combine them under one umbrella known as Cape Breton Island Hoppers.

OUR FIRST 2007 WALK EVENT

A FRIEND, WHO WILL NOT SOON BE FORGOTTEN!

The Island Hoppers 10th year has begun with the sad and devasting news of the passing of one of our most devoted members.

On Monday March 5th Shirley Boutilier surrounded by her loving family passed away at her beloved home in Marion Bridge.

Shirley is an original founding member of our club, she was a member of our first walk committees, assisted with ways and means. Shirley was ever present at all walk events, volunteered tirelessly to work on our many picnics, bbq's.

On several or many occassions she welcomed the entire club to her home in Marion Bridge to potluck suppers and bbq's.

She and Bill travlled throughout Canada in their RV and made it appoint to walk in all the Canadian Provinces. Shirley and Bill are both recepients of the Ron Colpitts Award for outstanding volunteers on a (CVF) volkssport club committee for 5 years or more.

Shirley was the first one to go out and look for new trails and prewalk as many as she could. She encouraged the walk committee to plan as many events as possible for the year and she introduced us to at least one challenge walk each year such as Money Point and North River Falls.

Shirley's smile and the bright twinkle in her eyes will not be forgotten, she made new comers to the club feel welcomed as old friends. She made old friends feel at home at all times in her presence.

With a little mischief in her smile she reminded me that it was 2 o'clock and it was time to get these people walking. "Come On Let's Get Going There a Trail Waiting For Us"!

THE CB ISLAND HOPPERS WILL CONTINUE TO WALK FOR FUN, FITNESS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR FRIENDSHIP!

The CB Island Hoppers are once again ready for another exciting year of walking for fun, fitness and friendship.

(The Island Hoppers on The Clyburn Trail, Highland National Park)

The First Walk Event for 2007 will be held:

- Sun Mar 25

- Registration 1:30pm

- Start Time 2pm

- Walk Distance 5/10k

- North Sydney, Clansman Motel, 9 Baird St.

Time to shake off the winter blues and get ready for spring.

This year we will be celebrating our 10th year as a walking club within the Canadian Volkssport Federation (CVF).

The CVF is celebrating a birthday as well. This is the offical 20th Anniversary of this organization and there will be a special walk program throughout the year.

A special certificate will be issued to all members upon completion of at least 4 out of 6 designated walk events that will take place in 2007 only.

This program commenced 01 Feb. 2007 and closes 01 July. Only the designated walks completed within these dates are acceptable for submission.

A special one page booklet has been prepared and can be picked up at the next walk event; on/or before 8-12 May 2007. Ensure that the booklet is stamped at each of the four walk events noted below.

A list of qualifying walks is available on the CVF website at www.walks.ca

Due to scheduling we (CBIH) have not been able to participate in the Feb. and April Events. My apologies for this inconvenience.

The Island Hoppers qualifying Walk Events are clearly marked on the Annual Schedule as (CVF's 20th Anniversary Program). A recap of the dates:

Sat 12 May in Glace Bay, World Walking Day, your book will be stamped WWD 2007. The CVF has desiginated this walk event as a Time for fitness.

Sun 20 May the afternoon walk at Uisge Ban Falls, National Walking Weekend, your books will be stamped NWW 2007. Desiginated as a Time For Fun

Sat Jun 02 in St. Peters, The Rail Trail& Battery Park, International Trails Day.

Desiginated as a Time for Friendship.

Sun July 1, Sydney,

40 Cabot Street, St Josephs RC Church, this our original first walk with some variations and is desiginated as Festive Air.

All dates were set by the CVF and in order to get the special certificates we
had to abide by the rules. All clubs had to walk their original
event on 01 July of this year. My apologies to Ways And Means Committee, Barb
& Cal Thistle who have organized our July 1st walks over the past few years.
Hopefully Barb and Cal will once again lead our Canada Day Walk in 2008.

The Annual Walk Schedule and our 10th Anniversary schedule, Celtic Colours Walks, all the walk events for the CVF are online, check the right hand side of this web page for the respected links.

NORTH RIVER FALLS

NIP HILLIER AT THE BASE OF THE NORTH RIVER FALLS

Achievement Awards & Old Photos

Hold On! I thought I had given up on this type of walking adevnture when I retired from the infantry. So, here I am again, the only things missing is a rifle and a 60lb rucksack and a Sgt pushing me on! However my walking partner, Nip Hillier who is holding the camera seems to have filled the role of a bootcamp Sergeant, spurring us on to the mighty North River Falls......

The above picture is that of Nip Hillier crossing over one of the four rope and ladder bridges that we encountered on our very first pre-walk to the North River Falls Sept 29th 1998.

Due to the many crossings of the river at that time we decided that this was more of a hiking adventure then a volkswalk and we delayed a group walk to the North River Falls for another three or more years. In the ensuing years the area was closed to hikers and campers due to an extreme fire index and for two years access was delayed as the new bridges (replacing the rope bridges) were washed away during the spring breakup.

The clubs first trip to the North River Falls was led by Bill Boutilier using an alternate route along the Oregeon Trail. A cross country walk that was not soon forgotten as we encountered some very steep climbing down into the gorge at the base of the falls.

My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.
-Edward P. Weston

The club eventually made it to the falls along the river trail once a new route was opened up along one side of the river (the east side) by NS Natural Resources Dept. and The St Ann's Bay Trail Association.

I am looking for more pictures and small antedotes to help celebrate
our 10th anniversary celebrations.

Send me a photo with a caption or a story about your exploits with the
club on a group guided or pre-walk.

Of all excercises walking is the best.

-Thomas Jefferson

In the Fall & Winter issues of VOLKSSPORT CANADA I came across the following information:

Event Achievement Awards:

10 Events Edward (Ed) Hopkins Port Morien

75 Events William (Bill) Hopkins Sydney River

100 Events William (Bill) Hopkins

100 Events Shirley Pettigrew from Mira Bay

250 Events Carmel Coffin Sydney

400 Events Barbara Thistle Sydney

400 Events Cal Thistle

Distance Achievement Awards:

1000 km Shirley Pettigrew Mira Bay

1000 km William (Bill) Hopkins Sydney River

1500 km Ann Coombes Glace Bay

1500 km Judith Lorway Sydney

1500 km Lucy Nardini Sydney

3000 km Carmel Coffin Sydney

3000 km Roland Coombes Glace Bay

4000 km Isabel Grant North Sydney

4000 km Robin Grant

4500 km Cal Thistle

Congratulations to all!

A reason to Volkssport! 1 of 14.

• Invest in your own health by adopting a safe, inexpensive, low-impact exercise regime

CHANGES TO YEAR ROUND & MID-SEASONAL EVENTS 2007

Regretfully I must inform all members that I have not been able to place the new 2007 slugs at each designated location as of this time due to personal health problems.

I will get the slugs setup as soon as I am able to travel once again.

We have been forced to make some changes to our Year Round Events in order to continue with these Self-Guided Walk Events.

Low turn out and financial considerations had to be taken into account, a second review will be made during the 2007 season and a final decision will be made to cancel at least one YRE before the start of 2008!

The following statement will be placed in all five (5) log books (sign in books) at each location before the end of January.

BEFORE STARTING THE WALK PLEASE NOTE:

The Walk Events in Glace Bay, Louisbourg and Baddeck have had some changes for the 2007 season.

These walk events have been discontinued as Year Round Events for 2007, they have been changed to Mid-Seasonal Event status as per the Rules And Regulations as outlined by The Canadian Volkssport Federation (CVF) and by approval of the CBIH club executive who recognized that these events needed to be changed due to the low turn out of walkers each year. The overhead cost have become another concern for the club, we will review this decision at the end of 2007.

“A Mid-Seasonal Event [up to 6 months less a day]”

These self-guided walk event will continue from 5 May 2007 to 28 Oct 2007.

All members of the IVV and CBIH who participate in the awards program may continue to stamp their Event Books twice in the same calendar year.
(a.) Only one stamp maybe placed in your Event Books from 05 May to 30 June (2007+).
(b.) A second stamp with the “+” sign removed maybe placed in your Event Book from 1 July to 28 Oct (2007).
(c.) Distance Books maybe stamped as many times as you desire to walk these Events

Louisbourg and Baddeck will remain on the “National Lighthouse Award Program” and those persons who are participating in this “special event” can still have their Lighthouse Event Books stamped as per the programs rules.

Sydney & North Sydney:

The Year Round Events in Sydney and North Sydney will continue as YRE’s with the CVF rules applied for the “+” sign.
(a.) Only one stamp maybe placed in your Event Books, from 1 January to 30 June (2007 +).
(b.) A second stamp with the “+” sign removed maybe placed in your Event Book from 1 July to 31 Dec 2007.
(c.) Distance Books maybe stamped as many times as you desire to walk these Events.


DISTANCES:

The rules pertaining to distances on the Year Round, Seasonal & Mid-Seasonal Events have recently been changed. We are now authorized to offer shorter 5-9k walk events including the 10k or more distances that we currently offer on our routes. Therefore in the next few months the walk committee will prepare 5k routes for all of our Events.

OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR 2006

Club Members And Friends:

Regretfully I must inform you that our Christmas Party will not take place as planned on the 10 Dec.

Our new host(s) have asked for a change of DATE & TIME and the General Meeting Held on Saturday, 25 November agreed to this change:

The Christmas Party will now take place Saturday, 16 Dec @ 6PM.

My sincere Thank You to Kathy & Doug Grant who will be our host for this party.

Their home is located on 20 Hemlock Street (Hemlock extends across Kimberley Dr. and #20 is on the right), Sydney, B1S 1S4.

Kimberley Drive & Hemlock are located off Kings Road between Jaspers Restaurant and Price Choppers Grocery Store (a short distance on the right handside, when entering Sydney from the #4 Hwy on Kings Road and just after The Super Value Store).

I will do my best to inform all members however I ask that you pass this message onto anyone you know not to have e-mail.

This will be a pot luck style party

Thank You for your support in this matter.

The 10 anniversary t-shirts that Barb & Cal designed will be available at $15.00 each.

They (Cal& Barb) are now taking orders e-mail cbthistle@yahoo.com

The brochure and registration form for our 10th Anniversary celebration in Louisbourg is now available for distribution.

All of the information about the walk events and the dinner will be included in the brochure and for those attending the party I will have sufficient copies on hand to pass out.

Get your order for t-shirts and fill out the registration for our candlelight dinner ASAP as there is limited seating at Fortress Louisbourgs Restaurant.

NEW T-SHIRT FOR OUR 10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

HERE IT IS THE NEW T- SHIRT, AVAILABLE ONLY THROUGHOUT 2007.

THANK YOU WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT ON THIS PROJECT

2006 LAST WALK, ANNUAL MEETING, PARTY TIME

[1] The Last Guided Walk For 2006

When: The walk will take place on Sunday, Nov. 12th

Registration: Starts at 12:30 PM

Walk Begins: 1:00 PM

Directions to the Start Point for this Guided Walk Event:
From Hwy 125 Exit 3, follow Rte.223 past Leitches Creek for approx. 7kms to the base of the Barrachois Mountain.

The walk will begin at the gravel pit located on the left (west) side of the road.

This is a guided walk event of 10k Rated at 3C, those walkers wanting to do 5 k are welcomed to do so.

[2] 9th Annual Club Meeting:

Place: 106 Carmichael Drive, Sydney River

When: Saturday, November 25th, 2006

Time: 2:00 PM (opening remarks by the chairperson will begin promptly at 2:05 PM)

The meeting is open to all club members and anyone interested or joining The Cape Breton Island Hoppers Volkssport Club.

We will be discussing the plans for the clubs 10th Anniversary celebrations for 2007 and we will have the brochure for these events available as well.

There will be a discussion as well on our 4th Celtic Colours Walk Program.

If you do not have our 2007 Guided Walk schedule you can pick it up at the annual meeting.

The club executive committee’s is open to any member who would like to volunteer for a position.

We will try to make this meeting as informal as possible but as informative as we can.

[3] IT's PARTY TIME, Annual End Of Season or Christmas Party:

This potluck dinner party will take place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Come out and enjoy the company of your fellow walkers; after this party we are taking an unprecedented extended break until March 2007.

Place: TO BE CONFIRMED AT A NEW LOCATION

When: Sunday, 10 December 2006

Time: 4:00 PM

The North River Trek

The trek along the North River Trail proved to be a little wetter under foot then we had anticipated.
Earlier in the morning before our walk there had been high winds and a heavy rainfall, particuliarly in the Glace Bay and Sydney areas where some power interuptions had been reported.
Undaunted by the weather a number of volkssporters from the Island Hoppers made their way to the North River Trail head.
Before starting off there was a light shower and wind. Then as we made our way up the trail entrance the sun broke out of the clouds and though the temp was a little cool we had a very comfortable walk.
Parts of the trail had turned into streams but we were able to walk on the high sides of the trail with little or no problems. We did not have to deviate from the trail as we have with some of the trails after a rain storm. The trail is well packed and rocky, not muddy, making it easier to walk during inclement weather.
The trail is also lined with a heavy foilage of fallen leaves with a distinctive smell in the air that you only get in the fall of the year when travelling through the forest. The vibrant colours of the fall were still visible but will soon disappear if we continue to have such wet weather this fall season.
Along the trail we passed over two bridges and the streams had turned into malstorms, the once tranquil small waterfalls along these brooks could be heard in the distance as we were approaching and then departing the bridges that crossed over these now new rivers flowing into and feeding the larger North River.
At the 4.5 k mark we turned left towards the North River; if we had continued to the right along the main trail we would have gone onto the North River Falls. Today was not the day for that particuliar trip.
At the rivers edge, the planned turn around point, we noted that the river had swollen over its banks. Where we had stood 3 days ago on the prewalk was now part of the river and after a short break we opted to head back as the weather was once again changing, thick black clouds engulfed the mountains around us and the temperture quickly and amazingly dropped in a few moments.
On the way back I noted fresh moose tracks coming up from the river heading for higher ground, apparently the moose was not interested in crossing the river today.
We were a fortunate group of walkers as we made it make to the Start/Finish Point without getting wet and in fact most if not all the walkers heeded the advice of the prewalkers to wear good hiking boots and we arrived back without even getting our feet wet.
A successful and wonderful walk along the North River.

In the coming years we will again consider this walk event for our Celtic Colours Program as there is potential for three seperate walks in this area; this Includes a much more comfortable start point to the North River Trail other then the SP that is located in the North River Park picnic area.

MESSAGE FROM SUZANNE & LEE LAZARO

ON THE CANOE LAKE TRAIL,CELTIC COLOURS WALKS, 2006




A VIEW OF CANOE LAKE, CELTIC COLOURS WALKS, 2006



The following message was sent by Lee and Suzanne Lazaro, California USA

Rollie - please share this short message with the Island Hoppers.
Thanks, Lee.

" Hello and greetings to the Island Hoppers ! Suzanne and I, as well as Suzanne's mom, Janet, wanted to share with you how pleased we were to join the Island Hoppers volksporting group this summer, and how much we enjoyed walking and talking with many of you. Due to the arrival of friends at our home in Cape Breton last week, we were unable to make the final walk in Louisburg, but we enjoyed the other Celtic Colours walks with you. The Island Hoppers are a fun group and we look forward to joining you next Spring/Summer on some new walks !

PS - some of you may have read in the Post last week that Suzanne had accidentally lost her camera during the visit of the Premier of Nova Scotia to Dominion Bay Beach, where we had (of course) been taking a walk ! The great news is, we recovered the camera with pictures intact, thanks to a typically honest Cape Bretoner, Mr. Joseph Elsworth of Dominion Bay, to whom we are very grateful (he of course received the obligatory bag of turnips as a reward! :-) Therefore, we will be sending Rollie the group photo's from our Canoe Lake walk.

Best Regards for a wonderful Fall and Winter !

Lee and Suzanne Lazaro"

Christmas Party, A Visitor to Louisbourg, Last Two Walks for October!

Our 3rd Annual Celtic Colours Walks will end this coming Saturday, 14th October with one of our most favourite walks going to the lighthouse in Louisbourg. After this walk I will be prepared to give the statistics of the numbers of walkers and where they are from for those who are interested.

We will start this event at Han Beck Sea Products parking lot located off Main Street Louisbourg.

Registration begins at 1:30 PM and we step off at 2:00 PM.

Special Note to Club members: If you have completed this event since 01 July of this year you may walk for distance only and the stamp for your DISTANCE BOOK is only $1.00; all other club members who have not walked in Louisbourg at anytime this year or who have walked prior to 31 June,you may stamp both Event & Distance Books at a cost of $2.00. PLEASE CHECK YOUR BOOKS PRIOR TO THE EVENT for a + sign and the last three numbers for Louisbourg are 243 with a stamp image of a lighthouse.

On Wednesday, Oct 11, five of our club members met Sylvia Fisher, a member of The St. Alberts Trekkers, Alberta. Sylvia is travelling by cruise ship from Montreal to Norfork, Virginia. It is Sylvia's goal to do all the capital city walks and lighthouse walks across Canada. The Island Hoppers have helped her with this goal by escorting her out to Louisbourg one of the two designated lighthouse walks here in Cape Breton and a part of the National Lighthouse Program.
Sylvia will try to return to CB in the near future to try and complete our other lighthouse walk in Baddeck. She may try to accomplish this during our 10th Anniversary celebrations in 2007.

Thank You to Carmel Coffin, Elsie Buck, Lucy Nardini and Bill Hopkins for joining Sylvia and myself for a great day of walking. The weather was perfect, unusual for Louisbourg,the comradiere on the trail was equally perfect.

SUNDAY, OCT 29th we are in North River Bridge at the Provincial Park, picnic area for a 10k walk along the North River. PLEASE NOTE: We will not be going to the falls.
Start Time 1:00PM, please register at 12:30

The Annual End Of Season and Christmas Party!

This year Marion Hopkins will be our host for this Pot Luck Event.

185 Fatima Drive, Sydney River

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10th, 2006

Later in November we will coordinate what type of prepared dish that you would like to bring.

I though I should share one of the photos that I came cross while going through my files of photos that were sent to me recently. This smiling couple is Kathy and Doug Grant on top of Broad Cove Mountain in the Highland National Park. A fantastic view of Cape Smokey in the back ground.

Glasgow and Pacquette Lakes Walk

Glasgow Lake in The Cape Breton Highlands National Park



The view from the turn around point of our walk from Paquette Lake to Glasgow Lake.
From this point it is a complete 360' panoramic view of the highlands that few tourist and native Capers will ever see.
This is the scene that awaited the Island Hoppers on our latest trip to the National Park on Sunday, 24 Sept. 2006.

Thank You to Terry Crawley for the latest pictures.

More photos can be found on our Photo web site. Click on the site to the right of this page.

With the Glasgow Lake Walk Event under his belt, Terry has now completed his first 10 events with the club. Good Show Terry!

On this Walk Event Nancy and Jerry Haley from Sydney joined us for the first time and from all indications they will be joining us again in the near future. Welcome aboard folks, I'm sure you will find us a friendly group of walkers.

My Thank you to all who participated in the prewalk on Tuesday Sept 26th at St Alphonse Church In New Victoria in preparation for the Celtic Colours Festival coming up on 7,8 and 9 Oct 2006.

TWO WALK EVENTS -- HIGHLAND NATIONAL PARK

We have two Walk Events remaining for the month of September:

[1]

DATE & TIME: Sunday Sept. 17th, Registration at 1:30 PM and the Walk begins at 2:00 PM

WHERE: Warren Lake Picnic Area in The Highlands National Park

The Guided Walk around Warren Lake is Approx 5k and the remaining portion of the walk continues to Broad Cove Mtn via Warren Lake Road and return to the picnic area is a total distance of 11k.

Joe MacKinnon will lead the walk around the lake and Rollie Coombes will continue with the Broad Cove Mtn portion.

Broad Cove Mtn is quite steep and I advise all participants to take their time ascending this Mountain, excellent views of the highlands, Cape Smokey, here you are above the the eagles who soar along the shoreline and forest below you! Don't forget to take your camera and binoculars.

[2]

DATE & TIME: Sunday Sept. 24th, Registration begins 1:30 PM and the Walk begins at 2:00 PM

WHERE: Glasgow Lakes/Paquette Lake in The Highlands National Park

-- From Neil's Harbour continue for 9k along the Cabot Trail towards Cape North
-- Watch for Highland National Park Road Signs indicating Glasgow and Paquette Lake Trail on the left side of the Highway. The road to our start Point is approx 2ks in land from the main highway.

This is not a steep mountain trail though it mostly follows a dried up river bed and is rocky in some places; however once we reach the turn around point you will realize that you have been walking in the Highlands of Cape Breton as the panoramic view before you unfolds the secrets of this fantastic National Park.

This is our last adventure into the Highland National Park as a club for this season and we will not be here for 2007 as well. This is the last chance to walk the highlands as a group for at least another year or so.

If you are interested in walking or hiking the highlands the annual " Hike The Highlands Festival" takes place in the second or third week of Sept. Unfortunately this group out of Ingonish and the Northeast Highlands Association are not affiliated with the IVV and I repeat myself by saying unfortunately their walk/hikes are not sanctioned by the Canadian Volkssport Federation, they are a separate group.

We (The Island Hoppers) are holding the only 2 IVV sanctioned events in The Highland National Park as indicated above for this year; one event on Sun. the 17th and the other on the 24thl Regretfully we are not a part of the "Hike The Highlands" festival.

SPECIAL EVENT ON THE MIRA

OUT ON THE MIRA!

We invite club members and friends to join us for a scenic 2 hour boat tour on the Mira River.

Please note there is limited space for 23 passangers and bookings will be on a first come first served basis at a cost of $15.00/person. RESERVE A SEAT NOW.

Mira Boat Tour will be held on:

SATURDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2006

TIME: 2:00PM (please arrive at least 15 minutes before departure time)

START POINT: Mira Boat Tour Dock on The Brickyard Road, from Sydney take Rte 22 the Louisbourg Hwy and continue to Albert Bridge, cross the bridge and turn left (East)on to The Brickyard Road and continue for approx. 1.5
Km and watch for the sign "Mra Boat Tours" located on the left and just before the Mira Provincial Park.

For more info please contact Elsie Buck at 562-3117 to RESERVE A SEAT NOW or

Cape Breton Island Hoppers



Due to scheduling difficulties our Mira Boat Tour that was to be held in October during The Celtic Colours Festival has been cancelled!

TOWER ROAD WALK

We had a very good turn out for this walk even though six of our members had signed up for the walk events in Cape Chignecto with the Central Nova Volkssport Club.
Participating with other volkssport clubs can be a good thing for our club as well as the host club; I encourage all members to visit other clubs when they are holding special walk events as this encourages their members to come and visit Cape Breton as well. All of us can be ambassadors for our club and the island.

The Tower Road Trail proved to be an easy walking trail along a portion of the "old Sydney & Louisbourg Railway" the Marconi Towers Road and Sand Lake Road with an excursion across a footbridge at MacAskill Brook. There was even a stopover at the former "Marconi House" now owned by Doug Cunningham who was gracious enough to give the group a breviated tour of this "designated Nova Scotia Heritage property", unfortunately the home is not open to the public and if anyone requires more information on Marconi and his work here in Cape Breton please check out the Marconi Museum at Table Head in Glace Bay.
Doug is the brother of Shirley Pettigrew our walk leader for this delightful event and on behalf of you the club members my sincere thank you to Shirley and Doug for allowing us to view this home and for a great day of walking.
This walk will be highly considered for another year on our schedule.

Prior to the walk I had the privilege of introducing Karen and Bernard Lalanne from Coxheath, Sydney. Bernard and Karen walk each day for 40-50 minutes and decided to make this a challenge walk for themselves as they had never walked 10k before. They completed the event with a lot of enthusasim and ready to go on the excursion with us in the highlands on 17 September at Warren Lake and Broad Cove Mountain. Welcome to the club folks we are pleased to have you join us at any of our walk events! My thanks also to Doug and Kathy Grant for introducing the Lalannes to volkssporting.

The Walk Group on the first bridge along The Mabou trail, 20 August 2006

COMING EVENT FOR THE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND

FIRST WALK IN SEPTEMBER

We will be in the Glace Bay and Tower Rd area on Sunday, 03 Sept @1:30 pm for registration, the Guided Walk Event begins 2:00 pm.

The original Start Point has been changed from "The Old Pumping Station Road" to the intersection of Marconi Road and Tower Road about 200 m from the original SP, this should not cause any real problems as both points are visible from each other.

We will have Volkssport & CBIH> road signs along the route. I intend to have ROAD SIGNS beginning in Reserve Mines pointing the way to Tower Rd., keep an eye out for the BIG BOLD VOLKSSPORT SIGNS.

This Guided Walk Event will feature a trail along a portion of the old S&L Railroad, old forest, a former popular swimming and picnic area that was reached by the former train system that stopped here along the route to Louisbourg, a glimpse of The Marconi House that was built by the inventor when he lived and worked on his famous overseas wireless projects in the Glace Bay area, Sand Lake and a nice quite ideallic country road. Again the original 2C was for this trail was overstated, it is a very easy walk and should be enjoyed by all participants.

Come join the Island Hoppers as we explore this great Island.

NEW CVF AWARDS COORDINATOR

The new CVF Awards Coordinator is:

Lea Tocher

Please send your Distance And Event Books to the following address:

Lea Tocher
450 Rouge Road
Winnipeg, MB
R3K 1K4
Canada

MABOU WALK, 2007 SCHEDULE, TOWER ROAD WALK

Our NEXT SCHEDULED WALK EVENT is:

Mabou Rail Trail, 45 South West Ridge Road, Mabou, this is the parking lot at "Mother of Sorrows Pioneer Shrine"

Sunday August 20th, Registration begins at 1:30 and the walk Starts promptly at 2:00 PM.

The walk will be a 5 & 10K event lead by Elsie Buck and Joe MacKinnon and is rated 2B.

Joe and Elsie have done another pre-walk of this event and have reported back that 2B may have been to much of a high rating for this trail as it is a well groomed trail, easy walking; they have also scouted out the trail in the opposite direction. They were very impressed by this newer route that they have asked the walk committee to include this portion of the trail for the 2007 schedule. This is now on our 2007 schedule.

Your walk committee have been working on the 07 schedule and it has been sent to CVF for approval and insertion in the IVV's 'World Book Of Walking' program.
Club members will begin receiving the 2007 schedule by the end of Sept of this year, one month earlier then previous years.

We are now compiling trails for our 2008 schedule and are looking forward to suggestions from other club members, as you can see we are very optimistic that we will continue this club well beyond our 10th year celebrations in 2007.

GREAT THINGS ARE PLANNED FOR 2007 BUT WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP THIS GREAT CLUB GOING.WE NEED ACTIVE CLUB MEMBERS WHO LIKE TO WALK FOR FUN, FITNESS AND FRIENDSHIP AND WHO ARE WILLING TO TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE AS WALK LEADERS, SWEEPS OR TO WORK ON A COMMITTEE.

FIRST WALK IN SEPTEMBER

We will be in the Glace Bay and Tower Rd area on Sunday, 03 Sept @1:30 pm for registration and the Guided Walk Event begins 2:00 pm.

The original Start Point has been changed from "The Old Pumping Station Road" to the intersection of Marconi Road and Tower Road about 200 m from the original SP, this should not cause any real problems as both points are visible from each other.

We will have CBIH> road signs along the route. I intend to have ROAD SIGNS beginning in Reserve Mines pointing the way to Tower Rd., keep an eye out for the BIG BOLD VOLKSSPORT SIGNS.

This Guided Walk Event will feature a trail along a portion of the old S&L Railroad, old forest, a former popular swimming and picnic area that was reached by the former train system that stopped here along the route to Louisbourg, a glimpse of The Marconi House that was built by the inventor when he lived and worked on his famous overseas wireless projects in the Glace Bay area, Sand Lake and a nice quite ideallic country road. Again the original 2C was for this trail was overstated, it is a very easy walk and should be enjoyed by all participants.


Come join your club members for some great walking, exercise and friendship.

LIGHTHOUSE DAYS & SCHEDULED WALK IN MABOU

There will be a special 10k walk event in Louisbourg on Saturday, 12 August.

Iris Stevens from the National Lighthouse Society and the local chapter "Louisbourg Lighthouse Society" have invited us to lead a walk to the "site of the oldest lighthouse in Canada and the second oldest in North America"; your executive on behalf of the CBIH have accepted this invitation to participate in "National Lighthouse Day".

Registration begins at 1:30 PM and the walk Starts @ 2:00 PM.

The Start Point is The S&L Museum on Main Street Louisbourg.

The walk leader for this event is Shirley Pettigrew with assistance from Elsie Buck.

We will use our Louisbourg YRE stamp for this event. For our club we usually begin at "Pecks Store" on Wolfe Street , however we have accepted the kind invitation of the "Lighthouse Society" to lead their special walk event from the museum for this occasion only.

The walk will proceed up Havenside Drive and to the lighthouse and return to the museum; our members and those with the lighthouse society who want to complete the 10k circuit will continue on our regular route around the town in order to get the 10k stamp in their distance books plus the event book if you haven't done this walk for 2006.

please pass this message on to other club members, bring a friend on a nice leisurely walk, sorry I do not have time to phone all club members, I am having an unplanned busy summer.

Our NEXT OFFICIAL SCHEDULED WALK EVENT is: Mabou Rail Trail, 45 South West Ridge Road, Mabou, this is the parking lot at "Mother of Sorrows Pioneer Shrine"
Sunday August 20th, Registration begins at 1:30 and the walk Starts at 2:00 PM.

The walk will be a 5 & 10K event lead by Elsie Buck and Joe MacKinnon and id rated 2B.

Volksmarchers walk for the health of it!