Quebec is a massive state and after looking at the map we decided to just take a straight route down to Montreal. The weather is still wet and cold plus we were getting tired of most of the tourist attractions been closed. The summer really doesn’t kick in up here until mid June so I will never complain again about the winters in Chicago; the Canadians are definitely unfortunate with their long winters.

We drove down the shore of the St. Lawrence River and passed through some really cute towns. The countryside was very green and farming seemed to be the main occupation. We ended up in a town called Montmagny as I had read about an Accordion Museum there.  I thought it would be a really unique thing to do as I am sure there are very few accordion museums out there. Of course it was closed and I was disappointed yet again. We decided to stay anyway at a campground nearby as we intended to visit the Irish Memorial Site at Gros Isle. That night there was a botchy ball tournament at the campground and thanks to Francie we got talking to the only English speaking person there. It turned out he was one of the councilors of Montmagny and he said he would organize a tour of the museum just for us! So on a Sunday morning at 9am, this man Michelle, picked us up from the campground, drove us all around the town and then to the museum. It was pretty small from the outside but had about 60 accordions of every style and make and some dating back to 1837. The exhibit explanations were all in French but I was delighted just to see everything. I brought my own accordion, which was very like one of the boxes on display, and played a tune for Michelle. He said they had an accordion festival every September and I should come back and play at it. Unfortunately we were not allowed take any pictures but just been there was a great experience.

From Montmagny, we were able to take a ferry to Gros Isle. This island served as the major quarantine station for immigrants arriving from Europe from 1832 to 1937. 600,000 Irish passed through here, the majority during the years of the famine and 7,500 Irish died here. They declared it a National Historic Site and erected the tallest Celtic Cross in the world in memory of all the Irish. We were the only English speaking couple on the tour so we had our own guide who was excellent. We were there for four hours and she brought us through every part of the island and explained everything thoroughly. We were amazed and had no idea so many Irish came to Canada. She said at the time the ticket to Canada was a lot cheaper than to America, so a lot of them used as a route to America. We went through the disinfecting chambers where every person and their belongings had to be disinfected. Their luggage went through steam chambers and the people had to shower in very scary looking rooms with mercury water. When they were done, those deemed healthy enough went into quarantine and were then allowed on to Quebec, but a lot were already dying of typhus and malaria. They had a memorial wall with all the names of the people that died. Every Irish name you can think of was there including a Patrick Bracken and James Doorley. It was really sad and emotional but it was a real education for us to see what happened all those years ago. It really makes you appreciate how far the system has come and thankfully Aer Lingus doesn’t make us take mercury showers, although I have sat beside lads that could have done with one. As we were getting back on the boat one of the other guides stopped us and said he heard we were from Ireland. He was from Quebec city and had become friends with a fella from Blueball (just outside Tullamore) at the university. He actually went to Ireland and lived in Blueball for 6 months and frequented Joe Lees for a pint at the weekends. Small world, we can’t go anywhere!

We arrived in Quebec City after Montmagny. There was a campground not far from downtown and we met our German friends again that we met previously in Cape Breton. They are driving across Canada also so I am sure we will keep meeting along the way. We spent a day walking around the entire old part of the city in the spills of rain. There are not many cities you could walk around in the rain and still see the beauty of the place. They are celebrating their 400^th year anniversary this year and you can definitely feel the history of the place in the air. It is a gorgeous city, very European and Parisian looking with quaint little streets. It is perched on a cliff and the original wall still circles the entire city. We were able to walk along the top of the wall in places. It is up there now with one of our favorite cities so far. From Quebec we drove to Trois-Rivieres, which is the second oldest city in North America. We decided seen as we were already in the oldest it would be a good place to stop. We are off to Montreal to visit my cousin and then Toronto after that to visit my brother. So it will be nice to have a few civil stops and sleep in a real bed for a change.

May 17^th - Prince Edward Island – New Brunswick

From Nova Scotia we drove to Prince Edward Island. I think there is a cloud following us as it rained practically the whole time we were there. We stayed at the National Park which I am sure is beautiful during the summer. The island is gorgeous and you are never more that a 15 minute drive from a beach. We went to Green Gables and did a tour of the house that Anne of Green Gables was set in. This year is the 100^th anniversary since the book was published. I bought a copy as I was ashamed to say I have never read it. We went to PEI via ferry and left it via the Confederation Bridge which is 13km long, apparently the longest artificial bridge over iced waters. Again we would have liked to stay longer but weather really was crap.

Back in New Brunswick, we stayed our first night at a Wal-Mart in Moncton in the rain again. The state is bilingual but the people start speaking in French first. As we continued up the coast towards Quebec, it becomes 100% French. We met several people who didn’t have a word of English. Every state we drive into has excellent tourist offices who give out free maps and guidebooks. It was getting close to my 30^th birthday so I looked at the map and decided to celebrate it in a town called Tracadie-Sheila! It was a small town with really nothing happening except a museum on leprosy but at least my name was written everywhere. I was a little sad saying goodbye to my twenties (am sure Jimmy was too!) but got over it with the help of some local snails and mussels and of course some vodka. The day after my birthday we set out on another quest – to find the European Championship game between Man United and Chelsea. After stopping in about five towns we finally lucked out in a place called Bathurst. It was probably the only bar in New Brunswick showing the game and of course there had to be two Chelsea fans there! We all know how the game ended so no need to say anymore except up Man U….

Well the weather never got any better in Newfoundland, if anything it got worse. We had rain, sleet, snow, fog, high winds, you name it and it was freezing cold. We went for our night out in St. Johns and had a great time. The main nightlife street, George Street, is like Temple Bar in Dublin with plenty of Irish pubs. We ended up in Bridie Molloys where the local band Tarahan was playing. They were excellent, played all the Irish ballads. We are honestly amazed at how Irish the place is everything from the food, music, accents, sense of humor, weather; it really is home away from home. They call the drive around the southern peninsula the Irish Loop and apparently down there they speak with accents thicker than ours! But with the bad weather, we didn’t make it down that far. We did get to see some icebergs though around St. Johns, three of the 890 that are floating around the island.

The campground we stayed at was not officially open but was only 10 minutes from downtown. We met the maddest Newfie couple, who were actually living at the campground while their house is been built. The only met 10 months ago and were married after 13 days in the bar they met in! We had the best craic with them. Gord played the guitar and Melissa the harmonicas so we had a bit of a jamming session. (Gord and Melissa, if you are reading this, thanks again for a great night and we will definitely be keeping in touch). Gord cooked up a pot of fresh lobsters and gave us two of them. We didn’t have any of the appropriate tools so he gave us a hammer which sufficed. They taught us some local jargo too which was hilarious. If two fishermen pass each other by on their boats, “arnyna” means did you catch anything and “narnyna” means not a thing. And after you eat your dinner you say “I’m full as an egg”. Scurrifungeing is a thorough cleaning and whizgigging is being foolish or having a laugh. After plenty of beer it was getting harder to say these!

Despite the weather it was still great to be in St. Johns, the oldest city in North America and the most easterly point of North America. We also got to go to Mile Zero of the Trans –Canada Highway. It is marked by a building downtown called Mile One Center but Gord told us the real location was out of the town near the dump! The only disappointment was not been able to see Manchester United win the premiership. We went into every pub we could find and nobody was showing it and most of them hadn’t a clue what we were even looking for. Jimmy was very upset and even more upset when my brother texted me and told us he had made a mistake with the date of the game, it was the day after. So we went through the same thing all over again the next day.

We would have liked to have seen more of Newfoundland as it is absolutely gorgeous but the weather was unbearable. We are five weeks on the road now so it’s time to get to warmer weather. We left St. Johns and did the 12 hour drive back to Port-aux-Basques in one day and got on the ferry that night. When we got back to Cape Breton we went to see Martina, the ticket lady we met on the way out. She was so nice, even offered to let us stay in her house. (thanks Martina but we decided to keep going). We passed through a town called Baddeck and across the bay was the summer home of Alexander Graham Bell and where he is actually buried. Nobody is allowed near the house as it is still owned by the Bell family but they had a memorial for him in the town. We stayed in Maragree Forks that night at yet another campground that was not officially opened. The family that owned it was lovely and had 3 dogs for Francie to play with.  We drove up Ceilidh Trail once more but nothing is opened until June 1^st. I knew we were coming on off season but I didn’t expect that everything would be completely shutdown. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to play in any sessions or hear any music but the scenery and the people have definitely made up for it. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are both fabulous states and will be worth a trip back again in the future.

We arrived in North Sydney and inquired about the ferry to Newfoundland. There are 2 sailings a day 11.30am and 11.30pm so we decided to go that night. When we were checking in with the ticket lady, she was very friendly and was excited that we were from Ireland. She told us all about her trip there last year to a friend of hers that used to play music with her Dad. After about five minutes the friend she was talking about sounded very familiar and it turned out it was Sean MacGabhann who I played in the ceili band with a few years back. Small world. She gave me her phone number so we are going to call her when we get back to Cape Breton.

It took seven hours to get to Newfoundland. Luckily we were allowed to leave Francie in the van and check on him ever so often. We bought 2 bunks as well so we could get some sleep. After a few drinks in the bar the voyage went quick enough. We arrived into Port-Aux Basques which is on the other side of the island, 800km from St. Johns. The ferry to Argentine near St. Johns doesn’t start running until June, so we had a lot of driving ahead of us. As soon as we left the port the scenery was just amazing. There was nothing but snow capped, mountains either side of us the whole way. We decided to go to Gros Morne National Park which was also absolutely gorgeous and we finally saw plenty of mousse just eating away on the side of the roads. We finally got to St. Johns the next day and the weather was crap, typical Irish weather, cold, wet and windy. We went to get something to eat and got the Newfoundland’s traditional dish called “Jig’s dinner”. I honestly thought I was having a dinner my mother cooked. It was potato, cabbage, turnip, mushy peas (but they call it pea pudding and it was yellow not green but tasted the exact same) and salted beef which is very close to the Irish bacon and bread pudding for desert. The vegetables had been cooked in the salt water from the meat and were gorgeous. All the place names and peoples name are Irish and they even look Irish. I swear it’s like Newfoundland was chopped off the west coast of Ireland and just happen to float over here.  We just spent today doing laundry and other chores as the weather is still crap. We are going to hit the town tonight, imagine that, a real pub since we left Chicago. There seems to be plenty of Irish bars and music so looking forward to it.

May 5th, 2008 – Nova Scotia

After leaving Sussex we continued on Route 2 towards Nova Scotia. We passed a sign for Magnetic Hill and decided to check it out. Well it’s true, we parked at the bottom of the hill and put the van in neutral and up she went. We did it twice to be sure. Even a volley ball went up the hill. Apparently there is one in Clonaslee so anyone at home should go and do it. After that magnetic experience we crossed into Nova Scotia. It’s a beautiful state and reminds us a lot of home thirty years ago.  We saw a sign outside a house which said “Cow manure, $4 a bag”. The major towns are few and far between so we’ve done a lot of driving through barren countryside. The clay is a copper red color which turns the water a reddish brown. It’s an unusual sight to look at the ocean and not see blue water. The camera is not doing the color justice. We passed through a small village called Springhill. It used to be a mining village but hundreds of men died in explosions and accidents. Jimmy remembered the song Luke Kelly sings about it called the “The Springhill Mine Disaster”. So we visited the memorial site and listened to the song on the iPod.  Springhill is also the birthplace of the famous Ann Murray, the singer songwriter from the 80’s. I haven’t a clue of any of her songs but Jimmy remembers her. Unfortunately her visitor’s office was closed, what a shame.

The national park we were headed for was closed but we stopped at a tourist information centre in Parsboro and the girl there was really helpful. She was able to give us the 2008 directory of campgrounds in Nova Scotia. We are about three weeks too early for the season but there are some places open. We are glad to be here on the off season and have the place to ourselves. It gets overcrowded during the summer apparently. We stayed at a campground in Debert. It was owned by a couple from Newfoundland and was our first experience of the Newfie accent. It definitely has an Irish air to it. They were happy to let me play a few tunes on the accordion. Jimmy is getting good on the bodhran so we are well prepared for the sessions in Cape Breton.

We decided to do the south coast of Nova Scotia first and drove through the Annapolis Valley where most of Nova Scotia’s fresh produce is grown.  It’s a lovely view of farms and orchards. We passed through a town called Grand Pre where the French first settled. They called themselves Acadians and built dykes along the shoreline to protect the farmland. There are 1200 hectares below sea level, protected by just 9000m of dykes. It was amazing to see it. We stopped at a local market and bought some fresh vegetables and fruit. I haven’t got that real smell of an apple or flavor since my father used to grow them.

We ended up in a place called Scott’s Bay. There were no shops let alone any campgrounds but luckily we found a perfect spot to camp right by the beach. There is a 15km hike that you can do to the top of Cape Split which overlooks the Bay of Fundy. This is where the most extreme tides in the world can be seen. Apparently, the flow of water between Cape Split and Parsboro shore is equal to the combined flow of all the rivers and streams in the world! So we headed off at 9am on the hike. It’s supposed to take 4 hours roundtrip; well it took us 4 hours just to get to the cliffs. The trail starts and then disappears after about five minutes. With no signs we continued on by the coast side thinking we would find it again. Wrong, we went through briars, gorges, across streams, up serious slopes for about 3 hours before finding the trail again. Poor Francie was destroyed with the sticky pine branches; he just collapsed at one stage and wouldn’t go any further. We eventually met other people who had also gone wrong and found our way to the top. The view was worth it though. We had hoped to be there for mid-tide so we could see the difference between the low and high but by the time we got there it was already low tide. Thank God we brought sandwiches and food for Francie. We had a picnic and a little nap and stayed for a few hours. Although we didn’t see high tide, you could definitely see the strong flow of water. For a bay it was flowing more like a river. We made it back down in an hour and a half on a nice, wide, tree cleared path. We met two other couples on the way who also had got completely lost.  When got near the end we could see where we went wrong. About five minutes from the end of the trail it stopped and we had to make our way through bushes and briars to get out. So it was so easy to go wrong as there is now way you would think the trail goes through these briars. It was 5pm when we got back to the van, long day but well worth it. We left a stew cooking in our 12 volt crock pot in the morning and it was just cooked when we got back. All the 12 volt stuff we got is working deadly off the solar panel. Needless to say after the day we had and a big bowl of stew we were in bed by 7.30pm.

We continued down the coast to Digby’s Neck and finally found a campground open. The owner is known as the Lobster Man as he makes these little ornaments out of the lobster shell and sells them. He was a really interesting character and even had a mini museum in the basement of his house with everything you need to know about lobsters and fishing. It was spilling rain when we arrived and very cold again. The weather here is like Ireland, changes from day to day. But luckily the next day was a beautiful sunny day. Five minutes from the campground we were able to get a ferry to Long Island. The coastline here is very like the Giant’s Causeway at home, full of columnar basalt rock. We did the hike down to Balancing Rock; it’s a 7m high stone column just about balancing itself on another rock. You’ll see in the pictures what I mean. From Long Island we were able to get another ferry to Brier Island. It’s a tiny island but the drive around was fabulous. We went to the monument of Joshua Slocum; he was the first man to sail around the world solo and started out from here.

From Digby’s Neck, we headed for Liverpool on the east coast as we decided to start making our way towards Cape Breton. Nice town but not much to do so we left again the next day and drove up the coast towards Halifax. We stopped in the cutest little village I have ever seen called Peggy’s Cove. When we saw the sign for it we thought we better go and see it for the two Peggys at home. Apparently there are only 60 residents and they all have their houses painted a different color, bright yellows, blues etc I hope the pictures do it justice. After that we went into Halifax for a walk around. It was the opening day for the World Championship Ice Hockey games so the place was mental. Francie was like a rock star, everyone wanted a picture of him. We got photos taken with the Slovenian, Latvian and Canadian fans. We left after that and found a gas station to pull into that night.

We crossed into Cape Breton then. Thankfully the weather is not bad, sunny but still cold. We drove up the Ceilidh Trail and all of the session spots are not opened yet so we are going to come back after Newfoundland and hopefully I will find a session.  We stayed at the beginning of the Cabot Trail the first night near Cheticamp. The Cabot Trail is the world famous scenic highway that runs through the national park along the coasts and over the Cape Breton Highlands. We started out early the following morning and were completely blown away with the scenery. Around every corner was another amazing view. We were stopping every five minutes to take pictures. It is definitely up there with one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.

We had a map of all the hiking trails that you can do so we decided to do the Skyline Trail as it offered ocean views and chance to see some wildlife. As we were hiking we were joking about seeing a bear, never expecting to actually see one. About 40 minutes into the trail, we were yapping away happily and the next minute I saw a huge hairy object sitting about 10 feet from us just off the trail. Naively I said to Jimmy “what’s that?” and his jaw dropped about four foot. He grabbed my hand and we backed up slowly. I think I went into shock. We backed up about 10 steps and did what they say not to do, ran like hell out of there. We couldn’t believe what just happened. The bear was sleeping on his side but it looked like he was about 4 feet high and 7 feet long. Thank God, Francie was not allowed on this trail and we left him behind in the van. We met a couple during our sprint back and told them about the bear. The girl was from the area and said she sees them all the time. They are called Black Bear and are not carnivores or aggressive. She said there has never been an attack. They were going ahead with their two dogs and I wanted to go back with them but Jimmy said not a chance. So that was our wildlife adventure in Cape Breton.  We ended up driving to Meat Cove that night and found the most perfect camping spot ever. We were on the very northernmost tip of Cape Breton on a cliff looking out at the ocean.

This morning we went for another hike to Cape St. Lawrence as apparently you can see whales from the cove. Yet again, the trail was not marked out very well and after two hours we were near the top of the mountain and there was snow on the ground. We also noticed very large sh*t and didn’t want to have the same encounter as yesterday so we headed back to the van. At the moment we are parked outside the library in Ingonish stealing their wireless internet as they are closed. We are headed for Sydney and then Newfoundland so I will update again when I can.