August 14, 2016

St. Pierre Beach was lovely, except for the rain showers, overcast skies and jellyfish all over the beach. So we cleaned house- that took forever…20 minutes inside and out J Then we did laundry, which meant sitting on a lovely deck with a view of the bay, while the machines did the work. Rhylee made friends, of course, with everyone coming by.

We moved south and east, to Mira River Provincial Park, but on the way down a smallish road we saw a sign that said “Ferry Ahead”. OMG, really? Another 5 minute cable ferry across Little Narrows, fortunately Grand Narrows had a bridge.

Damp, cloudy, restful. Today we went to the Miners’ Museum in Glace Bay. A retired miner took us down into the mine- much of it less than 5ft in height, some of it about 4ft. He told great stories of the mines and the 200+ history of coal mining on Cape Breton. The last mines were closed in 1984. At that time they were mining 6 miles off shore and 2700ft below the ocean bottom! It took the miners one and a half hours to ride the “rakes” down to where they would mine for the day. The mines closed due to the prohibitive cost of moving fresh air down and out that far, as well as moving the miners and coal.

Fortress Lousibourg- Amazing reconstruction of a French Fortress, era 1450’s; about one quarter has been rebuilt of the fortress and buildings within- about 50 buildings in all. Many with “animators” within playing the role of those that would have worked or lived in the building. We spent two days here, including dining in a local inn, as the merchant class might have back then.