Once at the park we were surprised with how quiet and peaceful it was...not too many people were there at that time of day...a few moms with children, a couple of folks walking their dogs and maintenance crews doing grounds work. The park was very rustic feeling...little signage and mostly we just asked people we saw where things were. Here is a picture of Jacob's Ladder...186 steps mostly straight up! A good workout for the thighs and butt. :)
Once at the top we followed the trail to see the two waterfalls that are located in the park...
From the time we left the hotel until we returned we spent about two hours exploring. This unexpected little gem has definitely been a highlight for us ... calm, tranquil, soothing...hard to believe one is in the middle of a city.
On our way back to the hotel we took a path that followed the railroad tracks and enjoyed seeing the kids at a skateboard/bike park. Interesting too to see the murals that had been painted on the back walls of the Via train station.
Left the hotel about noonish and headed for Antigonish where we stopped for a picnic ... another picturesque town with pretty storefronts and more old buildings...and an interesting seating area and bike rack made from old farm hay rake.
We chuckled when we saw the sign for the five and dime...remember those stores?
Stopped briefly in Port Hawkesbury to get our bearings and make sure we were on the highway we wanted...good photo here of a freighter and the quarry it was parked beside.
Baddeck was our next port of call...we arrived too late in the day to visit the Alexander Graham Bell museum unfortunately, but we did take the small free boat out to the local island where folks go to swim. New maritime laws require the captain of this small boat to appoint someone "Designated Water Safety Assistant", whose role was to turnoff the boat and radio for help if the captain (a strapping young man about 20!) was unable to drive the boat. Needless to say we had fun with this!
From Baddeck we travelled along the shore of Bras d'Or Lake and encountered more beautiful vistas. Temps all day ranged between 21 and 27 degrees...lovely weather for riding a bike!
Harry's gps girlfriend let us down a bit near the end of our day...taking us to a spot in the middle of nowhere in Sydney to a non-existent hotel, instead of to North Sydney where we had instructed her to take us. She doesn't always listen well this secondary girl of his! We did finally get to our destination, the North Star Inn, about 8 p.m. The hotel was pretty mediocre but the view from the dining room where we had a late supper was worth it...looked out over the bay and the twinkling lights were very pretty. Thought it might be dark enough to catch some of the meteor shower later in the evening, but our necks got sore from tilting our heads back before we saw any shooting stars.
Before we hit the sack we got a notification from the ferry folks that our noon ferry would not be leaving until four. Apparently the noon ferry had some mechanical problems so instead of getting into Port au Basques at 7:30 it will be closer to 11:30 when we arrive. Thankfully we already had a hotel booked there for the night!
Next posting from the rock!!!
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