Cape Breton

Our first stop in Cape Breton was Baddeck which was the home of Alexander Graham Bell. Although well known for his telephone invention I had no appreciation of what else he had invented. His first passion was helping deaf people and had a detailed understanding of how speech sounds were formed and a variety of ways for non-verbal communication.

Amongst the range of inventions there were two standouts. The first was flight which ran in parallel with the Wright brothers. Bell and his team invented wing flaps, a closed cockpit and rudder arrangement. The second was hydro foils so vessels could travel above the water. There were several versions with different engine mounting arrangements with initial speeds of 70 mph (around 100 kph) being achieved.

It is amazing how this was essentially the foundation of today’s modern day Sail GP catamarans which now reach similar speeds using sail power and titanium/carbon fibre foils.

The house (now upgraded to a museum) overlooks Baddeck lake where the trials were undertaken.

We moved around Cape Breton along the Cabot trail in a clockwise direction. The West coast is quite rugged and beautiful despite rather damp weather. Certainly challenging road building conditions.

By the time we went over the top to the East coast the weather was back to its sparkling best.

There was a ferry at Englishtown to reduce the distance to Sydney. However, given the low tide the recommendation by the crew was to drive around as the RV would bottom out and potentially damage something.

We stayed at some private sites and the one in North Sydney was more like a bus park. There were 17 of these class 1 vehicles on a 40 day trip from the USA. They are huge with all having expandable sides. Why a couple needs one and a half bathrooms escapes me. Our RV had around a 200 litre fuel capacity and was upwards of $250 Canadian to fill up around every third day. Some crazy costs must be associated with these busses.

In Sydney we came across a small museum for Marconi who realised that electromagnetic waves could carry communication. He invented a huge mast arrangement with an inverted cone antenna to capture signals. The first successful transatlantic morse signal was between Cornwall and Newfoundland with a repeated morse “S”.

As we moved down the coast there is a remarkable reconstruction of the Fort of Louisbourg. The original was well used between 1713 and 1768 during the struggle for empire between the British and French.

The care in reconstructing with similar materials and methods while still accommodating modern day facilities (eg espresso coffee!) required some well thought out design, planning and skilled trades. Although at first glance this seems like a low stocked wine cellar it is in fact the powder magazine. A much more dangerous place to work (or is it?).

The step off point from Cape Breton was over St Peters canal. This joins the Atlantic with the massive Bras d’Or Lake. It is a short but picturesque cut with a modern large swing bridge at the end.

There is a small level difference of around 1 foot. Unusually either side can be highest which means that each end of the lock need upstream gates for both directions.