Rowkin Rovings Blog

The day started off really well with us spending some time after our breakfast in the old Railway Station, to have another look around the site. We could have spent a lot more time just wandering around and enjoying all the different things to see that this guy had collected over the many years.

We needed to get on the road as we had about 300 k’s to do but this time all in Nova Scotia. On the way we did a quick diversion to a university town called Antigonish which kinda blew us away. It was one of the best universities we had ever seen when it came to building conformity. As the uni has expanded they have kept all the buildings the same architecturally. It has a student population of nearly 4000 students of which 98% are all doing undergrad studies. Sorry, no photos.

The town of Baddeck we were heading to, is in the region of Cape Breton which is in Nova Scotia. Cape Breton islanders are very proud of their region and though originally an island it is now connectedo by a causeway. Just like the people from PEI, they would prefer not to be connected to the mainland. As we were driving around the countryside we were starting to see the colours changing. By the time we leave this region on Saturday we are hoping that autumn will be close to being in full bloom.

We took another slight deviation to a place called Little Narrows. Now some of you might know our obsession with the Vinyl Cafés Dave and Morley stories as told by the late Stuart McLean, who based his Dave character coming from Big Narrows in Cape Breton. We think maybe it is a bit of play on words and that Stuart McLean was really referring to Little Narrows. This is the only photo we could get as the river ferry had just arrived as we drove up. Not great but a reminder for us.

So into Baddeck we go and straight to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. Although born in Edinburgh, Scotland and living in Washington DC, he and his wife’s heart was in Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. They eventually emigrated to Canada. It is not hard to see why as it is a lovely part of the world. Originally they would spend a few months of each year here but as time went on they eventually spent all their time here with their children. They both became very involved with the community and are both buried on their property here.

The telephone invention made him exceedingly wealthy. They were able to build a palatial home (which isn’t open to the public at present) and spend many years concentrating on his inventions due to the success of the telephone that he patented. He himself though didn’t like his invention. He never had a phone in his office as it disturbed him too much and felt that they should only be used for outgoing calls……hmmm, that doesn’t really make sense.

He was more than the inventor of the telephone. He delved into the hydrofoil, flight, genetics but to name a few. He designed and financed the first powered plane to fly in Canada called the Silver dart.

We had two hours in the museum but had to leave as it closed at 5.00pm but we really needed at least another one to one and a half hours there. There were some very good photography archives to see along with his various inventions and his scribblings.

Maybe if we get some spare time in the next couple of days we will go back there and finish off what we had started.

So we settled into our accommodation which alas is nothing compared to our fantastic stay last night in the caboose but it will do. We had been sent an email from Simon back in Calgary about a few goings on and he attached this photo which was taken through the lounge window into our back yard.

That is 20cm’s of snow with another 20-30 cm’s expected in the next 24 hours breaking yet another weather record. In summer the hottest day on record for Calgary was broken. It was 36.4c which meant most of us just about passed out and now it looks like we are about to break the snow record. We have been telling Simon and Joannie that Calgary has cold winters but the most beautiful clear blue skies. So far, all he has seen is grey wet gloom and now record snow falls…..ooooppps!!!!