Ceilidh Trail - Inverness County - Baddeck, Canada
Baddeck, Canada
Yesterday I didn't think I would see the sun again, but this morning I awoke to beautiful blue sky and sunshine. It slowly clouded over as the day progressed and by evening is looking again like it will rain, and in fact that is what the forecast is calling for. That and 110 kph winds in the Highlands! Glad I'm not up there today. Today's destination was Route 19 south of the Cabot Trail on the west side of the Island and to Inverness County, or as Tourism Nova Scotia calls it, the Ceilidh Trail. This is the region where fiddling reigns. It is the land of The Rankins, and both Natalie MacIsaac and "bad boy" Ashley MacIsaac. The other interesting thing about this area is that it is the site of North America's first and Canada's only single malt whiskey distillery. Located in Glenville between the villages of Inverness and Mabou, the Glenora Distillery has had to fight cash flow issues, and copyright battles (to use the name "Glen") to finally be successful in getting their product to market. Their 10 year single malt whiskey (they're not allowed to call it Scotch), is sold by provincial liquor outlets throughout Canada but their aged product is available at the distillery. I think 19 years is the oldest I saw. I stopped in for a look at the operation, the pub, inn and gift shop (one of the nicest quality ones I've seen). Next I was off for the Celtic Music Interpretation Centre in the small village of Judique for a lunch-time ceilidh. (roughly defined as a Scottish social gathering with music and I suspect the precursor to the "kitchen party"). A fiddler and piano player entertained the packed house. Turns out most of the audience were fiddling students from Maine, and their parents, who were there to take some classes in fiddling from the experts. While the hired talent were on a break the class from Maine took to the stage and played a couple of songs. They were clearly having the time of their lives, especially their instructor. After another delicious Cape Breton snack, this time fish cakes, and another two CDs of Cape Breton music added to my collection, I was up the road, er no make that down the road toward Mabou. I wandered around the small community of Port Hood, and then made my way to Mabou, the home town of The Rankins. The Rankins are the proprietors of a cafe in Mabou called the Red Shoe, named after a reel composed by another Inverness County song writer Daniel MacDonald. Since I wasn't able to get my daily fix of seafood chowder at the Celtic Music Centre I opted to stop in to the Red Shoe and try theirs. It was likely the best I've had. Definitely worth the stop. Then it was on to Inverness where I tootled around the town and stopped and walked along their boardwalk and their beautiful beach. I managed to find a few small pieces of beach glass in my wandering, even a couple of prized green ones. One could never be stressed living by the ocean and being able to walk along it at will.