The last days of the vacation

June 25^th

Our last day in St. John’s was spent walking around the harbour and adjacent downtown area.

We lunched at the resto on the right.

View up from the harbour.

And we drove south to visit the camping ground at La Manche where we planned to camp on the 26^th.

On the way came across this pond at the side of the road.

As we drove we saw fog rolling in off the ocean several times.

June 26^th

The weather did improved enough to spend our last night in NL camping, one reason was to dry out our tent and other equipment which had been sitting in the car soaking wet since that last night at Terra Nova.

La Manche campground is near the site of a village of the same name that was relocated after a storm destroyed the infrastructure in the narrow bay where it was located, and which gave it its name. The visit to the village site was one of the high-points of the trip for me. After a 2 Km hike-in we came upon the remains of the village, The houses that were not destroyed must have been moved because all that is left are the cement foundations, many of them with little garden plots beside them.

La Manche Bay. That little white spot on the right near the mouth of the bay?

... a lost iceberg, seen from the other side of the bay.

The new suspension bridge, the east-cost walking trail passes through here.

We weren't totally savage in our camping, here watching Netflix on my computer...

June 27^th

After packing our nicely dried camping equipment we set off to Argentia to board our ferry for the trip to Cape Breton.

Argentia has a history that deserves to be known... at the beginning of the Second World War the village was appropriated and its residents forced out to allow the building of a US military base. Newfoundland at that time was a British colony so the people didn’t have any say.

Now Argrentia is a large industrial park, there are no residences and almost all the military buildings are gone, although the airfield runways are still there.

While waiting for the ferry we visited the adjoining town of Placentia which was also transformed by the war.

Views from the ferry while leaving the Argentia harbour:

One of the few remaining military buildings, the airport runway is behind it.

A fellow passenger explained that this is a oil-rig platform that they are building. It is apparently in a huge hole with several stories of its hight not visible. When finished they will dig out the earth that separates the hole from the ocean to float the rig out.

 The end of the runway... I don't know if it is still used.

The ferry left at 5pm and arrived at North Sydney NS at 9am. Cabins are available but we figured we could get by with a night in a reclining arm-chair, although the night was a bit rough (in terms of sleep... the sea was calm all the way) so the next day we questioned our decision about not taking a cabin.

June 28th

In North Sydney we had reserved a B&B for the night. Our hostess kindly allowed us to check in early so we could take a shower and change before a day of exploration. Cape Breton is now sold as a tourist destination because its beautiful scenery, which is undeniable, but for me, with my passion for industrial archeology, it is the industrial past that I was looking forward to explore.

Unfortunately there isn’t much left. The site of the steel mill, which is also where the “tar ponds” were (one of the most polluted sites in North America if not the world), is now a park.

All the mines are closed, but there is a miners museum in Glace Bay that we visited.

This panel explains how the miners got rid of the infamous company stores.

June 29^th

We left North Sydney in the morning for Springhill NS and during the scenic drive to the causeway that is the exit from the Cape Breton Island we crossed an arm of the Bras D’or Lake (which isn’t really a lake) at exactly the right time to see the bridge open and a small ship pass through.

Springhill was the scene of a disaster in 1958 that I remember being the center of news coverage when I was 11-years old. We visited the museum there that is above the old Syndicate Mine (not the one where the 1958 “bump” occurred) and which is part of the museum tour.

Note that Earl (Chub) McMasters Died in the Syndicate Mine in 1969.

Springhill was the last planned stop of our trip, so at this point we were just on our way home. We continued on to St John NB where we spent the night in a nice sleazy motel.

June 30^th

We cut across Maine, which saves 200 to 300 kilometres compared to staying in Canada to get back to Montreal, but takes about the same time because almost all or the roads are secondary or tertiary and there is no direct route. But it was an interesting drive.

We arrived in Sherbrooke in the afternoon where we spent the night.

July 1^st

We returned to Montreal by crossing the new Samuel de Champlain Bridge for the first time.

We arrived just as they were openimg the south-bound lanes open to traffic... traffic was jammed solid on the other side of the freeway for kilometers.