A few sights ......

Our Location: Waterfront Park, Louisbourg, NS

We’ve had more rain, more cold and of course more wind. The cold was very cold, we ran a heater for a few hours. We were down in the low digits, a temp of 42F/5C was the order of the a couple of days. A nice sunny day here and there but the cold winds no matter how well bundled you are seem to be the culprit. Grandfather called them a lazy wind because they are to lazy to go around you so they go right through you.

 

A house in Sydney.

 

We journeyed into North Sydney for a couple of reasons, one was laundry, we were all in need. We found only two laundromats, and used the second as it the best of the two choices. Vogue Cleaners on Prince Street was the lucky winner. All top loaders with small drums, not meant for large loads, small dryers as well. It cost us $30 to do laundry instead of our regular $16- 20. Not the cleanest place we’ve done laundry but at least we got our clothes washed, dried and folded. Two very small folding tables that wouldn’t take a towel fully laid out didn’t add any ease to doing the laundry. However, we managed and moved on. Our next stop was to find a garbage dumpster, which we didn’t find. We also had some donation clothes to drop in a box which we didn’t find either. A propane tank to be filled was also on the list, which didn’t get accomplished. We did manage to find the NFL ferry terminal and make inquires as to time, luggage, etc for walk on passengers. Friendly fellow behind the desk was helpful and a bit of a joker as well.

 

Some interesting colours.

 

Leaving the ferry terminal we went in search of a Chinese Buffet. Do you know the city/town of Sydney, Nova Scotia has no such thing. Even though they are listed as Buffet there were none to be found. We opted to head home as the two main things on our list was completed. The rain and wind made any other outings a bad idea and so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out.

 

I was surprised to see the flat top house.

 

Friday dawned over cast with some wind gusts making themselves known. We were all up and mobile by 8 am with sister Jan making sure she had everything she needed for her few days in Newfoundland with her daughter Brittany and son in law Kevin. Around 9 am we headed out to the ferry terminal in North Sydney with a stop to get a couple little things for sister dearest. A few drops of rain greeted us once again as pulled into the Ferry Terminal but soon the sun broke through and the day became quite nice except of course for the cold wind. We dropped sister off at the Walk On Passenger terminal shortly after 10 am, gave hugs and said our goodbyes as she heads off on an adventure without us. The ride should be about 5-6 hours to Porte Aux Basque, NFL where her family will meet her, they apparently live just 2 minutes walking time from the dock. The sailing time was set for 11:45 am, and it left on time. Riley and I set off to see Sydney.

 

One of the many ferries at the Ferry Terminal in North Sydney.

 

We managed to fill the Dog Sled’s bowl with fuel at $1.29 per litre, where we chatted with a nice young fellow from Montreal who moved to Nova Scotia for the weather. Not sure that was a good move but oh well. Next we drove by a number of little parks but they had no parking available so we didn’t stop. We found a clothing donation box and managed to make a deposit. Next we decided we’d had enough of Sydney and headed home toward Louisbourg stopping on the way to get a big tank filled with propane and the nice fellow told us we could drop our garage in their garbage shed. He also gave us some tips on our future travels along the Cabot Trail. How sweet is that?

 

The Atlantic Ferry Terminal.

 

Now with all the errands complete we were home around 2 pm. The sun was out, the fellows were working on the dock and there was of course regular small town noises. We’ve found it very quiet here at nights. Tonight will be our last night and today our day to actually tour here in town. We’ve been too busy to do it before except a drive through on our arrival.

 

A little parkette in North Sydney with no where to park a car.

 

The town of Louisbourg is very quaint, small town fishing village with it’s the typical atmosphere. The houses are close to the street, packed tightly together, lots of churches every where, lobster traps and crab pots line the docks and old lobster traps seem to be the main decorating tool here on the coast. Louisbourg is very clean, very neat, well maintained, inviting. There is a Fort here that we will be touring today, a train station also calls us, and we will be driving out around the point to Lighthouse Point as well. I think after that we will have seen what we wanted to see and be ready to move on. I would definitely stay here again for a short time but I’m not sure there would be much reason to return after this trip. Sydney is a disappointment. I realize we are here during a late spring that is mostly over cast but Sydney is what I would call a pretty rough place. Parts of it I’m sure are lovely but we didn’t see many of those parts. Most of the city/town is grungy, dirty looking, and while not littered with debris it gives the feeling of grime. Plenty of greenery and some flowers but they don’t seem able to cut through the dingy appearance. People are friendly but not overly. There are no public places to put garbage such as a parkette or town centre, we noted very few garbage cans on the streets. Even with all the rain we’ve experienced there is just some grunge that does not wash off. Sydney is more of a run down seaport than a thriving town. If not for the ferry terminal I’m not really sure why one would go to Sydney. No offense to anyone.

 

A residential street in Sydney.

 

These of course are just my own opinions although both Jan and Riley have echoed these thoughts. The views are lovely, the sights are of course very interesting to us, as we’re not used to seeing vast stretches of this kind of coast line. The colourful boats, houses and building are eye catching and remind me of the Caribbean Sea area where bright primary colours are abundant. The thing that catches me the most is the blue of the water. It’s not a colour I can describe but it’s breath taking as it changes hues before your eyes. Inland we are reminded of Ontario a great deal. An interesting trip for certain.

 

All of the fishing boats have gone out, just a sail boat left here in Louisbourg at the docks by the Igloo.

 

Sister will return on Wednesday and we will once again begin travelling with everything depending on the weather.  We will just have to wait and see what comes along. Riley and I will be doing the couple small tours today and pulling out tomorrow heading further north and closer to the Cabot Trail. I’m not convinced we’ll do the whole trail, perhaps just half but again we’ll see how things go when we get started.

 

We are parked just out of the picture on the right.

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed your visit. Thanks for stopping by.

 

A house up the hill from our parking spot.

 

Until next time ….. take care, be safe,


Deb