16. Juli: A.G.Bell & Louisbourg

 

 

Glenville, hvor vi havde overnattet, ligger på vestkysten af Cape Breton, og da vi gerne ville helt ned til sydøstkysten i dag, stod vi tidligt op og kørte afsted. Undervejs købte vi ind til morgenmad i en sjov lille gammeldags købmandsbutik, som vi tilfældigt kom forbi. Det er hyggeligt at disse små butikker stadig kan overleve ude på landet, for i de større byer finder man mest kun store supermarkeder som Walmart.

Morgenmaden blev indtaget med udsigt over en lille sø, og så fortsatte vi østover. Ved Baddeck holdt vi ind for at se Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Bell, som opfandt telefonen, var skotte af fødsel, men byggede et stort sommerhus her i nærheden, hvor han tilbragte meget tid og kom til at betyde meget for egnen, og har derfor fået et museum her. Vi vidste ikke så forfærdeligt meget om Bell på forhånd, så blev overraskede over, hvor mange ting han havde arbejdet med og mere eller mindre opfundet. Han var f.eks. meget optaget af at hjælpe døve med at lære at tale, og opfandt senere end forgænger til jernlungen, da hans egen søn døde kort efter fødslen af vejrtrækningsproblemer. Men allermest interesseret var han nok i flyvning og var med til at bygge både flyet “Silver Dart” på fotoet og en hydrofoilbåd.

Således klogere på Bell fortsatte vi videre sydøstpå til Louisbourg Fortress Historic Site. Her byggede franskmændene i 1700-tallet et stort fort med tilhørende garnisionsby. Desværre blev fortet senere indtaget og ødelagt af briterne, hvilket var medvirkende til at Storbritannien til sidst vandt herredømmet over Canada, og i flere århundrede var det bare ruiner. Men i 1960erne og 70erne begyndte man at rekonstruere en del af fortet for at skaffe arbejde til arbejdsløse kulminearbejdere, og i dag er ca. 1/4 af det genopbygget og ser rimeligt autentisk ud. Fortet levendegøres i sommermånederne med soldater, håndværkere, tjenestefolk osv. Vi fik en gammeldags middag – suppe, fisk og grøntsager – altsammen spist iført servicet bundet om halsen og kun med ske!

Da vi havde set fortet, måtte Ole lige ud og vende ved det fine hvide fyrtårn på odden overfor, inden vi kørte til den tidligere mineby, Sydney Mines, lidt nord for Sydney, hvorfra vi skal sejle til Newfoundland i morgen.

English version:

Glenville, where we had stayed the night, is on the west coast of Cape Breton, ans as we wanted to get all the way down to the southeast coast today, we got up early and drove off. We shopped for breakfast at a coll little old fashioned grocery shop or general store which we happened to pass. It’s great that these little shops still survive out in the country, because in the cities you almost only find large supermarkets like Walmart.

We had our breakfast at the bank of a small lake and then we continued eastwards. In Baddeck we stopped to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Bell, who invented the telephone, was Scottish by birth, but liked this area so much that he built a large vacation home here where he spent a lot of time. He came to mean a lot to the local community and so there is a museum for him here today. We didn’t know all that much about about Bell beforehand and were surprised to learn how many things he had actually more or less invented. He worked hard to help deaf people learn to speak, and later invented an early version of the iron lung when his own son died shortly after birth because of breathing problems. But his greatest interest was probably aviation and he helped built both the Silver Dart plane in the photo and a hydrofoil boat.

Having learnt a lot about Bell we continued down to the Louisbourg Fortress Historic Site.

The French built a fortress here in the 1700s. Unfortunately the fortress was later captured and destroyed by the British, who went on to take over all of Canada, and for centuries only ruins were left of the fortress. But in the 60s and 70s part of the fortress was reconstructed to create work for unemployed miners, and today about 1/4 of it has been rebuilt and looks rather authentic. It becomes alive in the summer months with soldiers, trades people, servants etc. We had an old fashioned dinner – soup, fish and vegetables – all eaten with spoons and with napkins tied around our necks!

After seeing the fortress we made a detour to the nice white lighthouse on the cape opposite before heading over to the former mining village of Sydney Mines a little north of Sydney from where we will be sailing to Newfoundland tomorrow.

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