Travelling without a car

Honestly, we should be sponsored by the Sierra Club or something - trying to travel without a car. Its harder than it should be. Two days ago we got to North Sydney. To get to the camping site, we had to take a taxi to the Sobeys, then another one to the campsite. That's 20 bucks. The next morning we decided we wanted to go to the Cape Breton Miners Museum - over in Glace Bay. To catch the bus, we either got a taxi or walked to the Sobeys in the mall. We thought - hell, what's five km? So we walked it.

For those who knew Sidney a couple of years ago - they couldn't imagine that he could do it. He was the most fervent stroller rider. But he walked it - all five km - mostly singing and throwing rocks into the ditch. We saw a red fox and a heron on the way as we trudged beside large homes, with big grassy lawns. (Seriously everyone here was engaged in riding lawn mowers around - maybe its the first nice day or something!). We finally got to the Sobeys and we had missed the bus. So we took another taxi - $30 to Sydney. There we caught a city bus, for an hour to Glace Bay. When we got off there, we had to walk for another km. At this point, tears started to fall, and whining begin. He wanted an ice cream cone - but not the ice cream. I had unfortunately, not figured this out. I ended up having to eat the ice cream. There was a bit of a scene beside the highway. As you can imagine.

But finally, finally, we arrived at the Miners Museum - at 3 pm - too late for the underground mine tour. But frankly, going under the ocean down a mine shaft might have been a bit much for himself.

The people at the Museum were terrific - one retired miner presented Sidney with a piece of coal from the mine. We went through the exhibits and learned about the amazing struggles here of the miners. The riots and strikes of the early days. The story of the 1925 strike, where the company closed the company store (the only source of food), and shut off electricity and water. The strikers that fought back and the company that shot at the crowd. That day, June 11th is still remembered locally - and apparently the miners never worked for a company again - instead forming a sort of government owned consortium thing (the last mine was shut down in 1999). The story of JB. McLachlan, a militant labour leader who was imprisoned for a year. There is a big statue in town that quotes him saying:

"I believe in education for action. I believe in telling children the truth about the history of the world. That it does not consist of the history of kings or lords or cabinets. It consists of the history of the workers. A thing that is not taught in the schools. I believe in telling children how to measure value. A thing that is not taught in any school."
And yes, the feller was a commie.

We took two transit buses and a taxi back to the campsite - deciding that 6 kms of walking in one day was enough - at least for me.


Today we're taking the bus to Baddeck - to go to the hostel. it turns out that you can't get to the hostel without renting a car! We found this out after booking and they have a strict cancellation policy.  I'm a bit frustrated with this. Hitching makes so much sense. But we're reluctant to do it with Sidney - for obvious reasons. So we're renting a car again.

But its still blooming beautiful. The people are friendly. The campsites are lovely. And hopefully we'll be able to catch some good music.