Aug 28th to 30th - Louisbourg NS

Aug 28th - Thurs - to Louisbourg NS
Got going early to catch the 9 am ferry today. We were on the smaller ferry this time and the wind whipped up some pretty good waves so it was rough. The captain took a route that kept the rolling down as much as possible but when he had to turn he issued a warning that the rolling would get worse for a while and it did. The bow of the ferry was slamming down on the water and caused one motorcycle to fall over. The bike owner told Terry later that when he was called down to check for damage, our truck and 5th wheel was moving back and forth about 4 inches with each large swell. But we arrived on time and had about a 45 minute drive to our campsite in Louisbourg.
The wind was quite hard and very cold when we were setting up. Another 5th wheel from the ferry was ahead of us driving here and came to the same campground. They are from Revelstoke, B.C. I had hoped to talk with them but we got tickets to a show tonight so don’t know if we will get together.
The show was enjoyable - 5 very good musicians with a couple of comedy routines included. Tea & oatcakes were served at intermission. The playhouse is right beside the campground so we didn’t get too wet walking over in the rain but there were some pretty big puddles to navigate in the dark coming back.

Aug 29th - Fri - Louisbourg
It was still raining this morning but forecast to be nicer tomorrow so we decided to take advantage of a “stay 2 nights and get another night free” offer, stay here another day and delay going to the fortress until tomorrow. I gave Terry a haircut and then we checked out the couple of small gift shops in town and went to the S&L (Sidney & Louisbourg) Railway Museum. The museum is in 3 buildings, 2 of which were built in 1895. A model railway of the S&L line is in one building and there are lots of artifacts, newspaper clippings, original paperwork and a couple of rail cars. We drove out to the lighthouse site but there was too much fog to even see across the harbor to town. When we got back from a short drive to get diesel, the weather was clearing so we had a quick lunch and went to the Fortress of Louisbourg. We have our annual National Historic Site pass so we figured if the rain came back we wouldn’t be out anything.
The weather cooperated and we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Fortress. We started on a tour but the tour leader was having a terrible time trying to remember her presentation and finally admitted that she was not doing well. She said she would understand if we wanted to attend another event starting soon - so we and everyone except one older couple left the tour.
The fortress was built by the French to defend fishing grounds. It changed hands with the British a few times. About ¼ of the entire fort has been excavated and reconstructed. Employees in period costumes are in most of the buildings open for touring and provide lots of information. The also enact different events - punishment for stealing, defending the walls, firing a cannon, herding geese and cooking in a fireplace for example.
Rain started again in the evening.

Aug 30th - Sat - Louisbourg
Good thing we didn’t wait for the nicer weather to go to the fort as it showed up for about a hour in the late morning. It was a great day to get some sewing & ironing done. I also got a much needed haircut. By this time the sun had appeared so we drove out to the lighthouse again to take some pictures and watch the waves. I needed a couple of grocery items and by the time we got back to town it was raining so hard that we sat in the truck for a few minutes before running into the store.
Spent the rest of the day ducking in & out of the rain - there is a waterfront boardwalk beside the RV park. We watched people catching mackerel on nearby docks and watched boats getting ready to go snow crab fishing. After dinner, the rain finally quit and we went for a walk again to watch people fishing. Our “neighbors” from Revelstoke (Doug & Ellie) were also on the dock so we started talking with them. They have just started full time RVing. We had so much to talk about that we invited them in for coffee and are hoping to meet up with them again soon.