New Scotland trip 2014

[Nathan]

I had the opportunity to travel home to Nova Scotia to the Clan Donald Canada AGM with my father this September. The weather was fantastic and I had a marvellous time indeed.

The trip began at the AGM in Truro. I don't have any photos from the Friday night kitchen ceilidh because I was too busy playing to snap photos, but here are a couple from the Saturday Night dinner. Incidentally, I was duly elected as the Deputy High Commissioner of Clan Donald Canada at the AGM.

A piper is always necessary


Dad and I.


Dress was all over the map but most of the gents were in black tie.






After we left the AGM in Truro, we met up with some distant cousins for brunch in New Glasgow and headed North East. We stopped along the Shore Rd.at Knoydart to visit the Battle of Culloden Cairn. The two plaques explain how the cairn happened to be built there.











More pics to follow...

[Nathan]

It was nice to see the Gaelic on the signs in North Eastern Nova Scotia and on Cape Breton Island.



Our next stop was Maryvale where our ancestors established themselves. My 3rd great grandfather, Angus "The Pioneer" McDonald from the Isle of Lewis, died in 1860 while building this house with his sons.


Inside the house with the current inhabitant and her two sisters, one of whom is the local genealogist who generously provided us with lots of information about our family. I repaid the favour as best I could by playing some music for the three sisters who were born MacDonalds but all bear different names now.



After our visit in Maryvale, we headed for Mabou, Cape Breton for a supper hour ceilidh at the famous Red Shoe pub which is owned by the Rankin Family. Chrissy Crawley and Jason Roach provided the music and they were on fire! I couldn't help but get up and step dance at one point!





After leaving the red shoe with two new CDs and a full belly, we headed a few kilometres up the road to the Glenora distillery at Glendale, Cape Breton where we enjoyed the music of Ian MacDougall and Pius MacIsaac.




There was also lots of step dancing and guest musicians including Robert Deveaux on spoons, Donald Rankin on fiddle, and more. I sat in on bodhran as well.



I was too busy partying to take more photos but we spent the night at the distillery's inn and had a great breakfast the next day!

[Nathan]

After driving to my home town of Glace Bay and an appropriate visit with my mother, I decided to go for a hike.

Since it was September, I enjoyed some blueberries that were in season.


The thistles were turning brown, but a few had some colour left.




There is coal all over and under Glace Bay. Here you can see it clearly and it looks like it's coming up out of the soil.


The scenery in Cape Breton along the road back to Ontario was gorgeous as always. Sadly, I didn't have time to snap as many photos as I would have liked to. Most of these are taken around the Bras d'Or lakes.

[Nathan]

The last few lovely road side photos on my way back to Ontario. The ones in the parking lot were taken from the Highland Village in Iona. We didn't invest in the admission fees to the Highland Village since we were trying to cover a lot of miles.

[Downunder Kilt]

Brilliant Nathan, thanks for sharing your trip with us. Cheers

[Mael Coluim]

What a wonderful trip, Nathan! Thanks for taking us along. Congrats on your election to DHC.

I cycled NS one summer and these pics want to return all the more!