Glenora Distillery and Broad Cove Scottish Concert

On a lovely Sunday in Nova Scotia, we drove to the western side of Cape Breton Island to tour the only single malt whisky distillery in North America, then on to the Broad Cove Scottish Concert, an annual celebration of Celtic music.

The Glenora Distillery and Inn, which survived several cash-flow crises during its first few years, is now an award-winning producer of single-malt whisky (otherwise known as Scotch, but only if it comes from Scotland). The pool in front of the distillery is a collection reservoir for water from McLellan's Brook, which flows through the grounds behind the building pictured above, as the mash process requires more water than can be drawn from the creek itself at one time:


McLellan Brook, flowing between the distillery and and the Inn and restaurant that are part of the complex.



 Gary and Tammy Beeler, long time friends of Barbara's who moved from sailboats to motorhomes long before we did, joined us for the tour of Glenora:





The distilllery tour was short, but very interesting, and the building houses a nice exhibit explaining the production of single-malt whisky and its history in Scotland and Nova Scotia.This huge mash tun is where the sugars are extracted by soaking the malted, smoked, and ground barley in hot water. The extracted sugar water ferments with added yeast to about 9% alcohol. It then goes through two disllations that concentrate the alcohol first to 22% in the right hand still, then to about 70% in the left hand still. The final alcohol content is adjusted with additional water, then aged in oak barrels for a number of years.

After the tour, we tasted the 10-year-old Glen Breton single malt - it was luscious, smooth and nutty with a very long finish. Unfortunately, the price was well beyond our budget!

We then went just a few miles north to the grounds of St. Margaret's Church at Broad Cove, for the 55th Annual Broad Cove Scottish Concert. This event turned out to be a "down home" affair, where locals and returning locals spent more time visiting than listening to the many small groups who performed.

We had especially looked forward to hearing Natalie MacMaster and her husband Donnell Leahy (Donnell grew up in Broad Cove), who were scheduled from 7-9 pm - unfortunately, they didn't get started til after 8, then only played a few numbers before turning the stage over to their numerous nieces and nephews - good family fun, but not really what we'd come to hear.

As always, Natalie was dressed to the nines - hard to believe they have 4 children under the age of 6. She and Donnell are incredible fiddlers - we have loved their music since hearing them in concert at the University of Florida.

Cabot Trail, Cape Breton Island, NS

After returning from Newfoundland, we spent several extra days exploring Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. First, we drove the Cabot Trail, the famed drive around the north end of Cape Breton, around the edges of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and along some dramatic shorelines. To get to Cape Breton from North Sydney, where we were camped, we used the Englishtown Ferry to cross the narrow opening between St. Ann's Harbour and St. Ann's Bay, to the sandy spit of land extending from Cape Breton:

The current rushing through this narrow gap is very strong when the tides change, so the ferry uses the cable you can see in the foreground to keep itself on target. The whole ride takes less than 5 minutes, but cuts about half an hour off the travel time to Cape Breton.

As we drove north on the east coast of Cape Breton, the road snaked up, down, and around, providing many spectacular views on the clear, warm day that we were lucky to have for our drive:



Looking southeast along the eastern Cape Breton Island shoreline



We proceeded across the top of the National Park, stopping to view waterfalls that looked good in person, but not so great in photos. We stopped at the Rusty Anchor restaurant on the northwest edge of our drive, and enjoyed lunch on the deck as we watched tour boats in search of whales and persuaded Shelby that she had to stay off the edge of the deck.

On the west coast of Cape Breton, the road again twists and turns, high above the coast. We stopped at several lookouts to see if we could spot whales, but had no luck. We did stop on one lookout with one end cordoned off by police tape, and an ambulance on site - turned out that some unfortunate soul had driven his car right through the guardrail and down the steep slope - we never did find out what became of the driver.

We enjoyed the drive around Cape Breton, but were glad we were in the car, not the motorhome!