After a brief stop in Baddeck for a coffee, we piled into the car, and went back to Iona for the start of the day. And the weather again was terrific, with two small clouds in a blue sky, and with winds being light. And the road was pretty good, only a few moderate hills and largely straight. So we made good time.
At least until lunch, which we had at a little picnic spot near the town of Barachois.
Nancy decided that she was too tired to bike that afternoon, and we packed her bike onto the car. Barry an I took off down a good-sized hill, thinking this was going to be a good ride to our meeting place. But then the other part of the hill was there: a two km climb at a good incline wore us out. And once at the top, there was a rock quarry, with a steady stream of trucks coming and going. Fortunately, we were only going a short distance, about eleven km.
Overall, about 46 km.
But the highlight was a visit to the Miner's Museum in Glace Bay. It has developed quite a bit since we were last there—and it is still owned and operated by the miners themselves.
We were led on a tour of an actual "incline" mine by a man who had mined for over forty years, and had led these tours for the past nineteen years. He was full of stories about the hard work in the fifties (he began working at fourteen), and his life living in dire poverty at home. His house was without a foundation, built from recycled wood from old outhouses, no insulation, windows and roof that leaked, and one source of heat, in the kitchen. And ten children in the family. It was a moving story of hardship and struggle. Speaking of struggle, there was a movie outlining the struggle to unionize against the coal barons, culminating in the death of a miner at the hands of the police, on June 11, 1925. To this day miners will not work on that day. They finally got their union (even though it did not fully support their efforts), and after 25 years, their wages rose to pre-WW1 levels again! And we think we have it hard.
We didn't bike after that. Supper was out at a restaurant. I had my one lobster dinner, and enjoyed.
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Location:Louisbourg
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