The first journey

Our blog Two Records of a Floating Life  (http://tworecords.blogspot.ca/) tells the story of David Armstrong and Elizabeth Elton in China. Close friends in high school, David and I met again forty years later in December,  2012.  There followed nearly four magical years together in Canada and China.  Suddenly and oh so sadly, David died on September 24, 2016.

Our romance and marriage and time together were Chapter Two. This is Chapter One.

A Maritime Adventure

Monday August 21 – Sunday September 3, 1972

Dedicated to my travel companions on that long ago journey: Pamela Wolfe, Jay Kassirer and David E. Armstrong.

 

A mostly unabridged transcription of my trip diary.  We were between 17 and 19 years old, a surprising quartet.  There are no photographs from the trip because we did not take any. This was long before digital cameras. I think we each called home once, if that.

(The photos were added later using internet sources.)

          

Elizabeth                        

David

Jay

Monday August 21

We left Montreal on the train.  A smooth talking D.A. managed to fool a conductor into getting four seats together. We met Harriet, [a friend from high school] who is going to Halifax. Passed a train being washed.

At about 8:30 pm we approached Quebec City – beautiful – lights along the cliff, on the ocean liners and the ferries, the Chateau Frontenac beautifully illuminated.  Jay came on the train at Levis, after a long wait; a joyful reunion.

Harriet, Pam and I went on a tour of the train; crowded people in awkward positions (we thought.) It was 18 cars long, our own little world.  D and J had a little chat, in the baggage compartment.  Then back to our four seats and Harriet went back to hers.

It is difficult to sleep with eight legs. David ended up impersonating a conductor to calm (and control) the vociferous drunks. He didn’t sleep until about 8 am.  Jay can sleep anywhere and in any position [I remember him curled up on the baggage rack at the end of the car and a passing conductor commenting on that fact.] Pam slept fitfully and I slept about two hours total.

Tuesday August 22

This morning ran into last night. We missed the sunrise because of a train station. There are many families with young children and many teenagers with packs.

Plans are shaping up (i.e. we are attacking the Cabot Trail from the opposite side.)  We had the first meal since the train left at 11:15.

Much of the afternoon was spent with Harriet. She later left at Truro as half the train went to Halifax.  During this operation D and J were in the musical presence of a professional “pub singer” from Toronto. Enthralled as we all were, the barriers were closed to our part of the train and a quick run along the platform became necessary.

D is rather tense; J thinks it is because of hunger and a lack of exercise. We have decided to exit at North Sydney, which is 15 miles along our way and near a provincial park. The baggage man was most cooperative and we will get off OK. We saw the bikes.

Terrain is hilly with deciduous trees and fir forests. After considerable cloudiness in N.B. it is a warm, sunny day.  We crossed to Canso Causeway and saw open ocean, green hills sloping down to bare rock faces and a sign,  “Welcome to Cape Breton Island.”

We arrived at North Sydney a 9:00 pm and onto the bicycles. There was a free campground two miles out of town with a “No Loitering” sign, but J and P stopped a police car and got permission. Campsite is on a bay with a stone beach; strange light across the bay (boiler?) Cookies for dinner then sleep.

      

Wednesday August 23

We started late after our first bike repairs (Jay’s brakes.)  We rode along the Trans Canada Highway, which has a paved shoulder ideal for bicycling. About 20 miles along the road we reached a bridge. From the centre of the bridge was a magnificent view of river to ocean surrounded by mountains and forests.  We stopped for lunch near the bridge by a sign that read, “You are now at the base of Kelly’s Mountain. You will climb 800 feet in the next 4.3 miles.”

Pam is riding very well, the best of all, Jay next. D and I walk our bikes up most hills. I don’t know why I have so much difficulty. It’s probably psychological, but every three miles I feel like hitchhiking to the nearest train station.

It was a struggle, but we made it to the mountaintop, then five miles downhill!  On our right, a beautiful scene of mountains and bay. The weather was sunny, about 65 degrees and no wind (ideal.)  At the base of the mountain is South Gut St. Anns.  We camped opposite the only Gaelic college in North America It has an interesting store.

Macaroni and cheese with meat, liquid pudding and mocha for dessert and so to bed.  The tent is big enough for four, but when one rolls …

Thursday August 24

A drizzly late morning. From the college we hear the sound of bagpipes (which makes me very homesick.) The two girls who run the shop were playing for tourists. Breakfast in a small cabin by our tent.  I dread the day because the riding is so hard. (I want to go home.)

(Now writing by our Friday camp fire) We finally left around 1:30; a long, discouraging ride along the TCH. After eleven hard overcast and humid miles we came to Baddeck. This is a pleasant small seaside town with a dock and the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. We shopped here. There was a Campbell Street where we were squirted by water pistols.

After a brief ride off the TCH (on road 205) we came to a campground. It cost $2.50, therefore a large debate, D and E for, P and J against.  But we went in and put up our tent beside a picnic table. Showers!

There was a stony beach.  Jay caught two starfish and we saw our first jellyfish. It was read and almost harmless looking. What a shock to taste salt-water. A couple with a motorcycle came and camped beside us, with one of those nylon tents. Their names were Gary and Pamela Wolf.    Super supper of spaghetti and meatballs with cheese, wine and toasted cookies with the neighbours.  The lights and sound of cars stopped our sleep.

Friday August 25

We misread 7:15 as 9:05 so were up early. Soup for breakfast again and we were on the road by 9:30.   We made thirteen miles to the ferry along the TCH in 1.5 hours. Along the road we sat a beautiful valley with a cloud in it. Then off the T CH onto 233, a winding hilly road along Bras D’Or Lake, not busy but beautiful.

The ferry at Little Narrows is about ¼ mile across and runs on cables because of the strong current.

About fifteen miles past the ferry at Little Narrows we were feeling quite hungry (weak) and all we had were dates and Tang. The village of Iona was due soon (the proverbial village over the next hill,) so we tackled what seemed to be the biggest hill yet.  We finally reached the top,  Pammy saw a beautiful beach down below. So, she turned around to tell us and … fell.  She wasn’t hurt but a car fill of kids stopped to check. They invited is and led us down to the beach – which was THEIR beach.  Beautiful sun, cool, calm, clear water (no jellyfish.) It was a pleasant afternoon with the Gillies family (and cousins.) Then they, and their mother, invited us to dinner. Great!

Travelling, we meet all sorts of people, today a lot of small kids. They are friendly; you give and take within your limited contacts. They never learned our names yet they fed us and treated us like guests for several hours.

We left at about 6 to reach Iona, only a few more hills, then across the ferry to Grand Narrows. Just before the ferry, a little boy started talking to us. (This happens everywhere.) We went into the store to buy food. These CO-OP general stores exist in almost every town. You can buy the basics, and the people are friendly and interesting.

Great Bras D’Or Lake reminds me of Lake Michigan especially as evening begins and the wind comes up.  We rode along about four miles up the road to Christmas Island. P stopped at a gas station to ask for water and several little boys around 8 or 9 years told her about a good camping place. They took us to the general store and the owner said we could camp on his land.  There was a sandy beach with a pine forest about it and a clearing for the tent about 20 feet above the lake. The kids stayed around and helped us to get set up. Later we had a bonfire with them, then tea, and so to bed. 

It was a good day. We are getting a good system worked out for riding, camping and living together.

Saturday August 26

Early rise with eggs and milk for breakfast. The man at the store (landowner) invited us in for tea, but we didn’t want to stop. It was a dull, drizzly morning but we made good time – all of us are in better condition. Everywhere we had stopped during the past couple of days we were warned about the mountain “up ahead.”  We reached the base about noon and decided to walk our bikes up (except P who always manages to ride ¼ of the way.)  Half an hour later we were on top. It was sunny by now and after a short coast down ate lunch n the shade of a tree in a farmer’s garden.  (With permission – J said to the farmer,  “Your grandson, er, son, said we could eat here.”) Then a short distance on the highway on which we had started and so to Sydney.

Sydney is a big city. Just before we entered the back wheel almost came off D’s bike, and he fixed it.  (D pushes himself on this trip.)  We stopped at a shopping centre to get food and mail home J’s rock collection.  [Editorial comment from DA. Collecting rocks on trips was not new for J.]  Just up the road was a farm with a large field beside a beach on a fresh water lake. D got permission on the phone to camp there but as we headed down the road, the farmer almost ran him down (mistook him for one of the locals.)  That cleared up, we made D’s [could be P’s] super supper of rice, mince, onion, etc.  So to sleep, but with D on constant alert against any local ruffians.

Things you appreciate more:

1) hot water

2) food

3) family (should be first)

Good things about the trip:

1) getting to know the others

2) seeing such beautiful scenery

3) meeting interesting people

4) being outdoors

5) learning to camp

Sunday August 27 (orange full moon last night)

An early morning with mist over the lake. We ate cream of wheat, packed up and left. Went to thank the farmer and met his nephew who was very friendly, knew Ottawa well (brother in the forces) and works in winter as a ski instructor in Europe.  After working for over 20 minutes to fix J’s bike we set off to Louisburg.

Highway 22 was finished up to Mira with about a mile of gravel, a good but of riding. After Mira the road was narrower and winding but with pretty forest. We reached the outskirts of Louisburg  (pronounce the s) in about three hours, 23 miles. We stopped at the Tourist bureau- converted train station – and chatted with an oldish man about the city. 

Down to the fortress. We walked along a grassy area which was once the town along worn paths in the long grass which were once streets (back in the 1700’s.) We had lunch by the ocean, a beautiful sight with the “classic” view of waves crashing over rocks. It was a clear day with a cool breeze, apparently unusual for the area.  (The locals say the weather has been warm for about five days, the length of time we have been here.)  P. had never seen the ocean before, J and D only the other one.

Then we went on the tour of the restored fortress. This was even more impressive as there is an extensive and well-planned display about the processes of excavation, research and restoration. It will be well worth going to see again in several years, as well as the lighthouse and several other sites in the area.

At 6:30 we returned to the reception centre by bus, cold, tired and hungry  (especially J and D.) J was tired and discouraged so David took the initiative and led us back to Mira, ten miles of up and down.  It was a one hour trip – good time.  There was a beautiful sunset that we saw from the top of the last hill leading to the Mira River.  We camped at Mira Provincial Park ($2.50) on a point overlooking the slightly salty river. Despite arriving in the dark we managed to cook soup, pizza, pudding and hot chocolate. We decided to take the next day off instead of rushing to get on the 12:30 train from Sydney to PEI.  (I disagreed but am writing this on the morning of the lazy day.)

Reflections:

Overall we are in much better condition – Sunday was the first day that D did not get heat sick. Camping is not as difficult as I thought it would be; it is almost fun.  I don’t know how relaxing this trip is. We’ll find out soon enough I guess.

Extra notes:  1) Christmas island is named is only a peninsula and is named after an old Indian named Noel who lived there  2) Sunday morning heard a loon  3) accents – people ask if we are from Toronto (or even Upper Canada.)

beinn bhreagh = beautiful hill

Baddeck = place with the island near (Indian)

Skir Du (sheer do) = black rock

Monday August 28

We set off from Mira in cloudy weather and made it to Sydney in about one hour. Instead of taking the blue highway we went down the hill into the town and to the train station.  Jay’s carrier was completely wrecked, he was depressed and the only carrier in the cit was 3 ½ miles away. Discussion in the train station:

L:  wanted to go home

J:   hitch through PEI

P:  hitch through PEI

D:            ?

We were in such good condition that is seems a shame to waste it. It is hard to make decisions in the rain.

Decision was to hitchhike through PEI We put our bikes in the train station, (ironic, like a week before)  We phoned home. I was so confused and upset that it must have upset the family.  There is a Hospitality Youth organization located in basement of the Metro Centre.  We went there to find a place to stay.  J and D found a place. While waiting we cooked wieners and chatted with .a fellow from Boston with a nice blue bike who was intending to do the same route we had done. 

Our billet, Mr. Fred Hagell RR1 Sydney Forks, drove eight miles in the rain to get us. He already has two girls there. He appears to live at home alone and takes in kids through the centre. P and I we numbers 86 and 87 this summer. He had two extra rooms and said “Make yourselves at home,” meaning tea, toast, TV (Olympics) then a bath and bed (with pillows!)  Both of us felt our muscles taut and in condition but we were tense and not relaxed.

Tuesday August 29

“Uncle Fred” woke us at 7:15 as he left. We got up, had breakfast (“anything you want girls,”) washed, packed and left.  Hitchhiked to Sydney, just one road.  A businessman picked us up and drove us right to the station.  He talked about the dirtiness of the industrial downtown area.  Met J and D at the train station.

I am actually looking forward to a few days in PEI. Here we have seen the ground and met the people who live here, a real taste of Cape Breton Island.  IN PEI we are going to the touristy areas anyway.  While the biking would have been easy (flat) the distances are long enough to be time consuming.  I am not worried about hitch hiking if it is with the guys (preferably David.)  Well, we shall see. It is ½ hour till the train.  I hope that J,D and P come back from the store!

(Written the next day) They came back and we got on the train and had a magnificent meal of roasted chicken. We got off at New Glasgow at 5:40 and split up the food and us (D + E,  J + P) At 6:30 D and I arrived at the ferry followed closely by the other two. We go the 6:45 ferry. There was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. On the horizon, shades of light, pastel colours. Water green, waves purple. Sun first white, then under clouds but reflected as a big orange disc in the sea, then appeared below the clouds, red, fist like a start then a brilliant globe descending, reflection, and golden rays like a path through the water to us. Then it dropped slowly over the horizon.  We saw sharks, or maybe they were porpoises.

We arrived in PEI and stayed in a (free) provincial park, right by the water. Supper of bread and cheese and happiness. Some eye trouble.  [I was in fact getting pink eye in both eyes.]

It was a very windy night and the tent started flapping alarmingly but David went out to secure it.  Good night.

Wednesday August 30

Up early.  We are on flat land with flat sea and sky all around us. The early morning sun brings out a multitude of pastels, beautiful gulls and flocks of other birds. There is a lighthouse at the other end of the park. The only other people here have two Labrador dogs and one Alsatian named Chris.

Notes: 1) Our ferry was the Lord Selkirk and the sister ship, the Prince Nova.

2) The small sand and clay cliffs really are red (reddish brown anyway.)

So we hitchhiked (D +me) (Pam + J) we were lucky and got to Charlottetown in 2.5 hours. Several times we got communal rides.

 Pam and Jay’s red Volkswagen ride let us in. 

We got into Charlottetown and met in front of the Parliament Buildings. We went in and saw the present chamber (really small, intricate and gaudy) with only about 22 members. The Speaker’s chair is about the same size as the one in the House [of Commons] and dominates the room. We also saw the hall where the first Confederation Conference was held, same chairs, everything.

Pam and I also went to the Confederation Centre. 

This holds the theatre (where a matinee of Ann of Green Gables was playing,) an art gallery (where we saw a magnificent Tom Thompson exhibition.) They also seem to have a good children’s program with a children’s gallery and theatre, and a library.  In between there are foyers with wide windows and skylights, a real people place, surrounded by gardens and fountains. The rest of downtown, that area anyway, is small, almost provincial.

We went to a free clinic for transients in a church basement for my eyes and were given drops and cream.  For lunch D+J treated us to tarts.  Near the church the town is made of frame houses like in Vicksburg (and some like in East Grand Rapids) and all different colours. [These are places in Michigan that I have often visited.  East Grand Rapids has frame mansions!] Nice town.

It is strange how your perception changes. When we were on bikes, those 60 odd miles to the north shore would have seemed like forever but once in cars you realize it is the whole province – small!

Anyway, we hitched out to the youth hostel camp (J+E, P+D) but it was depressing and expensive so we decided to move on to Stanhope. After picking blackberries the others got a lift and after about half an hour we got a short ride to the highway that the locals take to Stanhope. We stood for about three minutes, a car and a taxi went by and … the taxi stopped. Two people in their early 20’s were on their way to some cottages in Stanhope. They were for Parc Extension in Montreal, and had stopped the cab for us. The driver let them out then drove us right to the park entrance where D+P were waiting.

We got a site (not as isolated as others but in a pine forest) and went off to cook dinner in the hut. It was a magnificent concoction of J’s, rice egg etc.  J+D met some transients with a jug of wine and drank; P+I went off and talked. A late night and so to bed.

Thursday August 31

I got up at 8:30 and walked down to the ocean. Pam and I had showers then more beach walking.

Breakfast was pancakes toppings including orange juice, chocolate powder and brown sugar.

We decided to go to Cavendish and got a ride together all the way to the youth camp. It was a large open field with long grass, tents all over, pumps and fire pits.

We sat down and saw … Harriet, who had hitchhiked here from Halifax with her friend Joe.

PEI is gentle rolling hills and dales with villages and farmhouses in the valleys, white houses with green and black gables. By the shore the coast is perfectly flat, small red cliffs, sand dunes by the ocean and shells.

Friday September 1

The youth camp appears to be run by the national park system, based on the signs pointing to it. It is quite large with a central area containing four round fire pits, a pump, privies and a lean-t that can hold about 15 kids. Last night after supper – bologna fromage a la hacienda – the four of us talked for a while (during which someone collected our quarters.) P+J discussed their experiences with drugs (most enlightening.) For once we were all together and almost relaxed instead of in our own little worlds. Then we went to various campfires to keep warm. Fun, light conversation. There were about ten kids for Ottawa there that night including, I think, Rob Bennett (9B.)  So to bed and sleep.

In the morning we got up and went to the park’s entrance to ask about J’s watch, which he thinks, was left at Stanhope. Then we picked raspberries. (For dessert last night we had raspberries in milk (powdered) and brown sugar and apples and made crepes which were more like pancakes.) A truck came to drop off a load of wood and also left a bag of apples from a local farmer.

Later that day J and I hitch hiked to North Rustico then walked to Rustico Harbour. It is a fishing village built on a peninsula with frame shacks and piers and lobster traps. At the Court Brothers building, an old barn filled with old barrels, boxes, traps and nets, we got a piece of cod @ 40 cents, a piece of flounder @ 60 cents and 65 cents worth of mackerel @ 30 cents/lb.  We carried them back which took two hours and cooed a marvellous dinner (fish bone) fried in butter.  Harriet baked one in the fire and it tasted even better. Raspberries and so to bed.

[A fishbone got caught in my throat and I could not cough it out. David took a pair of tweezers and I think there was a flashlight. I remember him saying calmly, “There it is,” and pulling it out. It was scary enough that I clearly assumed that there was no need to write the details. Forty years later we both remembered. David said that I hugged him, and he was amazed. The next hug came 40 years later. We were both amazed.]

Saturday September 2

I got up early, had a shower and walked through the park. There are nice camping sites there. Almost everyone had left the youth camp. After a quick pack up we left. Harriet passed us on a motorcycle. Hopefully she was getting a car ride on the ferry.  We hitchhiked in pairs and got rides to Charlottetown. After a long wait rode with D. to the site of an annual picnic by Animal Land with plaster kangaroos. (Canadian magazine called this blight on the landscape.) Then a drive in the cab of an unloaded trailer right to the ferry, past J+P whose expressions at that point were unforgettable. The ferry runs every half hour but we discovered that we were all on the same ferry, run by CN. 

J+P had a drive right to Amherst but it took us 2.5 hours to get there. At the train station there was a message for us that the reservations were changed and the others would be back soon.  They were, and we bought groceries and walked around and waited in a park (card) [?]  Then to the train station and the train at 9:45.

We feasted on bread, cheese and grapes, (I am sick of bread and cheese) and tried to sleep. My eye is closed and it is difficult to see. [I remember a small boy saying to his mother, “Look at that girl. She is eating when she is asleep.”]

Sunday September 3

The train rolled on to home, we wrote thank you letters and the trip, and this diary, came to an end.

(And in the most wonderful and amazing way, David and I remet in 2012, after our own life adventures, fell in love almost immediately, and got married.  One of the first things we did together was to call Jay. In 2015,  David, Jay, his wife Rita and I travelled together to PEI, 43 years after the first trip.  Here’s what we looked like in 2015

                                            Elizabeth                     David                       Jay