Views from the Port Malcolm Road

The following day, the beginning of the Celtic Colours International Festival, took me to Port Hawkesbury for the opening concert after a busy day of cèilidhs. The wonderful weather continued and, after an early fishcake and beans supper at the Fire Hall in Port Hastings, one of the many community events that are scheduled during the Festival, I decided to take a drive out to Point Tupper, where I followed the Bear Island Road to the Port Malcolm Road and took it to Highway 104 in Lower River Inhabitants and followed it back to Port Hawkesbury. There were next to no fall colours on the Bear Island Road and only a few pastels on the Port Malcolm Road, but Highway 104 had excellent colour back into Port Hawkesbury; I didn’t stop as it was getting time for the concert and traffic was heavy on the highway. The photos on this page, chosen partly to give your eyes a rest from the reds of the previous page, were taken at a stop in Port Richmond where the afternoon sun and blue skies created a gorgeous scene, albeit one with no reds.

Photo #1 looks out over Inhabitants Bay from Port Richmond, just south of Murray Cove at the far left. This is not an area I have great familiarity with, but from the topographical map, I believe Indian Point is the point just left of centre and Boudreaus Island is in the centre; beyond the gap between the two is Whiteside on Cape Breton Island. The other land seen at the right is Hog Island and MacNamaras Island.

The next four photos are telephoto shots and form a connected panorama, with all the photos at the same focal length. Photo #2 looks at the far left of photo #1, where part of Murray Cove is seen at the far left. The area between the cove and the lend ending in Indian Point is labelled as Big Beach on the topographical map. The white building is likely at Whiteside on Cape Breton Island; the mouth of the River Inhabitants would then be considerably to the left of the house and outside the scope of this photo.

[continued below]

Photo #3 continues the panorama, looking at the land mass that ends in Indian Point. A small piece of The Big Basin, which is a large bay, bounded by Indian Point, Boudreaus Island, and Walshs Island, that sits off the shore of Cape Breton Island from Walkerville to Whiteside to Tongue Point at the southern end of Cape Breton Island adjacent to the Lennox Passage, can be seen at the right of Indian Point. At the far right of the photo, one can see Bumbo Island and the tip of Boudreaus Island.

Photo #4 has very little overlap with photo #3, but continues the panorama looking at Boudreaus Island. The map, which dates from 1981, shows no habitations on Boudreaus Island and I see no sign of any on its shores. Under magnification, one can see some slightly changed pastel foliage on the far shore just to the left of the taller trees right of centre, but most of the trees are evergreens, so there is not likely to be a great deal of colour anyway.

[continued below]

Photo #5 completes the panorama. I believe it is Hog Island left of centre and MacNamaras Island at the far right. If that be right, the land between the two would be a small piece of Walshs Island. The Little Basin, another, smaller, bay formed by the south side of Boudreaus Island, Walshs Island, and MacNamaras Island, would then be at the centre of the photo.

Photo #6 looks at the waters adjacent to the road behind the small spit of land seen in photo #5 that forms a small lagoon. The brown grasses were about the only indication of fall colours in this area.