Friday, 14 October — Whycocomagh to Margaree Forks

I arose a bit before 9h and found an overcast day with light mist falling (after a harder rain during the night that had left puddles in the parking area); the car’s thermometer registered +15 (59). Avoiding the back road to Glencoe Mills that I knew was in terrible shape from Monday’s storm, I took the longer way to Judique. On Highway 252, moderate rain started falling as I passed through Skye Glen. The colours were now at or close to peak all along Highway 252, especially at junction of the Old Mull River Road west of Brook Village and all along the Mabou River; greens were now definitely in the minority and a lot of those that remained were brush. Of course, this was no day for photography, so I took no photos of the beautiful colours, bright even in the rain. On Highway 19, the peak colours petered out south of Southwest Mabou. I took the Shore Road in Harbourview to avoid a slow-moving truck and stopped at McKays Point, where the rain had stopped, for a shot of Creignish Mountain, whose summit was under the clouds, and Long Point.

When I arrived shortly thereafter at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre, I got a place at a table and placed my lunch order for chowder and a biscuit, two fish cakes, and a side salad, which I enjoyed as I listened to Rachel Davis on fiddle and Allan Dewar on keyboard open the lunchtime cèilidh and play until the morning classes at the Buddy MacMaster School of Fiddling arrived for their lunch. Today’s instructors were Kimberley Fraser and Kendra MacGillivray, who with Allan accompanying, played some very fine sets as their students ate lunch. It had been some time since I last heard Kendra, a beautiful player indeed, and Kimberley is always a joy to hear playing traditional music. After the instructors and their students returned to classes, Rachel returned and continued the cèilidh.

On the way north after the cèilidh, I stopped off at a friend’s in West Mabou for a visit and then drove north to Inverness, passing by a Cape Mabou shrouded in mist and fog, to renew my annual subscription to the Oran, which I now receive electronically instead of in the paper edition. I drove down to the boardwalk at Inverness and sat in the parking area for a few minutes looking at the grey views, but it was too wet and raw to consider a walk on the boardwalk. I drove on to Margaree Forks, where I got my motel room, and read and relaxed until it was time for supper (I was tired enough for a nap, but feared I would not awake in time for the evening’s activities). I drove on to Belle-Côte and had dinner at the Belle View; they were out of the advertised salt cod dinner when I got there (and halibut as well—they are closing for the season on Sunday), so I ordered bacon-wrapped scallops and pan fried haddock with rice and cole slaw, all excellent. Some slight clearing was evident as I drove back to Inverness via the Shore Road—it’s about a half hour and way shorter than via Margaree Forks; the road is mostly OK but is suffering from heaves in a lot of places, especially on the north end. I sat in the car at the Inverness Academy until it was time to go in to the concert; as I went inside, it was a raw +8 (46), with very strong gusty, winds off the Gulf—not good for the leaves!

The Celtic Colours concert at the Inverness Academy was titled 60 Years at Broad Cove and was a celebration of the annual Broad Cove concert, always held on the last Sunday of July, and which saw its 60th edition in 2016. The concert featured some of those who have performed on its stage over the years. It opened with a great step dance from Harvey Beaton to the music of Katie MacLeod on fiddle, Lawrence Cameron on keyboard, and Dave MacIsaac on guitar. Joe Murphy, the emcee, then came out on stage and officially introduced the performers and the concert. Katie, Lawrence, and Dave continued with an air/strathspeys/reels set. Next, Kevin Dugas on highland bagpipes, accompanied by Harvey on keyboard and Dave on guitar, played a set of jigs; a slow air he learned from the playing of Ben Miller; and a great blast o’ tunes—oh, how I love the music of the pipes! Joe then gave us a Gaelic song about the Broad Cove concert. Hamish Moore and his son, Fin, playing on Scottish small pipes with Dave accompanying on guitar, gave us a fine set of beautiful tunes, beautifully played, ending with the Inverness Reel; a dandy set of jigs including Blue Bonnet and Hot Lunch; and a great march/strathspeys/reels set dedicated to the late Willie Fraser. Fin, Harvey, and Dave finished off the first half of the concert with music to which Bill and John Pellerin gave us a great step dance; now in their early 50’s, they were six and five the first time they danced at Broad Cove.

Following the break, several members of the Broad Cove parish, assembled as the Broad Cove Gaelic Singers, gave us a grand milling frolic with a Gaelic song whose title translated into English is I Arose Early on a May Morning; Joe gave us a nice English translation of the song’s words. Douglas Cameron on fiddle, Lawrence on keyboard, and Dave on guitar played a gorgeous march/strathspeys/reels set; an air/strathspeys/reels set which began with an air not frequently heard played flowingly and fairly lush, getting sustained audience applause after it ended; and a set of tunes to which Sheena Boucher step danced. Dave on fiddle, with Lawrence accompanying, played a fine set of tunes his father played as a youth before he left for up north; Dave’s fiddle playing is a real treat I don’t get to hear very often, an older style with lots of Gaelic in the bow. The Outside Track, a band featuring a fusion of Scots, Irish, and Cape Breton songs, tunes, and step dance, and including Cape Breton’s own Mairi Rankin, gave us Lennie Gallant’s song, Peter’s Dream, accompanied by fiddle, guitar, accordion, and harp; an instrumental set; the song Get Me to December; and another instrumental set to which Mairi step danced. They remained on stage to play for a Scotch Four, danced by Melanie MacQuarrie, Sheena, and the Pellerin brothers. The finale began with Joe singing the verses to Blow the Bugle alternately in Gaelic and English; some vocals from the Outside Track; and a pipes and fiddles blast o’ tunes to which Harvey, Sheena, Bill and John, Melanie, and three ladies wearing sashes step danced individually and then together. It was another grand concert in what has been a string of smashing concerts this year and I greatly enjoyed the evening.

At the end of the concert, I hastened to Southwest Margaree for the dance there, the last of the year, with Ian MacDougall on fiddle and Robert Deveaux on keyboard. I arrived late, well after 23h, to find it very well attended, with more people than I’ve seen here all year. Thirty-one couples danced the third figure of the square set underway when I arrived, making the floor almost too crowded to dance, and the next square set had twenty-four couples in its third figure. Two waltzes, In Memory of Herbie MacLeod and Faded Love each drew at least twelve couples. The following square set had twenty-one couples in its third figure. The step dance sequence drew a young lady; Màiri Britton; three other young ladies each dancing alone; Jimmy MacIsaac; and ended with one of the young ladies who had danced previously. The final square set was smaller, with only nine couples in its third figure. Ian’s fiddle really sings and his tune choices, with so many of my favourite tunes, made it an even more pleasurable evening; Robert, whom I haven’t heard a lot in recent years, was icing on the cake with his fine accompaniments. What a great way to end the Southwest Margaree dance season!

It was a raw night with bitter winds when I regained my car and drove the short distance back to Margaree Forks and the motel room. I fell asleep hoping that the leaves would survive this beating and stay on the trees so I could enjoy them next week once the music was over.