Travels with haRVy

We were pleasantly surprised to wake up to brilliantly sunny skies.

I took my morning walk on the beach while Al did his exercise routine. We devoured a warming breakfast of oatmeal on this relatively cool morning before heading out while the good weather holds.

We drove north to the northwestern-most tip of the island at North Cape. We spent quite a lot of time at the Interpretive Center learning about local history and wind energy production as they have a large wind farm here, where the wind is almost always blowing.

Had lunch at “Cousins” in Tignish, a restaurant owned by the folks whose summer cottage is next to where we are camped. We then toured around the area soaking up the local ambiance. We bought fresh haddock at the local fisherman’s co-op right on the harbor and watched farmers harvesting their potato crop.

When we got back to camp we took another long walk on the beautiful red sand beach. Feeling fortunate to have received this beautiful day here as a unexpected bonus.

Bright sunshine and cool. 32 miles

We were aroused this morning by work on the fishing wharf. We got a few looks from the local fishermen as we raised our shades and drove away from their work area. Oh well, the place was nice and quiet last night, except for the howling winds that are bringing some foul weather our way.

Before leaving the Malpeque harbor area, we took long walk around the closed Provincial Park that we attempted to camp at yesterday. It is a huge area encompassing an entire point of land overlooking the ocean on three sides. Quite lovely, especially when you’re the only 2 people on over 400 acres of land!

Along our route toward Tignish, we found another closed Provincial park at Port Hill, which provided another quiet respite for lunch and an additional walk. Acres of fall dandelions provided a colorful backdrop that I just had to photograph.

The gusty winds continued throughout the day, so the going was slow but steady. In Tyne Valley we stopped at “The Doctor’s Inn,” a B&B, restaurant, and organic farm where I purchased fresh picked “while you watch” veggies and freshly laid eggs.

The rain began in earnest around 4 o’clock as the terrain became increasing rural as we got further from the more populated areas. A bit of color change is becoming evident on some of the foliage.

We arrived at our Rhode Island friend Jim O’Connor’s property at Tignish Shore at 5 and got ourselves positioned to hunker-down for a day or two as the storm comes through. It is rainy and windy, but the temperature is still pleasant today. After dinner the rain and sky cleared (temporarily) and we got out to observe a colorful sunset and rainbow over the ocean. We are both looking forward to more explorations as the weather permits.

Cloudy, very windy, afternoon rain. 125 miles

We did indeed get lulled to sleep by the nearby ocean waves, but it was difficult to shut our eyes due to the spectacular display the stars provided…wow! I think this was only about the third time I have been somewhere dark enough to actually distinguish the Milky Way. Needless to say it was a wondrous experience!

This lovely private campground has many personal touches that you just don’t see at the Provincial or National Park Campgrounds. The owner here obviously puts her heart into it. We enjoyed our brief stay very much, especially the beach over which it perches.

Beach Buddha?

We drove west along the north shore visiting Shipwreck Point and taking a short hike on a trail overlooking beautiful St. Peters Bay where extensive mussel farms are anchored. Much of the PEI National Park that runs along the shore here reminds us of Provincetown on Cape Cod with sand dunes and broad beaches. 

Later in the afternoon we once again found ourselves on a dirt road. Unfortunately, this one became deeply rutted and narrow so we had to back out at least a half a mile.

We couldn’t find a good boondocking spot so we headed for the Cabot Beach Provincial Park near Malpeque as the sun was setting. This must not be our lucky day as it was already closed for the season. Luckily there is a commercial fishing harbor nearby and we found a spot to park overlooking the bay.

Sunny and warm. Windy evening. 143 miles

Lunch time view

Walks on three different beaches in one day…I must be in heaven!

But first, here are a few parting shots of Cardigan where we began our morning.

Before departing Cardigan we went to Lloyd’s Meats, highly recommended by our Murray Harbour host Wendy. Lloyd is a man passionate about his meats. He didn’t have any grass fed beef today, but I bought a beautiful pastured pork tenderloin, some ground free range chicken, plus his special “private blend” wild mushroom sausage. Should make for some good eatin’ in the days ahead. PEI is much more conducive to buying local as it seems to be filled with folks passionate about what they produce.

Heading further north up the western shore of PEI we got a little lost and wound up on a red dirt road. Luckily it was hard packed and our GPS knew where we were when we got to the end.

Windshield shot

We went out to Spry Point for lunch and unexpectedly found a beautiful red sand beach there. We walked the length of it under a bright sunny sky and stuck our toes in the water, which didn’t feel too terribly cold.

Later, after passing many more beautiful bays we walked on the beach at Basin Head and experienced the “singing” sands that they highly publicize. Not much of a thrill, but a very pretty beach nonetheless.

At East Point, the northeastern-most tip of the island, we viewed yet another lighthouse. We have seen so many now that I didn’t even bother taking a photo of this one since it didn’t have any distinctive style.

Shortly after rounding the point we turned in to Campbell Cove Campground where yet another beautiful beach was waiting, which I walked just before sunset. Looking forward to having the sound of the waves lull me to sleep tonight.

Brilliantly sunny, windy, cool to warm. 79 miles

PEI is the first bike-friendly province we’ve visited on this trip. It offers a network of dedicated bike trails over reasonably flat terrain. The others were quite mountainous with only roads (without bike lanes) to ride on, which we did not find conducive. We celebrated by dusting off the bikes and taking a ride on the local branch of the Confederation Trail. This rail bed conversion crisscrosses the island for several hundred kilometers. The segment near Murray Harbour is a very pleasant, mostly flat ride protected from today’s wind by trees on both sides. We saw one walker and one other bike rider during over the course of our 3+ hour ride.

After lunch we took advantage of our hosts’ shower and filled our water tanks before getting back on the road this afternoon.

We headed up the east coast Route #17 passing several small working harbors, picturesque bays, more lighthouses, and red sand dunes. There was also more farmlands and even an organic farm where we purchased some goodies. We quickly toured the charming waterfront village of Georgetown before settling down for the night next to the old train depot in Cardigan. The depot functions as a base for the local farmer’s market during the summer months.

Sunny, windy and cool. 59 miles

We spent the morning thoroughly enjoying all that Victoria has to offer. This included an early morning photo walk, pancakes with chocolate chips at the Chocolate Festival, visiting with the locals, and a tour of a studio filled with work by incredibly talented local artisans including a mom, dad, and daughter as well as their friends.

Can you recognize the tourist in this photo?

Our coastal tour of the island continued in an easterly direction at 12:15 through bucolic countryside with fields of corn, hay and potatoes covering rolling hills. PEI is much different than any of the other Canadian Maritime Provinces we’ve visited. It is so interesting to see how unique each one of them is. Where Newfoundland and Nova Scotia had practically no farms, PEI is almost nothing but. It’s all about the dirt, which PEI has in abundance while NF and NS are mostly rock with very little soil.

Heading out to Point Prim we came upon another roadside curiosity – Hannah’s Bottle Village. The creator keeps it open for free self-guided public tours and collects donations for a children’s hospital.

We visited two more lighthouses. Port Prim, which is the oldest in PEI and Cape Bear at the southeastern most point.

We settled in for the night with our new acquaintances, Larry and Wendy Siebrands in Murray Harbor. They are registered as hosts on BoondockersWelcome.com. They graciously welcomed us to camp in their driveway and share a glass of wine around their backyard campfire.

We look forward to exploring this area tomorrow.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

Progress?

Windy & cloudy morning, sunny and warm afternoon. 113 miles