2 August, 2017, Blog Post No. 8

2 August, 2017, Blog Post No. 8

29 July Left our beautiful campsite to go exploring, but not before paying for a site for tonight; pressure was really on for accommodation. Drove around the north cape coastal drive, stopping for lunch at Abram-village, at the heart of an Acadian Region called Région Evangéline. They have very much taken to heart the Longfellow poem Evangéline. We watched a very good band of five young girls and a young boy, average age about 13, playing up beat folk songs. We set course for North Cape, but lost our turnoff and ended up driving up a very boring inland route instead of the scenic coastal drive. Managed to find a more scenic route back. This part of PEI is like one giant farm, with lots of corn,potatoes, canola and hay fields. Very little livestock in view. And lots and lots of tourists!!! Stayed again at our pretty little campsite by the sea and were treated to a beautiful rainbow in the evening.

30 July Drove to north central area of PEI, around Cavendish, prime Anne of Green Gables country. Did not venture into the real tourists areas, like the Lucy Maud Montgomery house, the tourist pressure was just too daunting. All of the National Parks were jammed, as were most of the beaches. PEI is very poorly signposted, we blundered along the main road parallel to the famed Cavendish/Rustico/Brackley Beaches for 30mkm before we found the access roads; we did blunder down several of what appeared to be access roads, only to find they led to a church or a small private subdivision. Eventually we discovered we should be looking for small. roadside park logo signs about the size of a dinner plate, but by then we had passed most of the more interesting beaches. We did get to see Brackley Beach, but since dogs were not permitted on the beach, in the spirit of solidarity with our companions, we did only a rudimentary foray. The beaches are charming, and very popular, but Whangamata/Mt Maunganui/Ohope they are not. The characteristic red sand does not make for appealing swimming and there was no surf the day we were there, in spite of the Atlantic ocean stretching out to Newfoundland. Found a very nice campground at Oyster Bay Bridge and on the advice of the proprietor, ventured out to the fabled Lobster Supper at the New Glasgow restaurant founded as a fundraising community venture, but now run as a specialty lobster restaurant. The lobster was superb, an experience not to be missed.

31 July, Drove into Charlottetown and did a brief exploration. Difficult to find parking for the camper so we were there for only about an hour. Again followed the scenic drives to arrive at Brudenell River Provincial Park. We were given a pretty little sheltered spot amongst the trees, which in spite of being rented as “unserviced”, did have electric power, so we were very happy to be able to toast our bagels the next morning. We were camped next to a charming American couple who had the Winnebago version of our camper van. Naturally we ended up comparing vehicles and got a number of very good tips about operations and even dog care!!. They traveled with an extremely well behaved and beautiful chocolate lab, who rather put our rambunctious ruffians to shame with her placid demeanor. Our new friends were both retired professional musicians. We were treated to an impromptu violin concert and sympathized with them on the latest shenanigans of their new president over an excellent bottle of Jackson Triggs sauvignon blanc and a small bucket of excellent Virginia peanuts. We had such a pleasant evening that we all resolved to try and stay in touch, even though we live almost the entire width of the American continent away. We gave them this blog address, so our best greetings to you M & C, happy travels and we hope to meet you again somewhere.

1 August A leisurely start, we were quite close to the Wood Islands ferry to take us to Nova Scotia, down an almost perfectly straight road all the way. We boarded the 14:45 ferry for the 75 minute ride, then a 90 minute drive to Dartmouth, just across the inlet from Halifax. We found our way to the home of Catherine, our long time dog sitter and house guest, now resident in Nova Scotia. A walk around the block for the dogs, who with the long drive and ferry ride confinement to the camper, were well and truly ready for a bit of a breakout. We went out for a fine pub dinner and lots of catchup conversation before settling in to the camper parked in Catherine’s drive.

2 August We made our bookings for Newfoundland , over on 16, back on 23^rd August. Bookings were required 2 weeks in advance. Catherine then drove us to Halifax for a walk around Pier 21, tourist and food experience which is like Granville Is. Weather stayed good. We visited the Maritime Museum, then home to let the dogs out of confinement, and then to cook a very fine dinner of digby scallops and haddock in garlic butter, new PEI potatoes and sweet corn on the cob.

A la prochaine

P & K