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September 06, 2006

Prince Edward Island 2006 - Part I

The Confederation Bridge joins Prince Edward Island to the mainland of New Brunswick.  Built in 1997, the 12.9 kilometer (8 mile) span is the world’s longest over ice-covered waters.  There is no charge to go over to the island – but – the fee is $40.50 plus $6.75 per axle over 2, when you decide to come back.   Of course you could take the Wood Islands Ferry to Nova Scotia, but that costs more and certainly takes longer.

We stayed at a campground – “Sun N Shade” – just a few kilometers from the bridge and toured the central and western sections of the island using it as our base.  Six nights a week there is music in the campground hall, bluegrass, gospel and traditional and then after a break they have “open mike” when musicians from the audience come up and perform with the group.  The musicians are the husband and wife owners of the campground and were absolutely excellent.

I am going to let pictures do a lot of the journal in PEI.  The scenery is magnificent and the red of the soil adds striking colour to so many of the landscapes.

 

Clear blue water edged by red banks with a lighthouse in the background is the typical picture of Prince Edward Island.   However there is sooooo much more.

Outside Kensington we visited Woodleigh Replicas, a 45 acre site that features 30 large scale models of castles and cathedrals from the British Isles.  Most are not as large as this one, but the details are just as great on the smaller buildings.  The work was done by one man assisted by his family.  A fascinating couple of hours!

 

Cavendish Beach is part of the PEI National Park that extends 40 km (25 mi) along the northern shore, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Long sandy beaches, huge sweeping sand dunes, ponds, woods and salt marshes draw thousands of summer vacationers.

North Rustico Harbour lighthouse was built in 1876 and is still in operation.  North Rustico and New Glascow both have famous Lobster Suppers.  We went to New Glascow and had an excellent meal, although they are not cheap – about $65.00 plus drinks, for the two of us.

 

Thousands of coloured floats in the mouths of the rivers of PEI turned out to be mussel farming.  The colours of the floats indicate the owner of the strings.  The mussels are harvested when they have matured and are served in every restaurant that we ate in.

 

Everywhere are small harbours with the fishermen’s sheds close by.  The lobster season doesn’t start again until around November so the traps are stored neatly till then.

We are seeing the island from one end to the other, North Cape to East Point.  We have now seen the centre portion and I’ll send the next journal with pictures from both ends of it.

Bernie & Ross

Posted by Bernice at September 6, 2006 05:54 PM

Comments

Posted by: Val Russell at September 18, 2006 05:33 PM