Finally, A Scenic Hike!
After breakfast we decided to explore some of the eastern parts of the island. Though it was windy, the wind warning had been downgraded, and the skies were just like yesterday. Deep blue with loads of sunshine!
We had really enjoyed our drive yesterday into the western part of the island and found it very scenic. We noticed a tremendous number of churches, and today while we saw quite a few, there generally seem to be somewhat fewer to the east. I Googled a question asking, “which province in Canada has the most churches per capita?” The results were inconclusive, but I bet that PEI would rank right up there.😂
Many small churches dot the landscape. There are a few larger ones as well, but in the countryside they seem to be the exception. We even saw an Amish horse drawn wagon today moving along the side of the highway. Ernie mentioned that quite a number of Amish families have moved to the island from Ontario and taken up farming. A step back into time. I thought that it might be a bit like when I’m on a Camino. Removed from everyday life, and generally isolated from my familiar world. Though I do have a cell phone.😉
We drove up to the north coast to visit Greenwich National Park. A beautiful park bracketed by tall sand dunes on the west end, and lovely marsh and forested areas to the south and east. Apparently there had earlier been plans to develop the area, but fortunately there was a significant pushback and the land ended up being protected forever as a national park. Smart decision. I like hearing about these successes.
We walked almost all of the available trails, plus a long ramble down a windswept beach to the far point. We revelled in the comparative solitude, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of walking somewhere we’d never walked before. Wind driving into our faces much of the time. 🙂 It was both refreshing and healing after a difficult couple of months. I’m aware that I’ve lost some of my inner balance during this time, but somehow walking always seems to help recentre me.
Early on we cross parts of the sand dunes on a wooden walkway. As we hit the marshes, the wood gave away to a plastic floating pontoon-like walkway. I’ve not seen a walkway constructed like this previously, and it seemed to support us quite well. I found myself wondering if plastic particles were slowly eroding from the pathway? I guess that not every eventuality can always be anticipated. There was clearly good intentions in the final decisions.
Quite an ingenious design.
We climbed up over the lower dunes on the right in the above photo and found a wind swept, seemingly untouched beach. Heaven…
Well, of course it was just begging to be walked!😊
Was it ever windy! But so special! We have many wind swept beaches with lots of solitude on the West Coast, but this was just a little different. Or perhaps it was just because we had it all to ourselves? It didn’t really matter as we headed off into the wind and walked and walked. Sometimes together, sometimes alone. It didn’t seem to really matter. Just being there was all that really mattered in that moment.
There are big $ fines if one is caught walking on the dunes. Such a sensitive ecosystem, and well worth protecting.
We walked off the beach and eventually found our way on to another trail. This time a bit less dramatic.
The trail took us through an area which had much earlier been home to an indigenous culture which was, of course, pushed aside when the Europeans arrived. The Acadians arrived in the 1700’s and they and the remaining indigenous people were eventually removed by the British. Some years later a couple hundred folks were allowed to return, and they started fishing the harbour and also lived off the abundant local shell fish. This has continued to present times with substantial aquaculture underway, particularly oysters and mussels.
We interrupted an eagle’s rabbit lunch as we progressed. He had a huge wing span and was grey and black. We initially thought it was a raven, but when we saw it again, it was clearly an eagle.
Eventually arriving back at the car, we decided to drive to Souris and then on to the far eastern tip of PEI to see the Confederation Lighthouse.
Then the long drive back into Charlottetown against the wind. The roads here are wide and generally flat, making driving fairly easy.
A bit of time to get some laundry sorted and the blog started. And then it was time to go out to find dinner. Many of the places we’d thought of were booked out, so we tried a pub close to home. It proved to be a very good choice as it was mostly full of local types on a Saturday night. Though we had to sit at the bar, that wasn’t really a problem as we had some nice chats with the bar tenders while also watching the Calgary Flames lose to the Blues (sorry Uncle Bill). The Canucks will appreciate this.😊
We focussed on seafood appies with some of those local PEI mussels and some probably not so local Calamari with a nice twist of spice and a very good Argentinian Malbec.
We completed our evening with a very pleasant after dinner apéritif. AT had a B52 and I enjoyed a generous snifter of Grand Marnier. So nice…
Now finally back at the B&B we have connected with home where they are about to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. We will be enjoying ours on Monday in a small village at a community dinner on Cape Breton Island. But that’s a story for another day.
One more day on lovely PEI before heading back to Nova Scotia on Monday. We have a few plans for tomorrow, but we will see what actually transpires.😅
Cheers!🍷
Geoff
Distance Walker - Wandering & Wondering! 