Saturday August 30
August 30 Saturday, Linlatter Provincial Park, Summerside, PEI
Tonight we are in the state of Prince Edward Island, or PEI as all the locals call it. The rain stopped overnight, and the day dawned quite gray, but the forescast proved right and we had sunshine by midday. We traveled south down the coast with our first stop at Bouchtouche, a seaside town, and a Saturday Market. Quite a fun place with a group of musicians playing and singing, although some were not so good! The market was set up with permanent cover and bought some bread for lunch and a few buns as well as some homemade pickles. Had a good chat with a photographer who was selling cards. As we were coming into Shediac I saw a sign advertising an art festival..our next stop. Really enjoyed it, this town is a centre for the arts and they had a 2 day exhibition of original art with the artists there. A small band was playing jazz as we wandered around the marquee. Spotted some really good pastel drawings, then met the artist, Claire Chevarie a lady with a real personality, and it shows through her work www.clairechevarie.com She had been a school teacher for many years, and was now retired and her and her “friend” spend the summers in this area, and winters in Florida. We had a late lunch by the water just out of town then onto PEI. Stopped on the New Brunswick side of the Confederation Bridge to get some photos…what an amazing sight. Previously the only access to the island was by ferry, but after 4 years work, the 13 kilometre bridge was opened in 1997, quite a feat as the waterway way freezes in the winter. We are really taken by our first impressions of PEI…the land is quite flat, and the soil is rich red and looks very fertile, and it all seems to be in crop. Evidently the main crop is potatoes. It was after 4 so headed for a campground that read quite good, but after paying for a site, and taking a look, we turned around and asked for our money back and left. It was really rough, wall to wall camping and looked dirty.Saw a provincial park so headed for that and what a find, right on the Northumberland Straight, not too crowded with views out on the water. Got the laundry done and had a relaxing evening. After a shower and just settling down to write the blog there was a tap at the door and a group next door asked us to join them round their campfire. So nice of them, so got our glasses and headed over and sat and chatted for an hour or so. They were “real island people”…had lived and worked all their life here and in fact the parents lived only 5 miles away. The son in law worked for a peat processing factory on the island, evidently a big business. Their world was very small.
Tonight we are in the state of Prince Edward Island, or PEI as all the locals call it. The rain stopped overnight, and the day dawned quite gray, but the forescast proved right and we had sunshine by midday. We traveled south down the coast with our first stop at Bouchtouche, a seaside town, and a Saturday Market. Quite a fun place with a group of musicians playing and singing, although some were not so good! The market was set up with permanent cover and bought some bread for lunch and a few buns as well as some homemade pickles. Had a good chat with a photographer who was selling cards. As we were coming into Shediac I saw a sign advertising an art festival..our next stop. Really enjoyed it, this town is a centre for the arts and they had a 2 day exhibition of original art with the artists there. A small band was playing jazz as we wandered around the marquee. Spotted some really good pastel drawings, then met the artist, Claire Chevarie a lady with a real personality, and it shows through her work www.clairechevarie.com She had been a school teacher for many years, and was now retired and her and her “friend” spend the summers in this area, and winters in Florida. We had a late lunch by the water just out of town then onto PEI. Stopped on the New Brunswick side of the Confederation Bridge to get some photos…what an amazing sight. Previously the only access to the island was by ferry, but after 4 years work, the 13 kilometre bridge was opened in 1997, quite a feat as the waterway way freezes in the winter. We are really taken by our first impressions of PEI…the land is quite flat, and the soil is rich red and looks very fertile, and it all seems to be in crop. Evidently the main crop is potatoes. It was after 4 so headed for a campground that read quite good, but after paying for a site, and taking a look, we turned around and asked for our money back and left. It was really rough, wall to wall camping and looked dirty.Saw a provincial park so headed for that and what a find, right on the Northumberland Straight, not too crowded with views out on the water. Got the laundry done and had a relaxing evening. After a shower and just settling down to write the blog there was a tap at the door and a group next door asked us to join them round their campfire. So nice of them, so got our glasses and headed over and sat and chatted for an hour or so. They were “real island people”…had lived and worked all their life here and in fact the parents lived only 5 miles away. The son in law worked for a peat processing factory on the island, evidently a big business. Their world was very small.
Comments
That bridge is impressive if it has stone columns for 13 ks! You are having a blast for sure!