Confederation Bridge, Miscouche Acadian Museum and Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist, West Point Harbour and Lighthouse, and Cedar Dunes Provincial Park
I have wifi at this campground (a small miracle), but no power. It has been next to impossible to create posts while on the road as I am camping almost every night. I had hoped to create posts for each province as I travelled, but that may have to be a winter project as there is no way I will ever catch up!
Thank you to those of you who have written to ask where I am and if I’m okay. All has gone mostly well (just too much driving), and I have been very happy to reach the Maritime Provinces. I loved New Brunswick, especially along the Fundy Coast, and I plan to visit more of New Brunswick when I begin the return trip west, after visiting Nova Scotia. I have decided to not visit Newfoundland and Labrador on this trip after all. I want to make a separate trip to that magnificent province (flying this time) when I am fresh and haven’t already travelled thousands and thousands of kilometres!
Today I crossed over the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island!
That was exciting! What a beautiful bridge, and such an impressive feat of engineering. It was a tremendous experience to cross over that wide wide expanse of deep blue water. I thought of the Micmac peoples who have inhabited Prince Edward Island for over 10,000 years. They would have arrived by sea!
As I approached this low-lying island from near the end of the bridge, and saw the bank of eroding red sand at its edge, I thought, “It will never last! It is so ephemeral, and at the mercy of the sea!” But, once on land, its solidity (such as it is) made itself known. This province could easily rename itself Prince Edward Agricultural Island. Almost right away I was passing fields of shoulder-high corn, and acres of potatoes growing in the red soil. Grain was ripening, hay had just been cut, and lovely old farmhouses stole my heart (even those, and sometimes especially those, that need a little TLC).
I made a stop at the Miscouche Acadian Museum and learned about the long and difficult history of the Acadians, French colonial settlers who were displaced when the British eventually gained control of PEI, formerly known as L’Isle Saint Jean. Here is the very large and beautiful wooden Church of the Parish of Saint John the Baptist in Miscouche.
Near to the church, a quintet of older ladies were sitting and chatting in a shady park. I walked over to ask them if they thought that I should take a secondary road, Highway 11, rather than the principal road, to reach my campground at West Point. “Would it be more scenic?” The short stretch of highway begins just blocks from where they sat, but not one of them has ever been on that road! (Granted, two of them don’t drive.). I was flabbergasted, but didn’t show it of course. Which is more crazy, I wondered as I walked away – my travelling an incredibly ridiculous number of kilometres all of this way across Canada, or someone not having taken a scenic coastal road which is practically in their back yard? I guess the answer depends on who you are!
Of course, I took Highway 11, and it was a wonderful drive that passed many beautiful farms and small settlements, as well as the sea.
I rejoined the principal road leading west, and soon arrived at the small harbour of West Point,
and less than a kilometre from there was the excellent Cedar Dunes Provincial Park, my home for my first two nights on PEI. Here is my trusty Toyota in my site (Thank you Toyota for bringing me all this way!),
and here is the beach just a minute’s walk away!
And I had a swim! What a surprise and such a pleasure! I had assumed that it would be too cold to swim here in the sea, but the temperature was perfect, there were fun waves rolling in, and the buoyancy was divine. I’ll swim again tomorrow!
After a simple dinner in camp I went for a walk along the beach, to the lighthouse and beyond, finding pretty rocks as I went.
It was the kind of PEI summer day that I had long imagined, and I am looking forward to my days ahead here. I’ll say goodnight now, with this last photo of the view from my campsite, near sunset, as I sit and type these words.
Thank you for reading, and goodnight from Atlantic Canada.