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Published: October 1st 2008
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The end of our last blog saw us in pursuit of somewhere to do our washing after being on the road for over a week. However, our plan to fly into Halifax and then go and stay overnight at Mike's parents farm was soon squashed. By a bird!!! We phoned Westjet whilst driving towards Toronto and listed on the afternoon flight to Halifax. The reservation agent said that we should be fine going standby as there was space on the flight. When we arrived at the airport, we soon found out that would not be the case. The flight had been cancelled due to a bird flying into the engine. As a result, all the flights that day were full and we were re-scheduled to fly standby the next day, but to Montreal. Not quite what we expected and for once, traveling standby turned to our advantage. We asked "Is there a flight to Charlottetown by chance", "Yes, oh good - we'll go on that one then". We quickly rearranged our plans as we were meant to be driving to Prince Edward Island the next day with our friends Bill and Sheri for the weekend. At least we would be on
PEI.
So that's what we did. Jumped on a different plane and soon found ourselves in Charlottetown Airport. We thought we'd be able to pick up a car rental - negative. It was the start of Old Home Week, which is a fair type event that lasts for well, a week. Lots of people come to the island and as a result no cars! We ended up taking a taxi up to Cavendish on the North Shore and getting a cottage at The Resort at Cavendish Corner. Sheri had booked two small side by side cottages for the Friday and Saturday night and we got a slightly bigger one for the Thursday night, when we arrived. We got to the Resort just as the sun was setting and we realised that we would were right by the water for the next day's exploring adventures. As it was getting late that night, we just dropped our bags and ran out to find somewhere open for dinner.
We had a great sleep that night and got up the next day to see some sun and blue skies. We phoned Mike's Great Uncle Ron, who lives in Charlottetown. Mike hadn't seen
him for a long time and he said that he was coming up to Cavendish that day to play gold. He picked us up and then let us use his car for the afternoon. Great. We dropped our washing off at a laundromat, which was perfect. We then traveled along the coast. Stopping in North Rustico, a small town close by and got some fresh baked goods from the bakers and some messages for dinner that night. We looked at old churches and crofts and then made our way back through Cavendish and out the other side. The beautiful red cliffs were just a taster and nice to see before heading back to the Golf Course to meet up with Uncle Ron. We enjoyed a drink with him in the sun before he dropped us off at the resort and told us to drop by if we were in Charlottetown over the weekend.
We decided to walk down to Cavendish beach since it was such a gorgeous afternoon. Cavendish Beach is part of the Prince Edward Island's National Park. It covers a large area and includes sand dunes, wildlife and of course the beach itself. It's a long walk
along the beach towards a sandspit which tapers of into the water eventually. It was a lovely walk though, through gushing water and up the dunes for a better view. After the sun set and we'd scrabbled along the red cliffs, we headed back up to the cottage and pottered around and prepared dinner. Sheri and Bill arrived at around 10pm and we enjoyed an hour or so of catching up over dinner and drinks.
The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and then went for a drive along the coast. The weather wasn't quite so agreeable but we scouted out possible places for lobster and meandered our way down into Charlottetown. After coffee and a drive around the town, Bill and Sheri dropped us off at Uncle Ron's house. We had a visit with him and his wife Ruthie, who was recovering from recent shoulder surgery. As ever, Charlotte had lots of wedding photos with her and managed to bore them over the course of an hour. After we were picked up, we stopped at a spot suggested by Ron and got some lobster for that evening.
We made our way back up to Cavendish. We took
the lobsters to the cottages and put them in the fridge - sleep little lobsters, sleep. The boy's then got dropped off at the golf course. The afternoon had dried up a little and meant that their postponed game from the morning could be played. The sun came out long enough for Sheri and Charlotte to enjoy an afternoon of exploring along the coast. Heading West from Cavendish, we passed through New London where the you can visit the house that Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in. L M Montgomery wrote the famous book Anne of Green Gables which is know the world over and many know of PEI through the little orphan girl that the book was created around. Although born in the house in New London, L M Montgomery moved to Cavendish when she was a young girl and lived with her Grandparents - her Mother died when she was a baby and her father moved away. Other relatives lived in the farmhouse of Green Gables where she took a lot of inspiration for her book. She created the village of Avonlea from her memories growing up in Cavendish and the surrounding area.
We didn't stop in
New London but kept driving along the coast. We were in the search of lighthouses, which are shown on the maps that we had but were very hard to find. In saying that, we found one in an oat field!!! We drove to the pretty harbour village of Malpeque. Little fishing huts line the harbour and fishing nets and buoys add colour and vibrancy. After an amble around, we drove not too far to Cabot Beach Provincial Park. PEI's famous red cliffs were abundant here and we enjoyed climbing over them before heading back to the car. From here, we worked our way back along the coastline towards Cavendish. We finally found a lighthouse after passing potato fields and making wrong turns up roads that we basically just red soil - off roading PEI style!!! After so much adventure we were ready for some chill time and took ourselves to our shared veranda back at the cottages. We enjoyed a caeser and an afternoon chat before picking up the boys. They were certainly ready to be picked up and we all made our way back to start our lobster supper proceedings.
We enjoyed an evening of sitting out on
our veranda, enjoying wine and beer and eating a sumptious lobster supper. Sheri made smores on the open fire and we had chocolate everywhere. Good food and good company - perfect. We then slept well before getting up for another busy day. The boys were playing golf again, this time on Green Gables Golf Course. The course lies on the same land as the house of Green Gables, which was the inspiration for the house in the book. Whilst the boys golfed, the girls wandered around the house and land of Green Gables. The path through the Haunted Wood actually passed over the golf course, but the boys were nowhere to be seen. The house is well maintained and it's a joy to look around and see what inspired such a famous book and character.
Afterwards, it was time to collect the boys and to start the long drive to Halifax via Confederation Bridge which links PEI to New Brunswick. A four hour drive later and we were pulling up just outside Halifax to be collected by Frank, Mike's Dad. So tune in for the next instalment. Until then, take care.
Lots of love,
Mike and Charlotte.
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annie
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your photos
You guys take the most amazing photos, I really enjoying looking at them, the way you angle your shots, they're beautiful!