Jul 12 - A Drive Around North West PEI
Our second day at Mill River PP dawned sunny and warm. Time to get out and enjoy the fine weather.
My tour guide today suggested that we drive south and west towards West Point at the southwestern point of PEI.
We drove through the villages of Howden and O'Leary.
Driving "cross-country" on secondary roads sometimes has its surprises like this at Glenwood.
This one (Howard's Cove) was busy. I did snap this picture then we continued our journey.
I saw a sign to a wharf and thought it might be a good place to have a coffee break.
A lot of the coast scenery was a mixture of potato fields, grass, and bush. We'll try and get a picture of the green potato plants growing in the red soil – a lot of iron in the sandstone on PEI which has "rusted" and given the soil its red colour.
Here's some interesting information about "The Phantom Ship". I wonder if anything similar has ever happened on BC Ferries?
Almost the middle of July and there are 2 lifeguards, but the beach is deserted. Actually that changed just as we left. Three or four vehicles arrived and disgorged numerous kids and parents all heading for the beach. Phew, we timed that right!
We arrived at West Point Lighthouse,
now a hotel.
We walked the boardwalk on the edge of the parking lot and read the signage with interest. Unfortunately (for taking pictures), the shadow in the picture covers a picture of the shoreline in 1990. Considerably narrower that the other picture circa 1980.
Glenwood Pond. Pretty, eh?
Here's a picture of the Interpretation Centre (lower left) and part of the wind farm.
We did the tour of the Interpretation Centre. Pretty neat stuff. On the grounds were a nacelle and one blade of a turbine. I think the blades on the turbines in the farm are 50m long.
Here are some of the displays.
From Campbellton, we continued north on the coast road until we had to detour to the main Hwy 2 because a bridge was out. Oh well, we decided to stay on Hwy 2 to Tignish where we turned north towards North Cape.
We arrived at North Cape a short time later. This is the site of a major wind research station.
At Campbellton, I saw the sign to the cove, so off we went a short distance down towards the beach.
We made coffee, took it to the beach, and sat on a line of flat gravel stones and looked at the view. Of course, I'd left my BB behind in Alfie, but I snapped these pictures from the top of the small ridge.
We chatted with the owner, a middle-aged gent, who thought the idea of owning a pub was great but admitted he didn't do his research on the economics of it in such a small place. Not a bad lunch; Jen had fish stew and I had fish and chips. The 80-year-old recipe for Carrot cake was superb. Yes, just call us chubby!
We arrived back at the park and Jen immediately hit her bed. She wasn't feeling her best this morning and the longish day had taken its toll.
As I sat outside updating the blog from the last few days of not having wifi, a man from next door wandered over and began chatting. I think he was Dutch. He left after a short while and I finished working on the computer.
Tomorrow we're off to the other side of the Island and Brudenell River Provincial Park.
We'll see you there!
And the winter time. Now don't that look appealing?!
Okay, tour done, we walked out to the "rock reef" but found out that at high tide (now), you can't see it. Oh well.
Well past lunchtime, Jen had the address of a pub in Alberton so we headed there. Well too nice to sit inside, so we sat outside and enjoyed a fine local brew with lunch.
