Tues. 13th October ’26
We have two days on Prince Edward Island. If the weather forecast is to be believed, these are going to be one grey day and one soaking wet day. Being a red headed gal who grew up in a house called Green Gables, seeing the namesake is a high priority on my list of places to see. That becomes the plan along with part of the north coast of the island and East Point, if time permits. We will explore town tomorrow between the potential downpours.
I try to read a topical book before we travel and so I chose L M Montgomery’s book Anne of Green Gables. I am now working my way through other books about Anne as she grew up. I was surprised at how I excited I was to see the Historical Site of Green Gables. It was a style typical of the Island made of white wooden slats with the roof and shutters painted green. Not at all like the brick house I grew up in with only the wooden parts painted green.
Inside the house has been furnished in the style that inspired Montgomery to write about Anne and her adopted parents. The property was owned by the Macneill family who were her cousins and she visited frequently. An absolute tourist hype run by Parks Canada (so our annual passes gave us entry). Dave humoured me, as without any connection to me through the name, it was just another house done up for tourists to visit.
It was a wild blustery autumn day visiting the long empty sandy beaches, which is the type of day that attracted me to move to the seaside. We headed east stopping every now and then to explore the beaches and found a lovely little lighthouse (that kept Dave happy!). Covehead Harbour lighthouse with a sobering plaque to the storm of 1851 where many ships were caught in the storm and their crews perished. As did the Seagull bakery and cafe which served a tasty chowder and they do know how to make yummy pastries here in Canada. It was just about warm enough to sit out and eat.
Well-fed it was off to find our daily walk. Today, this was the Greenwich dune walk which crossed a pond on a floating boardwalk. The initial gravel path was uninteresting but once we turned off the gravel and on to the floating bit, we were excited to see a huge flock of geese noisily swimming on the water. We can only assume they are congregating for their migration south. The walkway was also quite unlike anything I have crossed before and the trademark Parks Canada red chairs were poised in the middle asking to be photographed.
Just as I was driving out of the car park, I saw a chap pointing a camera up a tree. Always interested in what other people see I stopped and there perched, posing atop a tree was an eagle. Always a favourite with Dave so armed with long lens he jumped out and caught a few images of this scowling (?) magnificent bird. We were still 1 ½ hours from East Point and to visit there would mean we would not get back to the hotel until nearly 7pm, which would leave no time for catching up with the world. We decided that was enough sightseeing for today and let us hope the rain is not too bad tomorrow.