Leaving St. Peters we cut north directly to the coast, since the loop out the peninsula was the route we cycled yesterday.
By chance we met a very interesting old woman. Driving NE along the coast we passed a particularly beautiful spot that caught eye as we passed a tidal creek that wound a couple of hundred yards to the ocean. I turned around when I could, with the trailer, parked beside the road and walked to where I could take a picture. Meanwhile, a little dog ran down from a farmhouse to where S waited in the car, and a woman sitting on the front porch shouted to S, "I love to meet people". So we met Iva Ryan, age 80, whose ancestors arrived in PEI in 1772 on the Alexandra. Her maiden name was McEachan, descended from the first bishop on the island. She'd been a teenage bride, living the first 21 years with a mother-in-law who "knew everything." She was full of stories, and we spent a good while with her and got a good picture of her, her dog Alfie, and S. The picture is on a different device so I'll attach it separately.
One of the many fishing harbors we visited was North Lake, the "Tuna Capital of the World."
We visited a railroad museum at Elmira, the end of the line of the old railroad, and the end of the line of the Confederation Bike Trail, which now occupies its roadbed.
At the eastern tip of the island we visited a lighthouse. The ticket taker was a woman originally from Baffin Island, presumably an Eskimo. The whole island had 1800 residents when she left 20 years ago, 7000 now. Last winter they had a day of -60 degrees, Celsius.
Two people had recommended Basin Head Beach to us. There's no camping, but we made a stop there. It's a popular beach with locals, and yesterday being a sunny warm Saturday, there were hundreds of people there. The beach is bisected by a clear, fast flowing river which empties into the ocean. There is a footbridge connecting the two sides, with a prominent sign warning against jumping or diving from the bridge. There's even a lifeguard stand adjacent to the bridge. Nevertheless, there was a line of kids waiting their turn to jump off. Also at Basin Head Beach there's a fishing museum we found interesting.
A few more miles down the NW coast of the island we reached our campground at Red Point Provincial park. We had a site on an open grassy area near the low cliff to the beach. We learned that the local church was 10 minutes away at Souris, with weekend Masses at 7 p.m. Saturday or 9:30 a.m. Sunday. We opted for the Sat. evening service, before which we spent the afternoon walking the beach, reading and napping.
After church we asked a parishioner for a restaurant idea, and were directed to the wharf area. That turned out to be not the usual fishing harbor, but the terminal for the ferries to the Madeline Islands and a big marine service area. We found a restaurant in what had been a large old house overlooking the harbor, and had one of our best dinners ever. S had penne with chicken, and I had poached Haddock. Sounds simple, but was excellent. Good bottle of Alsatian wine, too.
The eastern end of PEI has more woods, some from old fields. Lots of potato fields, a few cows and sheep. Same red soil, cliffs and beaches as elsewhere. Quite a few farmhouses have RV's parked nearby- farmers probably take off in the winter.
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