Return from Staycation

Tags

Beach, Fox, French River, Peace, PEI, quiet, sand, sex, surf, Travel

Well we returned yesterday from our week at the Beach House Inn at French River near New London PEI where we rented a cottage. It was delightful and sooooo peaceful compared to the noisy Capital. Surrounded by woods, fields, red sandstone cliffs and the beach. Only the birds and a family of Foxes for company, we were the only guests on the property. The birds are interesting, from eagles to hawks, cormorants to blue jays, swallows, robins, warblers, quite the variety.

The Fox family was a mother and her 4 kits, very tame and unafraid of people though they always keep a respectful distance.  The property was beautiful and very well maintained, the main house had 7 mature Linden trees on the West side, a big marsh full of water reeds on the East side of the property and on the hill the famous Cousin Family pioneer cemetery known as Yankee Hill. The Cousin family were French Huguenots who fled France ended up in the American colonies and at the revolution came to PEI fleeing again the chaos. The were probably wealthy if one looks at their elaborate white marble tombstones. In September 2019 the hurricane Dorian came to PEI and devastated the area around Cavendish where 70% of the trees were damaged. This old burial ground is in a forest and many of the poplars toppled. Luckily none of the 200 year old tombstones were damaged, a miracle of sorts. Across the road to the beach stands another old cemetery called Simms, this one is dedicated to the 200 sailors who died in the historic storm known as the Yankee Gale in October 1851. Our view was the sand dunes and the beach and it’s small lighthouse, the New London Rear Lighthouse nowadays surrounded by a large marsh. It is automated like all light houses. The waterway is treacherous, large ever moving sandbanks at the entrance to the South West and French River, both leading to small fishing harbours. The surrounding countryside is picturesque, lots of farms cultivating wheat, potatoes, mustard and corn. The area was settled after the Acadians where deported and their land confiscated by the British around 1755. The new settlers were stern Protestants, Presbyterians and Anglicans. Some of the Acadians did come back after 1763 and settled further West on the Island.

This year of the Pandemic there are virtually no tourists, the only people who can actually come to PEI are from the other Maritime provinces and they do not need to isolate. Anyone else would be automatically forced into 14 day isolation upon arrival and people are watchful.

Some good seafood restaurants and art galleries in the area. The beaches are very clean and quiet. We could actually walk from our home to Cape Tryon and its Lighthouse an 8 Km treck along the cliffs, very beautiful scenery. It was a good staycation just to get out of the noise of Charlottetown.

The Linden Trees at the Beach House Inn. We could say we were unter den Linden.

Sunset on the cliffs at Cap Tryon, with the lighthouse. In terms of direction looking out into the Gulf of St-Lawrence, towards Anticosti Island and Newfoundland.

Truly peaceful away from it all. You come to appreciate the silence.

What to take on vacation

Tags

Beach, Friends, PEI, sand, Summer, surf, vacation

Every time Summer rolls around, reading lists appears, all manner of books are proposed. Thing is, many of those books are for general appeal and some make the best seller list. But I am never interested in them and if I am going to buy a book I want to make sure I will read it. So the topic has to appeal to me in some fashion.

We are going to the cottage at the beach and I am looking for books to read. I got one by Cicero written of course some 2070 yrs ago on how to rule a country, I may get tips on how to do it best, if ever I intend to rule Canada, one of the most difficult country to rule give our 6 time zones and enormous geographic space bordering on 3 oceans, we could be called an Empire based on size alone, but we settled for Dominion (Kingdom).  I also found two other books on Kindle but I just realized they will be available after 28 July, so I will have to wait. One is by Lady C. the Duchess of Argyll, her newly released best seller on Meghan and Harry. The other is a book recommended by Nicholas Hoare who use to own a famous bookstore in Ottawa on Sussex Drive. It was such a beautiful bookstore and guaranteed you would find something to your liking. Hoare recommended a book based on letters written by Sir Alan Frederick ”Tommy” Lascelles who was the private secretary of King George VI and later his daughter Queen Elizabeth II. This book was made possible by special permission from H.M. the Queen, usually such letters never see the light of day. The letters cover the War years and shine a light on historical passages that might otherwise remain obscure. Lascelles being an Oxford graduate writes beautifully, the man had vocabulary, something that is lost nowadays. He was also part of the Courtier network around the Royal Family.

So I am now looking at my home library and what can I find on the shelves, there is a wide choice. But then I wonder how much reading I will do all together.

So off we go on Hwy 2 towards the West and French River, the area has many little settlements, then turning unto Hwy 20 and on the road we will pass, near our destination, the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, a simple little house in a field. She is of course the famous author, who in PEI is revered.  The last few kilometres is a red dirt road amongst fields and marshes which ends at the Sand dunes, the New London Range Lighthouse and the sea. This is where we will be. I am looking forward to seeing the night sky which in such a remote location reveals itself to be ablaze with unimaginable number of stars and galaxies including our own Milky Way. Also the silence of the place, disturbed only by the surf and songs of birds and maybe one or two coyotes howling.

Sunday

Tags

Beach, cuisine, home, Me, nature, PEI, sand, sun, surf

Well today was a gorgeous day, Sunny and warm and no cold wind. It was so nice that we decided to hop in the car and go down St-Peter’s Road to the beach, we usually go North to Brackley Point Beach but today we decided to look into another area.

This is following Hwy 2 North-East about a 30 minute leisurely drive. Funny enough from our house to the cut-off to St-Peter’s Road which is just next to the airport runway, now quiet because no flights are coming here. There was some traffic and then suddenly a lot more traffic. Note a lot of traffic on PEI is 15 cars.

The reason was the Agency Liquor Store at the Irving Gas Station on St-Peter’s Road. It’s open longer hours than the Government Liquor Stores and has more hard liquor, you know the hard stuff, the brown stuff, like Bourbon. The clientele goes with the Liquor. After that it was clear sailing,  the road to St-Peter’s Harbour suddenly becomes unpaved and is basically the red dirt road typical of the Island. It was dry and not muddy, red mud is sticky and clings to everything. Driving on it is difficult, I still have my big winter tires on the car because of the Pandemic I did not want to go to the garage to have them change etc, I now have an appointment for the end of May. Winter tires gives better traction anyway.

We had never been to that area of the Island and discovered that it is a Nature Preserve with very high sand dunes that look like the grand canyon but not quite. With high Marram grass growing on top, the grass is planted by volunteers to protect the dunes. The area behind the Marram Grass covered sand dunes is a mix of wetland, plants, grasses and maritime shrubs and shallow ponds of water which rise or ebb with the tides, perfect for ducks and other aquatic fauna. The dunes are so high that you do not hear the Sea until you follow the marked sandy path across. The dunes are protected and to avoid damaging them people are asked to stick to walking on the beach.

The sand was warm today to the touch and despite nice waves the wind was very light. I have always been fascinated by the immensity of the Sea, it looks infinite. However if you look at the map you will see that we are clearly in the Gulf of St-Lawrence.

The quiet of the beach and the fresh air is exhilirating. The only noise is the surf and bird songs. The Piping Plover nest on the beach and you have to be careful when walking around, it’s a little bird and it camouflage itself with the natural colours around. It is also an endangered species only 6000 in the World.

Near the beach and at the end of the road you can see some beach houses, some are expensive looking but they really only function from May to September. You would not want to live in the area in Winter with the terrible fierce storms, unreliable electricity and rural mud roads. In Winter such roads are not plowed so become impassible. I would love to live at the beach like that in the Summer.

The nice thing about beaches in PEI is that they are very clean, quiet and not overrun with people.

Today was a nice break from the City, we came home, had a nice Osso Buco for dinner and our neighbour surprised us with a Coconut cream pie she had made, it was delicious.