Rowkin Rovings Blog

A day of exploring the northern area of Prince Edward Island (PEI) in sunshine – whooopee!!! You realize just how small the island is when it is only 18k from Charlottetown to the north coast. The island is approximately 200k from the west to the east coast.

Not sure how many of you know the book “Anne of Green Gables” which was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery about 1905. If not, here is a very quick summary for you. It is about an orphaned girl on PEI who gets sent out to an old brother and sister to help on their farm, but they were expecting a boy. They end up adopting her; she has red hair and freckles; penchant for plethora of hyperbole and she has an “E” on the end of her name. Lucy Montgomery based some of the story on her own childhood.

It has a huge following and for some reason especially with Asian tourists – they come by the bus load. At present there is a TV serial based on the books but the sad thing is the main character of Anne (with an E) is played by a blond 16 year old from Ireland. Pity they couldn’t find a local girl. It is a good series though.

So off we went to Cavendish where the book is based. We would not be telling a lie if we said it was underwhelming.

Green Gables homestead.

Anne (with an E’s) bedroom.

Anne (with an E’s) Uber.

We then headed up to the coast to have a look at a very popular beach which we think can give some beaches in Oz and NZ a real run for their money.

PEI has soil which is very rich in iron and you can see examples of this throughout the island. The island is very well known for its potatoes and we saw many crops of carrots and corn also.

We saw lots of craft shops, cafes, hand made toys and also a jam preserve shop. Because of their heraldic connection with Scotland, they really play on it. We did some serious jam taste testing and then we discovered this absolute hunk in a kilt!!!!

He got quite the appreciative audience.

We then continued on our Anne of Green Gables route to see what else we could find.

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PEI has quite a number of still functioning light houses which are kept in their original design which makes for great photo opportunities. The coastal regions of PEI are littered in ship carcasses.

Our final stop for the day was in a town called New Glasgow which is well known for it’s lobster meals. The whole idea started out in 1958 when a group of farmers and locals got together to raise some funds to build a community hall. Their idea was to provide a tasty mussel and lobster dinner for $1.50 and feed the proceeds back into the hall build. Within five years they were being held seven days a week and continue so.

We had a half bucket of mussels along with a bowl of chowder followed with a one pound lobster and of course desert but not for $1.50!!

Forgot to mention the half litre of wine…….