Portage to Northam

The second day of our walk we skipped two sections (about 50 km total) and started at the Confederation trailhead in Portage.   The Confederation Trail is an old Railway converted to trail that's popular with bicyclists.  We mostly had this portion to ourselves.  

We walked through second growth bush and past marshland and farmland.  We sampled the fruit off  wild apple trees.

Some Lovely Ferns

Some of the smaller maples were starting to turn, probably due to drought.  Islanders say there hasn't been any rain all summer.  It's still a lot greener than the Cariboo.

There were several benches and picnic tables along the way.

To be honest after about 15 km it all got a bit same-ish.  The last 5 km was just getting it finished.

Our shuttle drivers picked us up at the Northam trailhead and took us to our B and B, the Homeplace Inn in Kensington.

Mugging it up infront of the Homeplace

Our hosts were away but left us a nice note and told us to make ourselves at home. We had a nice large room.  I slept on the sofa bed and it wasn't even uncomfortable!

Interestingly, our host had not only  heard of Williams Lake but he had just been there recently, operating a corn combine at Fraser River Ranching (!).

We set out to find a food truck for supper but got lost so we asked a friendly passerby, Irwin, for directions.  He seemed to find our conversation very funny.  He was carrying a can and a tetrapack of chicken broth. He'd bought them to make roast chicken the next morning, complete with homemade stuffing.  Hats off to you, Irwin, who stuffs a chicken anymore? Who even roasts a chicken with the rotisserie version cheaper than one you cook yourself?

Eventually Irwin admitted, You know what's going on here? I'm really high!  Irwin's buddy works at the marijuana growup and they can't legally sell any product that's over a certain level of THC.  They have to incinerate it but Irwin's buddy slips it to Irwin!  All the same Irwin didn't steer us wrong; we found the Go'Fish food truck just down the next street next to the Haunted Mansion attraction.

Legend has it . . . it used to be a potato warehouse

The food truck was being run by two young men.

Patti quickly made friends with the owners.

The fish and chips came in a PEI potato bag. Both the fries and the haddock were delicious and the tartar sauce and coleslaw were both homemade.  

Best fish and chips I ever ate!  Note the Concord grapes that Patty picked (and ate) from the Haunted Mansion's atmospheric grapevine.

First Day Walking: North Cape

 

Our first day of walking started with a shuttle from our B and B to the northwest end of the island.  

We started off roadwalking beside agricultural fields and wind turbines.

Patti all bundled up

The road turned to dirt and then boardwalk.

We walked past a sea stack

covered in cormorants.

Eventually we reached the North Cape where we walked down to the beach. 

Here we saw very big seals that I think were hooded seals.

Very large and kind of lumpy headed

And posed in front of the North Cape lighthouse.

From the Cape it was a walk along a fairly busy paved road so when our afternoon shuttle drove by us before we reached our destination, we jumped right in.  She drove us into Tignish and into the parking lot of

The Catholic church.  But our destination was behind  the church

In a former convent turned hotel:  the Tignish Heritage Inn.  It has lovely parklike grounds.

The staff goes home at 5 pm and there were only 6 parties staying. We were all alone on the third floor.  It had a bit of a "The Shining" atmosphere and a bit like you were left alone in your high-school after hours.  You wanted to sneak past all the no admittance sins and jump on all the beds.

There was only one restaurant open, Shirley's Cafe.  We had supper and breakfast there with the locals.

Stole this from the internet but it still looks the same.

We dropped into the grocery store and bought some local apples and lunch for the next day. Thank goodness as this is the last grocery store we've seen. Most small towns we've been staying in have just a convenience store within walking distance.

PEI!

Connie and her friend Patti are off on their big walking tour of PEI!  We drove to Kamloops the day before and caught a flight to Charlottetown via Kamloops at 6 in the morning.  After a long 5-hour flight with seats that did not even recline (!). We arrived in Charlottetown at 5 pm and were picked up by our shuttle driver George and taken to our B and B in Victoria, a half hour drive away. 

We went for supper at the Lobster Barn on the wharf 

and ate out in the screened porch.

Note the sea view behind me.

I had fish tacos, not very traditional but they used haddock and they were very tasty.

Patty had a chicken burger (she doesn't like seafood) and we shared our salad and fries.

I really liked the woodcarving of herons on the wall.

Victoria is about 4 blocks long.  But there are lots of gift shops and several artisans. 

Our b and b was featured in a book about PEI's heritage homes because of its unusual asymmetric design. (Door is on the left not the centre.)

Our B and B hostess has a stained glass shop on the first floor.

I really liked the sign for the Ewe and Dye weavery.  The weaver's husband and son have a pottery a block away and there's a chocolaterie and a painter nearby.

This is the Community Centre and Victoria Playhouse housed in the former schoolhouse.

PEI apparently has an excellent climate for growing hostas; almost every house had multiple giant hosts in their gardens.

The next morning we walked out along the shore at low tide.

Red Sand!

We walked all the way to the next community along the beach and saw herons, eagles, black ducks and terns.

The shells were clams, oysters and periwinkles.

We checked out all the old homes. Here is Patti's favorite.

And my favorite is this house across the street  from the shore with a widow's walk to watch the boats come in.

Maybe we could afford this condemned old warehouse

I was impressed by the size of this woodpile.

Despite being such a touristy town, there is still an active fishery here. We watched a couple of fishing boats bring in their loads of lobsters.

After some ribbing from Leo for eating fish tacos in the Maritimes, I had authentic steamed PEI mussels for supper at the town's best restaurant, the Landmark Oyster House.

Afterward we walked down to the wharf and came back and ordered a brownie for dessert.

Tomorrow we walk!

August Roundup

Great berry crops everywhere this year, including the choke cherries.

Found this toad in my vegetable garden.

Walked out on Moon Road several more times in August.

Classic  Chilcotin vistas.

One of the beauty spots of the Cariboo/Chilcotin.

Speaking of beauty spots, Leo and Mark hiked out at Farwell Canyon one day.

Trip to the Prince George Area

We've been wanting to visit the Ancient Forest for years but every time we were driving by it was pouring rain. So what better time to visit than during a hotspell?

We drove to Purden Lake Provincial Park about 60 km east of Prince George and set up our trailer.

Then we continued 60 km more east to the Ancient Forest.  The parking lot is situated right next to a construction camp which is odd for a Provincial park.  Fire camp?  Road works?

But the trail heads into the woods and right away you are in an interior rainforest full of giant cedars. 

It was the perfect place to be on a hot afternoon:  cool and shady.

The devil's club had all been defoliated by a caterpillar (Leo thinks maybe hemlock looper).  We had never seen anything like this before. I blame global warming.

There's a 2.5 km boardwalk that loops around the forest sending you past some really big trees up to 2000 years old.  It was pretty busy on a Monday afternoon.

The next day we drove an hour and 40 minutes east to Eskers Provincial Park.

We did a 12.5 km loop around the park, up and down eskers with views down to the many small lakes

It was a good hike for a hot day as it was mostly shaded. Still we were pretty hot by the end of our walk. We didn't see anyone on the trail till the very end of the hike.

We had a close call at the end of the hike when we heard very large crashing about in the bush right below us.  We yelled and it took off down the hill so we never did see if it was a bear or not.

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When we got back to Purden Lake we went for a swim. This was the warmest swim we've had all summer.

Back at the campsite we had to put our down jackets on to stay warm!