First Snow This Year

Oct 28, 2025

 

Montague - 13 km

It was our last scheduled day of walking and we actually walked it, all 13 km to Montague along the Confederation Trail from the old Cardigan Train Station, now an art gallery/restaurant (closed for the season), right to the stairway that lead to our hotel.

Lane's Riverhouse Inn

We had the balcony on the second floor that looked out on the water.

And looked out over the marina in the other direction.

That little gazebo is an ice cream shop, closed for the season, of course.

There was a high quality craft shop at the arena where Patti bought a small hooked rug.

Hard to see in the photo but there are 3 large sculptures of cormorants on the top of those poles.

We had supper at the Bogside brewery where we were told there was music every evening (closed for the season).

Cardigan

 

Our driver picked us up in Souris in the morning and drove us to our next stop in Cardigan.  Cardigan is a cute little town on the Cardigan River (actually an inlet).  They've prettied it up with flower boxes on the bridge.

Cardigan House

We stayed at Cardigan House which is really just Ellen White's house.  She got into the B&B business when she met Bill Kendrick, who organized our trip, in Madiera, Portugal. He mentioned there was no accommodation in Cardigan so she took it on.  She really only serves Bill's clients and referrals from other B&Bs who are full for the night.

The accommodation is right in her home, which I found a little awkward, but Ellen was a very welcoming host.  She slept in her "bunky" which you can see to the right of her house above, while we were in her bedrooms.  She's planning to build a dome or a yurt so guests can have more independent accommodation.

Ellen recommended the Cardigan River Trails so I set off for a walk.  

It's a labyrinthine system of interloking trails with viewpoints out to the Cardigan River.

I spent several hours getting lost 

And admiring the fall colors coming in.

There were some impressive Eastern white pine along the trail.

On my way back I passed by this bit of folk art.

For lunch I stopped at Clamdiggers and had my favourite seafood, deep fried fresh clams, on their patio.

In the evening Ellen drove us back to the Clamdiggers for supper.

I had an excellent seafood chowder and a gigantic bread pudding for dessert.

Stuffed!

Souris

We were sorry to say goodbye to North Lake but the next morning we were shuttled to Souris.

Souris' downtown was all decorated for fall with colorful gourds piled up all over the place.

Souris has an old fashioned Main Street with a classic City Hall made of PEI sandstone (originally the post office)

And an old fashioned gazebo (band stand?).

The Souris Show Hall (performance space) is the building to the right of Patti:

Also on Main Street is my favourite house in Souris. You can't tell by this photo but is shaped like a wedge.

This is the tiny Anglican church and its cemetery, overlooking the ocean.

We stayed at Chapel Suites, 

In a self-contained apartment 

With a view of the ocean but mainly of the Petrocan/Tim Hortons across the street.

Can you spot the ocean view?

The suite was very new and spotless but was located at the intersection of 2 busy roads.

I walked to the Souris lighthouse.  They let you go out on the balcony for a 360 view of the surroundings, including a view of the terminal of the ferry to the Magdalene Islands.

I happened on the Confederation Trail and walked a portion of it.

Later Patti and I walked up to St. Mary's Catholic Church, an imposing sandstone structure.

Compare the size with the Anglican Church above.

The next day Patti and I walked to the Messy Crow, a studio and gallery specializing in textile work.

 

There was workshop in progresss; the participants were felting pumpkins.

We also walked along the Souris boardwalk which follows the beach south of town.

There are craft stores and takeout restaurants along the boardwalk but they were all closed up for the season.

I walked the beach the next morning and got a quick glimpse of a fox before it disappeared in the eelgrass.

And I found this snail shell, easily the biggest shell I'd seen in the whole trip.

Beach Walk to East Point Lighthouse - 10 km

This day we walked 10 km along the beach from North Lake to East Point Lighthouse, which is the easternmost point of Prince Edward Island.

Setting off from North Lake

It was a lovely day for a beach walk.

There weren't a lot of seashells to be found.  We were told to look for beach glass and I found two small pieces but really they just looked like shards of glass with slightly rounded edges.  Judging by all the beach glass jewelry/art in the gift shops I guess the locals have beachcombed all the good stuff.

We only saw two people on the beach during our walk.

The sand beaches gave way to slabs of sandstone

Eroding away to show attractive layers.

We came to a rocky exposed point

Where all the scraps that the fishermen threw off their boats washed up to shore.  We saw tuna tails and skeletons, crab and lobster parts.

Including this truly giant lobster claw

Around the corner of the head it turned to beach again where we saw a flock of migrating Canada geese.

Spot the lighthouse in the distance

Just as we were figuring out where to get off the beach before the lighthouse we ran into Helene, a local Island Trail booster and bird photographer.  She asked us if we were walking the trail and told us where to go.  She told us not to follow the trail guide directions as that involved skirting around a fence on the edge of an eroding cliff.  (I checked later, there was about a foot from the edge).  We wound up walking along the edge of a potato field until we came out at the East Point Lighthouse which was quite the tourist attraction after walking hours alone on the beach.

There were even tour busses.

East Point is supposedly a birding hotspot because two tides collide here.  I spotted the collision but there really hardly any birds around on this day. 

Dave from the motel came and brought us back to North Lake.

On our last evening in North Lake we went for an evening walk and came upon another fox.

 This one too was game for a photo opportunity.  Too game for me, he came right up to me. I had visions of calling the ambulance again, this time for a rabies shot.