Georgetown, PEI to Linwood, Nova Scotia – 151 Miles
It was a
relatively short day, driving-wise, as a good portion of it was taken up by the
ferry crossing from Prince Edward Island to the Nova Scotia mainland. We left Brudenell River Provincial Park about
9:00am, slowly inching our way through the staging area of a big fund-raiser
race or biathlon – I’m not sure which it was, but it involved runners and
bicyclists, and a large crowd that was gathered in and around the entrance to
the park. Clearing the crowd, we turned
south, skirting our way around the inlets and bays of the southeast coast of
the island. The scenery was much the
same as we had experienced during yesterday’s drive along the north coastal
region, but not as hilly. Where the
north shore seems to be more oriented toward tourism, with the Green Gables
House the epicenter, the southeast region seems more down-home local farms and
not-so-well-kept rural homes.
Lighthouses
are common along the coastline of Prince Edward Island, with its many inlets,
points, and capes. Our map indicated one
in particular along this morning’s drive that caught our attention, the Cape
Bear Lighthouse, located on the very southeast cape or tip of the island. According to our tourist brochure, the
Marconi radio station at this lighthouse was the first Canadian land-based
station to receive distress signals from the HMS Titanic after it fatally struck
the iceberg out in the mid-Atlantic. The
brochure mentioned that this lighthouse is still in operation, and that it is
open to visitors during the summer months.
In addition, the brochure said, it contains a reconstruction of the
Marconi station that received the Titanic’s S.O.S. I was looking forward to seeing this historic
radio station and taking a few pictures to share with my ham radio friends back
in Denver. Imagine our disappointment
when we drove up to this isolated landmark and found it locked up tighter than
a drum. We had to satisfy ourselves with
a few exterior shots of the lighthouse and the surrounding low cliffs down to
the beach below.
From the
lighthouse, it was only a short drive to the ferry terminal at Woods Island,
which doesn’t seem to be an island at all – or if it is, the water around it
has been filled in to create the ferry terminal. We had almost two hours to kill before the
ferry departure, so we went into the cafeteria at the terminal and had an early
lunch, then took advantage of the free wifi to upload the previous two days’
blog entries.
The
ferry is a large, modern vessel with at least two vehicle decks and two
enclosed passenger decks above. The cost
for the 14-mile journey across the Northumberland Strait was $79.00 CDN (a bit
less than $72.00 US at the current exchange rate). The trip took an hour and fifteen minutes
across gently rolling seas. It was
overcast and misty during the crossing, so photo ops were limited. Apparently, however, later in the summer it’s
common to see whales in the strait.
The
mainland ferry terminal is located at Caribou, Nova Scotia, and when the
massive hinged door at the front of the boat opens, it immediately disgorges its
load of cars, trucks, RVs, motorcycles, bicycles, and a few pedestrians directly
onto a four-lane freeway. I have no idea
where the pedestrians go from there – perhaps a friend meets them or maybe
there’s a bus stop somewhere nearby.
A short
distance inland there’s a large roundabout with at least six exits which launch
vehicles toward various compass points.
This, of course, assumes that everyone knows where they’re going. We had a vague idea, and our
eeny-meeny-miney-moe choice turned out to be correct, so off we went in a generally
eastward direction which would hopefully take us somewhere near where we wanted
to be. As soon as we could find a safe
place, we pulled off the highway to consult our map and Good Sam Campground
Guide. We selected a couple of potential
spots and off we went with our fingers crossed.
It was lightly raining on this side of the straight, but not enough to
obscure or distract us from enjoying the beautiful countryside through which we
were travelling. It is much hillier
here on the mainland, with elevations reaching as high as four to five hundred
feet. The hills were heavily wooded, and
everywhere the land was brilliant green.
After about 50 miles or so we turned off onto a minor highway and found
our campsite for the night – a place called Hyclass Campground (nothing but the
best for us!), located right on the edge of a small inlet. After some debate as to whether to pick a
site with a view of the water or back in the trees where we’d be somewhat
protected from the wind, we chose the trees.
We were glad we did, because when we went out for a walk, we nearly
froze our patooties off down by the water.
I was
going to post a couple of pictures from today, but it took me over an hour to
upload the pictures that I added to the last two days’ blog entries.
It’s getting late, so I’ll try to add them later when we have a better
internet connection.
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