It had
rained during the night so the campground was a bit soggy. The sky
was overcast but it was warm and pleasant enough. The National Park
runs along the majority of the north shore of the central part of
the island. Our campsite was just across the road from yet more
long, open sandy beaches. We decided to drive down to the Brackley
Beach complex (a car park, cafe, toilets, information panels and I
suspect life guards at high season). From here we crossed over on to
the beach and walked towards the point at Robinsons Island.
There were a few more people on the beach here than at Greenwich
yesterday, but still not many. Even though its the "shoulder"
season, people still came with their camp chairs and picnics to
spend the day. We only had a short walk here, about half an hour up
and back, before heading around the coast to another part of the
National Park at Cavendish. This was the home of the author Lucy
Maud Montgomery and the place where she wrote her first novel, Anne
of Green Gables, in 1937.
The story is about an orphaned girl who is sent by mistake to Green
Gables. The brother and sister who own the house and farm the land
wanted to adopt a boy so that he could help on the farm but a mix up
sent Anne instead. I've not read the book but apparently she soon
captivated everyone in the local village. It is set in and
around the house owned by family of the author (who had not actually
lived there herself). At the visitors centre there was a short film
about the author and you could then tour the house and the grounds.
Green Gables has been restored back to how it would have been when
the book was set. It was highly decorated with very ornate and busy
wallpaper. The lounge was simply furnished but created the
impression that the family had some money. The dining room was of a
similar vein. In the kitchen a big black stove obviously provided
heat as well as a cooking facility. There were two smaller rooms off
the kitchen, one a larder store for food, the other housing a
dresser with all the family crockery.
Upstairs it was a similar story of simplicity but high decoration
with the exception of the handy man's room, which was bare and
simple in furnishings as well as decor. One oddity of the house was
that it had a bedroom downstairs. This was for the brother, Matthew,
who suffered from ill health (heart condition) hence the reason why
they wanted to adopt a boy. In this era though it was quiet common
to have a bedroom downstairs either for an elderly relative or to
have on hand if someone was ill. Being next to the kitchen it was
one of the warmest rooms in the house.
Having seen the house we then explored some of the grounds. The
house gardens are a riot of colour, very reminiscent to me of an
English country garden. Beyond the garden you can walk through the
Haunted Wood. It is not really haunted, the strange noises are the
rustling of the leaves and creaking of the trees as the wind blows,
but it was fertile story making ground for a young girl with a vivid
imagination. Of the twenty plus books and short stories she wrote,
Montgomery based most of them on PEI. Anne of Green Gables is the
most well known and has been translated into seventeen different
languages and is sold all over the world. Because of her literary
contributions, Montgomery was in 1943 recognised as a person of
national historic significance.
Having had enough of sight seeing we headed down to Charlottetown.
Our campsite was just across the Hillsborough River in Stratford and
was on the Stratford Road. We checked in hoping for a quiet site
only to find a building site behind us for what looks like a new
house. Unbeknown to us we had come on a good weekend as it is the
International Shellfish Festival running from today through to
Sunday. Abandoning all thoughts of cooking we got a taxi back across
the river and went to explore the Charlottetown waterfront.
Our first stop was at Cows Ice Cream shop. Locally made they had the
usual selection of flavours which always include very chocolately
varieties, bananas and peanut butter (not all together though,
although you could do this if you wanted!) It was good but I think I
preferred the sugar free raspberry one I had at Green Gables (not an
ice cream lover two in one day is very unusual for me). The staff
uniforms are colourful t-shirts all with different designs relating
to cows and ice cream. Years ago customers kept asking if they could
have the t-shirts too so a clothing line was brought out for sales
to the general public. In the branch we went into about two thirds
of the floor space was devoted to merchandising and only one third
to selling ice cream.
Refreshed, we went in search of the Shellfish Festival. This is an
annual event, in its tenth year this year, and is held in a big
marquee on Peakes Quay. There is a whole line up of events during
the day including oyster shucking and chowder making competitions as
well as cooking demonstrations and the ever important tastings.
Inside the marquee there were rows and rows of tables and chairs and
also some standing/perching tables. A big stage is the centre of
activity and while we were there we caught the end of the Radio
Beauties and then Aaron Pritchett live on stage. It was not quite
the ceilidh music we had been expecting, more typical country and
western, but good all the same.
I'll just have the one
beer...
The atmosphere was very lively and from the look of the people in
the tent a fair few of them had been camped there for quite some
time. I am not a great shellfish fan (other than prawns, crab and
lobster) having had a very nasty mussels experience years ago. Also
I find the look of a lot of shellfish enough to put me off
trying them. Today though I was was given little choice but to give
it a go.
Around the edge of the tent there were a couple of bars but then
stalls selling mussels, clams, oysters and quahogs (similar to an
oyster). Stef loving shellfish was in his element here and he
pondered what to go for first - the oyster and quahog bar. I got
chatting to one of the guys shucking the oysters while Stef was
selecting what he was going to eat and before I knew it I was
offered a freebie quahog. I had no option but to down it. The
prospect of that snotty looking gooey blob sliding down my throat
was not one I relished, and writing now I am squirming in my seat.
Silly really because it was not as bad as I thought, I even quite
liked it. That is not to say that I would necessarily go out of my
way to order them in a restaurant but if they were served up in
front of me I would be OK eating them.
It sounds like shucking oysters is quite an art. The competition
they hold here is not just about how quickly you can do it but how
cleanly the flesh comes off and whether or not any bits of shell get
left in the oyster. Years ago, only the local fishermen would do the
shucking and they would sell jars of shucked oysters to the local
supermarkets. Now, people through as far as Toronto are paid just to
shuck oysters so the competition has heated up.
I cannot recall ever seeing so many people eating mussels in one
place at a time. The closest is Belgo's in London but it is not a
patch on this. Everywhere you look there are people walking around
balancing their mussels in their styrofoam trays trying to find
somewhere to perch to eat them. As ever though the Canadians were
neat and tidy. None ended up on the floor and everyone put their
rubbish into the bins. In true Canadian style you had to split your
rubbish - one bin for shells only, the other bin for everything
else.
We had a couple of drinks and Stef had some mussels while we
listened to the bands. Needing a little fresh air (mainly to cool
down but someone was also feeling a little the worse for wear
through excess Molson) we headed back onto the waterfront. The need
for a proper meal soon hit and we headed for a restaurant that two
local ladies next to us in the festival recommended for the best
lobster supper in town. Called The Water Prince shop it is at the
corner of Prince Street and Water Street. It is a small, family
owned place which was very busy. We were lucky that two people were
leaving as we arrived otherwise we would have had a long wait. The
chowder was tasty and the lobster divine - definitely a good
recommendation. At the table next to us was an Italian couple who
moved to Canada about forty years ago. Stef and they shared
desperation at the inability to get a decent cup of coffee here and
they told us how their old stove top espresso maker was no more - it
exploded one day creating $3,000 worth of damage to their new
kitchen!
Although the festival was still going our appetite for music, food
and drink was well and truly satiated and we opted to head back to
camp and bed.
