After Nova Scotia, we drove up to Prince Edward Island (PEI), crossing over via the Caribou-Woods Island ferry.

PEI is a gentle, predominantly rural, agricultural island, characterised by it’s red soil (Permo-Carboniferous red-beds) and red and white sand beaches. The island forms a nice contrast with the much more rugged Nova Scotia to the south. PEI is also connected to New Brunswick on the Canadian mainland by the Confederation Bridge.

We stayed in the main city, Charlottetown (pop approx 40 000), at the Shipwright Inn, which is owned and run by an English couple, Trevor & Judy Pye. They were extremely welcoming, the room was sumptious, and the 24/7 tea/coffee/cake was a real hit. It was nice to meet someone who knew how to make a good cuppa!

One of the main attractions of PEI is the whole Anne of Green Gables thing, but we managed to avoid most of that and made use of the extensive trails network – the Confederation Trail runs the length of the island and there are also a number of shorter trails, particularly in the PEI National Park that runs along the north coast of the island.

The best food we had was at the Water Prince Corner Shop in Charlottetown. This time we had a lobster supper – bread roll, mussels in white wine broth, boiled lobster with drawn butter and potato salad. Superb.

We spent four days in Nova Scotia, beginning in Halifax and moving on to the South Shore around Mahone Bay and Lunenburg.

The highlights were:

Peggy’s Cove
A small rocky harbour and a very photogenic lighthouse set on top of rounded organic-shaped granite outcrops. The lighthouse is the “most photographed in Canada” and is a real tourist trap, but the surroundings are truly lovely.

Mahone Bay/Lunenburg area
Beautiful coastal area. Mahone Bay has three churches on a row on the seafront.

Blue Rocks is another beautiful rocky harbour, but with blue schists rather than granite.

Lunenburg is an old fishing port, originally settled in the mid-18th century by German and Dutch Lutherans, and has a lot of old wooden houses sloping down the hill to the harbour. The harbour is home to the Bluenose II, a famous replica of an iconic Canadian racing schooner.

Food
Great lobsters, particularly in Lunenburg’s Old Fish Factory, where the highlights were the seafood chowder and biscuit (i.e. scone) and the boiled lobster with drawn butter. Mmm.

Jo-Anne’s deli in Mahone Bay serves the most wonderful sandwiches (in particular their lobster sandwiches) and cakes.