Driving day to the North Cape of PEI

One of many Cavendish Farms

Though the actual driving distance to the North Cape of PEI is only about 160 km along our planned route, we plan on taking the whole day as we have lots of stops planned plus the roads are narrow and winding with small village after small village so travel is slow. 

Cavendish Farms is a huge employer in PEI . Around 60% of the potatoes grown here end up as french fries and chips for Cavendish Farms.

Kensington Historic Train Station

First stop is the Town of Kensington (K-town by the locals) to stretch our legs and see the Historic Railway Station. Built from glacial boulders in 1905, it is considered one of the most architecturally striking stations in Canada and now operates as a restaurant. 

Heart of PEI

There is a stage where some great music is likely played now and then and the entire back wall of the stage is a painting by Scott O'Neil called 'Heart of PEI'. This community has a long standing tradition of music, culture, farming and fishing and this massive art piece sums it up beautifully. 

Very cool wood art

So much to learn about a simple potato :)

Just outside the Town of O'Leary is the Canadian Potato Museum. Wow, there is a lot of history to the potato. Who knew the potato was domesticated 8000-10000 years ago in the Andes Mountains of South America. There are over 1000 varieties of them and in the 1500's Spanish Invasion they made their way to Europe. 

Sadly in the 1840's there was a potato blight that swept through Europe causing the Great Irish Famine. There were over a million deaths and starvation caused mass migration of Irish people to Canada and the USA, thus the heritage out here on the east coast began.

Horse drawn potato planter

The process of growing a potato has evolved substantially over the years and it's all very fascinating. What was once back breaking work planting individual potatoes is now very modern and state of the art. 

There is an antique machinery hall housing all sorts of old equipment, some of which I remember being on my family farm. 

Antique machinery hall

We finish off our visit with a bowl of potato soup and a loaded baked potato...what else could one possibly desire :)

Stompin' Tom Connors centre

On to the small community of Skinners Pond where the 'Stompin Tom Connors' centre is. Neither of us remember his music much but we remember he would pound the sole of his boot through a piece of plywood over the course of a night performing. 

It's a beautiful venue where they host all sorts of concerts. It would have been a great place to attend an evening of music.

Kind of funny, in the gift shop  I ask if Tom ever comes back here and the lady looks at me with a strange face and says "He's Dead"...oops...who knew. 

North Cape Visitor center

We drive on to the North Cape, which marks the northernmost point on the island. 

Rock reef out to northernmost point

This is where the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait meet. These two bodies of water converge over a two-mile long natural rock reef creating a colliding tides phenomenon.

Amazing view and sea smells

We time our arrival for 30 minutes before low tide so we can walk out on the portion of reef that gets exposed. 

Shipwrecks north shore of PEI

There is a photo inside the visitors centre of past shipwrecks along the north shore. A lot of souls lost at sea over the years. 

The low tide allows us to walk the shore amongst the red sand and rocks. 

Lots of windmills along the way

We have come here on a beautiful day but we can only imagine the storms that ravage this place over the course of a year. 

Sadly there is a memorial plaque for fairly recent lost souls to the sea in 2018.

Black Marsh Trail

We walk the nearby 'Black Marsh Trail' for more views and perspective on this amazing location. 

Wind turbines galore

There are tons of wind turbines here as roughly 99% of the electricity generated on PEI comes from wind turbines, making it the highest proportion of wind integration in North America. 

However because PEI is a net importer of power, locally generated wind energy is about 15-40% of energy consumed by islanders. The majority of the power comes from underground cables from New Brunswick. 

The challenge is the wind turbine power creation profile does not match the islander consumption so they get power from New Brunswick and sell their created power. Complicated but true. 

Baby new po-da-does

All day we have been in search of new potatoes (pronounced Po-da-doe by locals) and on our drive home we finally come across a road side stand. 

Oyster Bar on way home

Chris found this Oyster Bar as a must stop on our way home. 

Inside Valley Pearl Oyster

It's a very cool hall-type venue where we enjoy fresh local oysters and mussels along with the drink special of the day - a Caesar :)

Local oysters and mussel

Jake and 13,125 pennies

The bartender, Jake, is very nice and funny. He says on a slow day a while back he counted all the pennies on the counter. Apparently there are 13,125 pennies built into this counter top. It was a really great experience.

Sunset and waves crashing on Cavendish Beach

We are back to Cavendish Beach in time for the sunset and to see the huge waves rolling in. It was windy here today and we can literally hear the waves crashing from our trailer. 

That's a wrap to a 9 hour day for us.