PEI: August 11

Day 4: August 11

A good night's sleep despite “the boys” who pulled in behind us, hauled out a load of beers, and had a campfire though there was a fire ban. Nice to have electricity and a fairly decent TV signal, so I heard Brian Williams and the Olympics in the background repeating over and over!

We got up early to slightly overcast skies but got ready for a bike ride. We headed up to North Cape, new territory for us. It was so cool to be riding and enjoying the sights and smells (some sweet, some kinda fishy).

North Cape featured a lighthouse, the Wind Energy Interpretive Centre (and wind farm), a great craggy coast and an inukshuk farm:

The really interesting part was the Irish Moss gathering we were lucky enough to see. Two women and a man were collecting the “seaweed” which would be sold, mostly to the pharmaceutical industry, for 12 cents a pound wet and 40 cents dry. We first saw the tractor and the women raking:

But further down the beach were mesmerized by the man and horse dredging the shoreline. Amazing:

Here's a video of this age-old skill:

Irish Mossing

We also saw what looked like walrus or sea lions beached on a reef off shore. We found out they were Grey Seals, but huge nonetheless. A great stop:

Off we rode to the harbour at Skinner's Pond:

We were heading for Fish and Chips when we noticed the blackening skies, so back to the park for lunch, a snooze, walk on the beach and talking with a couple from New Jersey and a guy from BC who has driven across Canada and is heading to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland from here.

Sounds like the party behind us is starting again. Oh well!

Here's the view from my chair:

And, here's a new feature, the view from the bike. It's from Skinners Pond, the home of Stompin' Tom Connors: