My day started with breakfast at the Boat House, Val is feeding me at 8:30 am each morning even though her October hours don’t start until 10:00. I am/was super appreciative that she opened early for me, plus it was lovely that she chatted with me each morning over coffee (her) and tea (me). I learned quite a bit about her, North Lake and PEI in general during our morning chats. That morning, I had a very filling breakfast sandwich and delicious home fries.
Then I was off to East Point Lighthouse via the beach. I loved that I could walk 10.5 km on a beach! Beach walking is super new to me but it was absolutely fabulous. My walking speed wasn’t the fastest because I was also looking for sea glass most of the time or looking out to the Gulf to see if I could see any wildlife. But it was super relaxing walking, hearing the surf. I saw lots of birds, mostly seagulls but some cormorants, a great blue heron, and lots of plovers, and as I made my way a bit inland, blue jays and a few chickadees. And I saw a bunch of seals! I first noticed a random seal head when I saw this black thing popping up and down in the ocean, so I started paying more attention and saw more but always just a bit too far out for a good picture. Although I did try. Unfortunately, if you don’t know what you’re looking at you probably can’t tell from the photos. I also saw a dead crab on the beach but that was the extent of my wildlife.
Just as I was starting to wonder if I would ever reach the lighthouse, I came to the stream that I was expecting and that I needed to cross before I would reach the lighthouse. It was probably about 2 km from the lighthouse. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that you could cross it at low tide I’m not sure if I was remembering the correct stream because I was there at low tide and it was about 3-4 meters wide. There was no crossing it without getting wet. Luckily, it’s not particularly deep and it was a lovely sunny day despite being October so I took off my shoes and socks hiked up my leggings then I found a spot that didn’t look too deep and forded the stream. The water was a bit chilly, but I was only in it for about a minute and only that long because I stopped to take a photo midway plus it was only about ankle deep. I thought about walking barefoot in the sand for a bit because the sand was really nice and warm but ultimately decided to rinse it off my feet and put my socks and shoes back on. So glad no one watched that! I think I need to practice my balance because putting my socks on damp feet while standing, or rather hopping, on one foot was the hardest part of the whole endeavor. I finally managed, without falling, and continued to the lighthouse.
After crossing the stream, I saw three people (interestingly, they were three of the six I saw the entire beach walk) who were walking ahead of me, and was able to follow them up a path just before the lighthouse. I was wondering how I was to get off the beach so it was great they were there. While they were about a ½ km ahead, you could see a long way on the beach and that turned out to be a good thing because I’m not sure I would have found the path otherwise. The path was super cool, there were several branches and I ended up coming out of it into someone’s backyard just up the road from the lighthouse. Not sure if that was the correct exit spot but it worked (sorry if not!) and then it was a quick jaunt up the road to the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was being repaired from Fiona damage, so my photos aren’t the best.
After resting a bit and eating a protein bar, it was back to the motel via the road. At the turn to Hwy 16, a large dog came running out at me. Thankfully it was friendly, but it was still a little unnerving having a large unknown dog try to jump on you and get repeatedly in front of you as you’re walking. It would have been even more unnerving if I was scared or nervous of dogs. The same thing happened further down the road with a small friendly lapdog, but luckily the owner was outside and came quickly, apologizing, to get the dog. Side note: red dirt makes lovely pawprints on black leggings.
It was potato harvesting season, near the end of the season actually, while I was in PEI and I walked past quite a few farms. It was interesting to see how potatoes are harvested as I’d never seen it on a large scale. I actually stopped for awhile on the road and watched the farmers work for a bit.
All in all, it was a 19.6 km day and super fun walking on the beach. I haven’t been following the exact Island Walk route but as close as I could given the closures. I also miss signage sometimes as it’s on the right side of the road and I was walking facing traffic on the left but that’s too be expected.
Dinner was a very filling and tasty chicken Caesar wrap (I figured I should eat something other than fried fish no matter how much I love it, lol) with a complimentary cup of seafood chowder. Both were delicious. And then, it was another sunset and early night. I can feel the stress leaving more each day, so glad I came.
Rambles and Walks 