He Says: Diddly-Dee Potatoes

Jun 7

Jun 7 He Says: Diddly-Dee Potatoes

After a few days in Halifax to recharge our batteries and get our life in order, we met up with Amanda’s parents “on their way back" to New Zealand from Europe. The first few days of their visit were spent on Prince Edward Island, off the northern coast of New Brunswick.

A few quick facts:

PEI is the smallest Canadian province with a population of only 150,000
It is however the most densely populated province, with 25 people per square km (the Canadian average is around 4, which is kinda ridiculous)
PEI has rich red soil which apparently is perfect for growing potatoes; the tiny province grows more than a quarter of Canada’s potatoes

A highlight of the trip was getting there on the Confederation Bridge. The bridge connects New Brunswick to PEI and at 12.9km it is the longest bridge that covers icy water (an important qualifier, as Wikipedia’s list of longest bridges puts it very far down the list!). It was a bit hard to capture a good picture from the bridge, but we were all transfixed for the 15 or so minutes it took to cross.

We stayed at a lovely little cottage in a town called North Rustico on the northern coast of the Island. For S & K this was a dramatic change of pace from London and Amsterdam, for us it was a chance to explore another part of Canada on our journey.

PEI National Park is divided into three coastal sections, and we spent a day wandering around the Brackley-Dalvay section. We completed the lovely Bubbling Springs trail, enjoyed a picnic lunch at the beach and visited the grounds of “Dalvay-by-the-Sea” hotel which we accidentally stumbled upon. My idea of a holiday!

Just down the road from our cottage we discovered the amazing Blue Mussel Cafe - likely the best seafood we’ve eaten on this trip - so good we went back the next day and even bought the t-shirt! We’re losing track of all the chowder we’re eating, but this one deserves a special mention (even served as part of their seafood poutine). Amanda’s favourite was the seafood “charcuterie” board which featured local pickles, cheeses, smoked fish etc - everything sourced from within 10km of the restaurant (except the lemon wedge).

Blue Mussel Cafe: Linguine with Scallops & Charcuterie - yumm!!

Andy played a couple games of golf with some local PEI players he met online (golf tinder??) at Rustico Golf Club and Anderson’s Creek, two of six golf courses within a 10 minute drive from our cottage. After the bridge was opened in the late 90’s there was a flurry of golf courses built to support a tourism boom, but it seems to have died town a bit...the upside was that the golf was fantastic value and the courses were in great shape.

It was great to take a few days and enjoy a slower pace of life on PEI. The rental van came in handy to lug all S & K’s shit all over Atlantic Canada, and doubled as a windbreaker so that we could enjoy our campfire supper of burnt sausages and too much beer. Prost!