West Point - Potatoes and Lighthouses

Cavendish to West Point

First thing this morning, I wandered over to Green Gables again, across the dewy fairway, thankful of the dew because it clung to a large spiderweb and stopped me walking through it! Just had a quick wander around and then back. I do think it was smart of Cavendish to put in a golf course next door to all the Anne stuff to entertain the men who can be overhead saying, "What's Lovers Lane anyway?"

There was a tour group going in for breakfast when I went across so I took up the lovely reception girl's advice to come back later. I had planned to go to the main Cavendish beach after breakfast but would do it now. Drove down, it was quite lovely.

Then back for breakfast (Belgium waffles with strawberry preserves!), check out and head off. Didn't get very far - just up the road to Avonlea Village. It wasn't open til 10:00 and it was 9:50 but the guy at the door was entertainment enough to fill the time. Full of stories of his boyhood on the farm, his dyslexia and his work with a charity fixing up tractors to raise funds for needy children. Here he is.

And here he is again, suggested the photo. My new mate Wayne...

Avonlea Village was closed for the season but you could still walk around and have a look. They had restored the schoolhouse L.M. taught at and a church she attended.

 

Got this by peaking through the window...

There were horse hoof prints all over the place for, as Wayne told me, "The horses got out overnight, ran all over the place and sh#t everywhere!" Too funny.

 Now off to the North Cape - the northernmost point of the Island and very picturesque, according to the lovely reception girl, who gave me great directions. So off I set, doubling back a couple of times due to either missing the turnoffs or bad signage or a combination of both. Getting more comfortable driving and even overtook THREE times - I reckon that's more than I would do in a year at home - two tractors and a gorgeous vintage car.

I keep looking put the driver's side mirror and every now and then glance at the actual rear vision mirror in the centre of the car and think, oh, that's handy.  It's not the first mirror I look at.

On the radio - missing pets item - missing one grey cat. Slim build, grey fur, answers to Peppy. Missing one cow... And I went to turn up the volume and changed the channel instead! There are also election ads - seriously! Didn't I just leave an election??? And then came the song - # Reach up for the sunrise # Put your hands in to the big sky...# Really??? (For those who don't recognise that lovely captioning, that is the theme song for Sunrise!)

The drive was beautiful, lots of green, trees, waterways, a red tilled field, all gorgeous, just nowhere to stop and take a photo. I got a couple by pulling to a stop where there was no one behind me...

There are farmhouses dotted all over the place and I always wonder what do these people do all day? What do they do to socialise? It's a different world.

Arrived at North Cape where there is a wind farm and a coral reef. Lots of sea birds and you could see the seals in the distance. It had the feel of the end of the world to it.

There's a lighthouse too...

Had a bite of lunch in the restaurant - which was the only one there and had no prices on the menu outside the door - which is not a good sign. But it was reasonable and good.

Onwards down the other (west) side of the island until arriving in West Point at the lighthouse. I'm staying in then Innkeeper's Quarters, which is pretty cool.

Note the sloping ceiling that I have banged my head on twice already.

Just the fact they have the Canadian Potato Museum made me want to go there - I think Canada is very proud of its potato (along with the seafood) - so off I went. Love the giant potatoes!

Inside they show a movie on the history and many uses of the potato. There was one fabulous bit where a woman was looking at the bags of potatoes, "which one should I take? Oh, this one would be just marvellous." You could see her method acting to the hilt for her 30-second spot. But all the bags where the same anyway. Made me laugh. 

You'd be amazed how much information can be given on the simple spud - from planting and growing it to all the pests that kill it - and how to treat them, the nutritional value, the history of it and how it made its way around the world. How to harvest and keep it. There was a short old B&W film road-testing four or five different peelers and it was decided that the cheapest one was actually the best.

Interesting bits from the history included a French military guy who wanted to introduce it to an area in France so he planted it, put guards to watch the fields during the day and let the guards go at night. The peasants thought they must be valuable and so came and stole them and planted them themselves. This guy gave a bouquet of potato blossoms to Louis XVI who wore a sprig as a buttonhole and gave the rest to Marie Antoinette, who wore them in her hair and created a trend. And Thomas Jefferson introduced the French fire to America after staying there. He would order that French way of doing potatoes for formal dinners.

I also didn't know that the potato was a great source of vitamin C - two potatoes a day onboard ships would prevent scurvy, apparently. It was all very interesting, amazingly.

Stopped in the cafe to try the chocolate potato fudge - which just tasted like chocolate fudge, really.

Back to the Lighthouse for a stroll on the beach...

..dinner, a climb to the top to see the view...

Down and strolled the other way and got this shot in the setting sun...

And now I'm thinking about this...