Sunday 23 September 2001 - Wednesday 26 September 2001

Drove to Holiday Haven Campground and RV Park on Prince Edward Island (PEI) via the Confederation Bridge, completed in 1997 with private finance although it has to be handed over to Canada after 35 years. Prior to this PEI was only accessible via boat or plane. In winter the Northumberland Strait which separates the island from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia freezes over, and there are great pictures in the visitor centre of the ice boats by which people used to make the journey in the not-so-distant past. When they reached a part of the strait that was iced up they just hauled the boat out and dragged it along to the next stretch free water.

PEI is the smallest Canadian province. Its total population as about 140,000 with a density of about 25 per sq km which is the highest in Canada but pretty insignificant compared with the UK. However, the density of Members of Parliament is quite the opposite at one per 6,000 people against one per 100,000 for us. As is the case with the other Atlantic provinces, control alternated between Great Britain and France in a series of pointless wars until 1763 when we got the lot under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. King George III promptly had it surveyed and divided it up into 67 lots, 66 of which he handed out as sweeteners to nobles to whom he was indebted. Most of these had little interest in the region and just remained absentee landlords, thus holding back the development of the island for many years. Its capital is Charlottetown, and it was here that the idea of Canadian confederation was agreed in 1864 at a supposedly drunken meeting between leaders of all the separate provinces. In 1867 they finally sobered up, signed all the necessary papers, and Canada was born. End of history lesson.

Walked round the town in the afternoon, managing to leave our digital camera on a park bench. In the interim before we noticed its absence, someone spotted it and handed it in to the ice cream and gift kiosk from which we retrieved it shortly afterwards. Thank you very much for your honesty, all those concerned. First class meal in the Gahan House Pub, including real beer which didn't taste like refrigerated gnat's pee.

In the gift shops there are two items that predominate over all others: Anne of Green Gables dolls, and 28lb bags of PEI potatoes.

PEI is logically divided into three areas: west, central and east, each of which has its own scenic drive which takes about a day. We did the lot. For those of you who have been to Jersey or Guernsey, PEI feels very similar despite the fact that it has 50 times the land area but only 1.5 times the population. It must be something about the atmosphere of an island region.

The central region includes Charlottetown and is the most populous. The Blue Heron Scenic Drive takes in old forts (both English and French), lots of scenic countryside, and Green Gables itself ...

... which has pleasant walks in the woods around it. In the evening we had a good Lebanese meal (not had a bad one yet), followed by a concert by a French-speaking and -singing folk quartet called Barachois which was good fun.

The western region contains the most francophones on the island. When Acadia was taken over by the British and the Acadians expelled (see Encarta for details), most went to France but a number ended up in this area of PEI (as well as various other places). On our tour round the Lady Slipper Scenic Drive we called in at a small schoolhouse museum ...

... now owned and maintained by one of its former pupils, a very pro-British gentleman who claimed he had been threatened by locals because the upstairs of the school building used to be an Orange Order Lodge meeting house in the early 20th century. We also found some more bottle houses (see British Columbia - this seems to be a Canadian quirk) ...

... three of them this time, although these were built purely as a hobby rather than as a residence and mainly from alcohol-related bottles rather than embalming fluid.

The east side of the island (King's Drive) seems virtually deserted, although the rest of it is hardly overcrowded. It's also less interesting generally, both in terms of picturesque scenery and of points of interest, so if you're here and time is limited then give it a miss. It rained most of the day, so that may have clouded our judgment a little.

Met some nice people from Wisconsin: Doris, Jamie and Stuart, who are just starting out to do the same as us for a year. They have a nice big shiny new 5th wheel with lots of space, but are suffering the usual teething problems - leaking slideouts, broken water tank etc. It's just like cars: the more features and complexity you have, the more there is to go wrong.

Tomorrow, Nova Scotia. We'd considered going by ferry which avoids a longish trip via the bridge, but of the two boats one was out of commission and the other suffering sporadic mechanical problems so it looks like a long drive.