Fog and New Brunswick

PEI was shrouded in mist and fog as we left this morning, sorry to leave the lovely Great George and even sorrier to leave the island: we will be back!

We arrived by ferry and left by the marvellous Confederation Bridge but no matter which way you go it's free to come onto the island and they slug you when you leave - so peering out the bus window we could see the toll is $43.25 for a car and passenger and $7 for each additional passenger!

The Confederation Bridge was promised when PEI joined the other provinces in 1863 but building didn't start till 1993 after much controversy over whether it was necessary, would it change the island-ness and would it spoil the fishing. In the end the ayes won at 59.4% and building went ahead, taking ten years. It's 12.5 km long and 60 m high at its highest span and curves in a gentle S to keep the drivers alert. (You can see I listen on the bus as I knit.)

We stopped at Cape Jurrimaine just over on the New Brunswick side for morning tea and a look at the nature centre there, which opened specially for us. The photo of the bridge looks a bit bleak - well it was bleak ...

We settled in for a day of driving to get to the Canada/US border: mile after mile of woods, evergreens interspersed with yellow birch and the occasional red burst from sugar maple and crimson purple of red maple.

Lunch was at a truck stop and here Merryle's carefully-laid plans came awry as our tables were occupied by the Canadian army who had turned up unannounced. The manager explained apologetically that they've taken such a beating lately in Afghanistan he couldn't turn them away. (But they weren't allowed to order dessert!)

On we pushed through the afternoon - fog and the industrial Saint John to finally arrive at St Andrews by the Sea, an old old town whose original inhabitants moved here, houses and all, from the USA at the time of the Revolution. Then the rich and famous discovered it in the early 1900s and built their 50-roomed summer "cottages" here and a hotel The Algonquin for overflow guests. It has been modernized and a new wing added which is where we are.

The Algonquin, in spite of - or perhaps because of - its poshness doesn't have free wi-fi so rather than pay them $15 I shall wait till tomorrow to post this.