Land Cruise to PEI
01 August 2013
What a wonderful decision to get off the boat for a while and take a land cruise! [While the scenery is lovely and people encounters delightful, Jeri thinks the best part is being able to take a long, hot shower without worrying about water limitations on the boat! ;-) ]
First, we visited the Glenora Distillery for an afternoon trip to the west coast of Cape Breton. It's the only single malt distillery in Canada, and a fine product they make! One product is a single malt aged in French oak barrels and then finished by aging for a few months in ice wine barrels from Jost Vineyard. [A few days later we visited Jost Vineyard and discovered that they have a wine called Ortega that they finish aging in single malt barrels from Glenora. How's that for a symbiotic relationship!] After the Glenora tour and a lovely lunch in their pub with live Gaelic music, we went to the Broad Cove Concert, the 57th and apparently a well-known concert with performances by everyone who is anyone known in the area for their fiddling, bag piping, step dancing and Gaelic singing. A lovely way to spend a leisurely Sunday.
Monday, we sealed up the freezer and jumped in the rental car for the first leg of our journey to Prince Edward Island. After researching the Northumberland coast, we chose the Tatmagouche area as a good stopping point, so we could visit Jost Vineyards the next day. What a pleasant surprise! We stayed overnight in a converted train car at The Train Station B&B, which consists of the renovated Tatamgouche train station and about 10 converted cars, including a dining car with a first-rate restaurant and lounge car. The owner purchased the station when he was 18 because he wanted it preserved and not destroyed. Our car had a sitting area with sofa bed and separate bedroom, divided by the elevated conductor cupola where he would sit to see train signals.
More later...off for the day exploring more of PEI...