DAY TWO TO THREE - PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY

Apologies for the hiatus, but I needed some downtime after posting daily on the cruises. Also I gave a presentation to the Naval Marine Archive in Picton, Prince Edward County — Celebrating Canadian Submariners — on Father's Day. This meant that I had to prepare in the morning, get set-up and my laptop talking to the projector, all of which seemed to occupy the whole day. I missed a very sunny day! Went to a small bistro called Agrarian in Bloomfield for an unremarkable, but pleasant dinner.



On Monday we changed hotels after I took a walk to Picton Bay. This is a long inlet from lake Ontario to the town of Picton filled with two yacht clubs and a marina.  Nearer the lake are sheltered anchorages. The wooded banks are home to large houses with fabulous views. The morning was taken up with a long drive out to Prince Edward Point that is a wildlife sanctuary. All we saw were some ubiquitous Canada geese hunkered down in the grass and not another living soul! It was a very quiet and pretty corner of the

island with an abandoned lighthouse. Retracing our steps took us onto a real country lane, which are all over the county. Grass growing in the middle and potholes. These, I think, were the original tracks between the farms ofthe early settlers and are still just wide enough for a horse-drawn cart. Today they are used by tractors.
Lunch was an adventure in frustration. After the long drive back to Wellington to the hotel/resto on the shores of Lake Ontario, we found that it was closed for major renos. We picked another resto but couldn't find it and ended up at the little marina's bar and grill called the Sandbank. Later we discovered it was the right place but had changed its name from the Duke of Wellington to the Harbour House, and then to Sandbank. Service was terrible; food was adequate; view was lovely....

As the sunshine had disappeared and the weather was threatening thunder storms we retreated to our new hotel and checked in at The Waring House. This is more of a compound than a simple hotel. The old original farmhouse has four rooms, a wonderful pub, and a big resto that overlooks a charming garden. Next door is their own craft brewery and a cooking school. There are also two new large lodges with rooms. However we are in "The House Next Door," another old building with twelve rooms. Our room looks out onto a pond with reeds, bird feeders, and a big bird house. Every room is furnished with antiques, the real thing, but the bed and bathroom is ultra-modern.
We enjoyed a superb, casual dinner in the pub and made it home just before a downpour of biblical proportions.

IMAGES: © Photos by Pharos 2014

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