by Laura MacGregor, Island Walker / Team Member
What I didn’t know until doing The Island Walk in the summer of 2022, is that the best cinnamon buns in Canada are at Bishop’s Rest Bed and Breakfast, on Prince Edward Island.
In our family we take cinnamon buns very seriously. In fact, we are cinnamon bun connoisseurs. When my husband and I were first married over thirty years ago we spent Saturday mornings prowling a local farmers’ market, always returning home with two cinnamon buns the size of a small child’s head. In our tiny, newlywed apartment we would eat the sugar glazed pastries paired with steaming mugs of hot coffee, a rare indulgence in our otherwise frugal life. Years later, as our children grew, they asked the Easter bunny to forgo chocolate and deliver cinnamon buns from a local bakery instead.
I arrived at Bishop’s Rest Bed & Breakfast, waterlogged, after walking twenty-three kilometres in the pouring rain. It was the first and only hike on the Island when I seriously questioned my decision to walk in all weather. Earlier that day my shuttle driver had also questioned my sanity when he left me standing at the side of the road in the deluge. But I had driven across three provinces to walk around the Island – literally – and I wasn’t about to let a little bad weather stop me.
Bishop’s Rest is steps from the trail (400 metres to be specific) and I arrived directly from my Walk and stood in their foyer, my backpack dripping a puddle on their floor as they checked me into my room. After a hot shower long enough to drain their water tank I ventured to the dining room. There the proprietor, a formally trained red seal chef, served a swoon-worthy, creamy pasta dish paired with a chilled glass of white wine. After three weeks of peanut butter sandwiches eaten in my camper I was in heaven. I didn’t realize it would get better the following morning.
The serve-yourself breakfast buffet was generously stocked with cereal, juice, coffee, tea, fruit, yogurt, and granola. In the centre of the spread was a glass platter of homemade cinnamon buns. Of course, I had one.
Bishop’s cinnamon buns are tightly wound, thinly rolled pastries, which maximize the cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar packed into each bite. Unlike the doughy rolls I was used to, this one melted in my mouth. The sugar was perfectly balanced with the cinnamon, complementing it without overpowering the spice with simple sweetness. It was, hands down, the best cinnamon bun I had ever eaten. And I know my cinnamon buns. I told Sarah, the other half of the husband-and-wife duo who run Bishop’s Rest, when I saw her later that day.
Most long-distance walkers know of a thing called trail magic – small, meaningful gifts that appear out of nowhere when you least expect. My last morning at Bishop’s Rest I walked into an empty dining room to fuel up before checking out and logging another 20+ kilometre day. Sitting on my plate were three carefully wrapped cinnamon buns for me to take with me on my journey. Now that’s Island Magic.
And for those cyclists or walkers who are attracted to an even grander journey, there’s The Island Walk