Prince Edward Island

Bicycles are not permitted to ride across the Confederation Bridge. In order to get to PEI you must pull off to a waiting room where there is a push button intercom that you can use to ask for a ride in the shuttle vehicle. The wait can be up to 2 hours, in our case about 45 minutes. The driver of the electric pickup truck was a young woman from Summerside who gave us some great tips on where we should visit while on the Island.    

 The arrival on island is photographed through the windows of the shuttle vehicle, while the driver points out touristic view points in the most delightful accent. She's been to Ontario once, but never further West. That's ok we've never been to PEI before!  

She dropped us off and we headed out in the direction of Victoria where she said we'd find lobster chowder and that's where most people like to go. The wind was pure crazy, at our backs or we might have lit out the other way.  We stopped to take in the view of the huge bridge we had just crossed now dominating our horizon to the West.

There is no change in provincial topography quite so dramatic as when you leave the mainland for the province of PEI. There is a "warmth" to the views in every direction following ocean inlets that lead up to and between farming land and narrow rural roads.    

It's perhaps like the atmosphere found in the rural islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. The vibe seems...familiar to us somehow.   

 

We rode along the winding roads in a trance waiting to hear from Sophie's dad at the hospital in Moncton. It was Saturday, and the Doctor had said they would be reevaluating her on Monday, so nothing much to know yet.    

The town of Victoria offered a chowder and local beer, out on the pier, as promised by our shuttle driver. We're here in late September and the restaurant staff have the post-season blues that we recognize from the Gulf Islands out West. Turning it "on" for the tourists through July and August wears these folks out same as it did for us in this line of work. It definitely feels like we'll be about the last tourists to mosey through here before winter as they wind down for the season.   

Full of warm soup and chocolates from the local shoppe we set about exploring the island at a leisurely pace.  

The traffic was almost non existent and we rolled along looking for views at about the slowest tempo we had ridden to date. PEI feels really small compared to the vastness we have travelled so far. One could conceivably ride the whole thing in a day, but there feels no pressure to do so. 

Texts were coming in from back home asking how we were doing and what we were seeing.  Staying quiet about Sophie's accident was like holding on to a giant heavy secret. We don't want to worry anyone about our own safety, so it's all positive in the replies. We're safe, and having a great time exploring PEI, which isn't a lie.  But we have had a traumatic experience, and keeping that to ourselves for the moment is changing the way we are experiencing the trip. 

We stepped out onto the beach late afternoon. Not a soul or stirring creature in sight.  

"We made it to Mars!" we texted back.  Foot prints and paw prints winding along the thick red sand the only giveaway that we were still somewhere on Planet Earth.

Beautiful Bonshaw Provincial Park provided our wild camp spot for the night, tucked into the bushes behind a little baptist church. Out came the bug spray as the sun set, but the little fellas were putting in a pretty lackadaisical effort. It had been a cold and crisp riding day and the temperature fell below zero after dark. We "woke" up to frosty windows on the church.  Behold! ...the door was unlocked... so we made our morning coffee in the foyer and warmed up a bit. It was Sunday morning so we scooted out early without a trace after the shivering quit.    

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Can't believe we're here. We'd left ourselves only about 30kms to get to the city so by mid morning we were in downtown with a full day to explore. We'd like to find some lunch (hopefully a better chowder), enjoy the architecture, get some laundry done, and slip out of town late afternoon with time to get about 20 or 30 kilometres down the road to another provincial park.     

Charlottetown is a really fun and easy city to explore. We bopped around downtown and found a large farmer's market setting up for the day at the harbour front. $34 for a tiny lobster roll did not make good fiscal sense to us so we sampled the famous local ice cream instead. Fabulous choice!  

A couple of cruise ships were in, and we slipped in amongst the locals to welcome the gentle wave of tourists to laid back PEI. Last farmer's market of the season, then there will be snow, blowing snow, 10 foot high, but it's not too bad you get used to it, and the cost of housing is very attractive we said.       

St. Peter's Cathedral was bumpin' Sunday morning. A full house, a hot dog barbecue, and a city buzzing with sightseers.      

A little ways out of downtown we found a laundromat to hang out at for an hour, and chat with an Aussie couple driving across Canada. Their favourite had been Banff. When they asked about our travels we don't think they registered the part that we had ridden to here, from Victoria, BC, on bicycles. They just carried on about what scenery we must've seen in the mountains. Lol. Biking this far is kind of tough to get your head around really.  

After laundry and logistics, we headed back downtown to a lunch spot we had scoped out earlier with sidewalk tables serving house-made lobster chowder and locally brewed pints under a vine covered awning. This time the soup was fantastic and we stayed a while with our backs in the warmth of the sun.    

We paid our bill and got ready to depart when along came a rider on a fully loaded touring steed with flag patches of most of the Canadian provinces glued onto his rear pannier like trophies.  

"Hello there!" said Sherrie and we started into agreeable conversation with him immediately.  Guillaume was from Sherbrooke, Quebec and was in the last stages of completing his cross-Canada bicycle tour with only PEI, New Brunswick and Gaspésie left to ride before returning home.  

He sat down and we ordered more snacks. Hours went by as we regaled each other with tales from the road, commiserating on the difficulties of head winds and other tribulations of the journey. We told Guillaume about our riding partner and friend, Sophie, and of her crash and currently unknown condition and prognosis. Guillaume provided a sounding board, like a trained psychologist, and the ability to speak aloud about Sophie's and our experiences was incredibly valuable to us in that moment. Tears all around.  

The sun had set before any of us had noticed the time. Our plan to ride a ways out and camp, and Guillaume's plan to do the same in the opposite direction were shot. We booked hotel rooms at the cheapest place we could find and rode over to check in and leave the bikes. The three of us headed back into downtown on foot for live music at an Irish pub and continued the lively conversation with fresh pints and comfort food.  A night in Charlottetown was a welcome pause for all of us to the stresses that accompany an undertaking as olympic in nature as trying to get a bicycle across the entire country without having a complete breakdown in physical or mental facility.    

 

It wasn't all that late as we stepped out of the pub.  We had closed the place down at...wait for it... 10:00pm.  Charlottetown was deserted and the cruise ships had departed. A short walk back to the hotel and we passed out like rocks at the bottom of the sea. 

Breakfast and cheery goodbyes in the morning and we headed off in our opposite directions having never actually ridden with Guillaume but feeling as though we'd somehow shared the entire epic together.  I know we'll be long-term friends!   

Au revoir Guillaume!

A look back at Charlottetown from the bridge leaving the city. We'll be back here soon, we loved it. 

We've got 50k to ride this morning to catch the ferry leaving Prince Edward Island.  Thanks to more chitty-chat with Guillaume, we're late starting and we're going to have to ride at a pretty fast pace. No time for pictures Andrew.  

There's a shortcut, which will save some kilometres, but we know how that generally goes right?!!

Yowza we had some hills.  The "shortcut" was 30 kms of huge hills!  

 

We rode as hard and fast as we could, grinding hills for about two hours, until we crested the climb with 10 kilometres to go, now all downhill to the ferry.  It was the fastest we had ridden for a length on the whole trip, and our fitness was proving up to the challenge by this point. We were surprised by the hills, and we were equally surprised by our ability to devour them.  

IF we made it, it would be within minutes of the ferry departure, and our experience with the "booth people" at BC ferries terminals was not encouraging us to press for it. 

Booth people are NOT at all happy when you show up to a ferry with very little time to spare.....   

We pulled up to the ferry booth gasping and apologizing but the reception was the polar opposite to our expectation.  

"No worries darlin's!  You've got a full 7 minutes!" 

As with our "Hello", "Goodbye" to PEI is photographed through a window as we ferry to Nova Scotia. 

 

Prince Edward Island was such a delightful little snapshot moment on our trip. When we return to the East for more exploration by bicycle, we will do a long slow ride around the province, visiting as many locals as we can.  

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