Cross Canada Tour

Day 56 - Aug 2nd - Summerside to Cavendish
55km

 Well I made my decision to head north to the PEI National Park. Time-wise, and without retracing a route, I will have to forego the west end of PEI. It's the beginning of a long weekend, so I figured if I arrived fairly early, I might be able to get a campsite in the park. I arrived at 10:30 a.m. and there were already 36 hopeful campers ahead of me on a waiting list - without much hope of getting anything! So I spent the next hour or so trying to find somewhere to stay. I lucked into a private campground that had a site available due to a cancellation that occurred just as I was standing there waiting to inquire about a vacancy! Lucky me! The campground is huge and central in Cavendish, but my site is peaceful and quiet, so I booked it for two nights as I don't want to start looking for another site on a long weekend Saturday - besides, I deserve a day off on a long weekend too. On Sunday, I'll move further east along the north coast - away from the hustle and bustle - which should improve my chances for accommodations. There are a few more large campgrounds here, together with a myriad of motels, hotels and inns, and I was told at the info centre, that everything's booked up solid. The National Park with its sand beaches and dunes is obviously a big draw; I'll see that tomorrow, as I plan to spend the day there - As with other National Parks, there'll be a fee just to enter through the park's boundary. Cavendish is located just outside the west entrance to the park and the town exists solely through tourism; the place is packed, it's like a busy seaside town in Britain, with gift shops and fast food places. But there are other distractions too, some interest me, some don't. Of course, this is Anne of Green Gables territory, and I'm sure that adds to the hype of the town. Nevertheless, there are also restaurants here that serve the famous Maritime lobster suppers - I just have to decide which one to frequent this evening!

 I rode on the trail this morning from Summerside to Kensington, where there is a beautifully restored stone built railway station. I could only ride 22km on the trail, as it turned in a different direction to my intended route, so it was hard to force down that second breaky at Kensington, but I managed it! Good job too, I needed the energy later. I rode out of Kensington on Highway 6, which runs all the way to Cavendish. Now, to anyone who says that PEI is all flat, I say, "Horse Hockey!"

 Highway 6 was full of hills all the way to the turnoff for the park. A couple of the hills were real groaners too. Winds today were, once again unusually, from the north - which way was I travelling, take a guess? However, it was a short ride. There's a lot to see here on PEI, for a small island, so I guess that my rides for the next week will all be fairly short ones.

 The weather has improved somewhat, but much like the west coast of Canada, when the sun disappears behind a cloud, it gets quite chilly. They were predicting rain for tonight, but looking at the sky right now, it's bright, clear with hot sunshine and no clouds, so let's hope it stays that way.

Day 57 - Aug 3rd - Rest Day - Cavendish
0km

Views around Cavendish

Day 58 - Aug 4th - Cavendish to Midgell to St. Peters to Midgell!
94km

 Those 94km included my side trip to St. Peters which is not far from the hostel that I'm staying at in Midgell.

 The Midgell Centre/Hostel is made up from church buildings dating back to 1876. A really beautifully kept facility for all kinds of travellers. It has even been mentioned in the "Lonely Planet" series of travel books. The centre is completely run by volunteers who are, judging by the appearance of the whole facility and grounds, very dedicated.

 My day off yesterday started dry, but after breakfast we had torrential rain for a couple of hours and overcast skies for most of the day; the sun didn't show its face until around 4:00 p.m. While it rained, I just happened to be at the tourist info centre, so I hung out there and did some future route planning until the rains abated. Later, I went for a ride and a stroll to the beaches and dunes of PEI National Park - spectacular beaches and even though it was overcast, the water temperature was still 19°C. Good enough for a paddle for me! Not many people on the beach though, I guess the hoards were waiting for the sun before venturing out to the sands. After that, I did some shopping and explored around the small town for a while. Back at the campground, a couple of young fellows from New Brunswick invited me over for a beer and chat, so all in all, a very pleasant breather from cycling. I might add that I wasn't charged an entrance fee to the National Park - visitors on bikes are free!

 Today's ride was very scenic and quiet. Holiday weekend Sunday mornings have been some of the quietest times that I have ridden, and this was no exception. Beautiful valley and ocean vistas - especially from the top of those hills - the hills were very gentle today though, as Highway 6 zigzagged its way east to the junction of Highway 2, which I followed for the remainder of the ride.
My second breaky was a roadside waterfront picnic with what I had with me. I found a quiet spot on a beach, boiled up some water for my tea and had 3 boiled eggs left over from yesterday, some oatmeal raisin cookies and a banana - beauty breaky - as I watched the herons and some small gulls fishing! That's one thing that I have noticed, a definite lack of seagulls compared to the west coast. Perhaps I'll see more in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland?

 Although I passed through many small villages and communities, there was a distinct lack of stores or restaurants; where there were some, they were closed on Sundays as are most stores on PEI. But basically a very nice ride today with warm sunny weather, although a little muggy. I arrived in Midgell early, and as I couldn't check in until 4:00 p.m., I thought that I would ride through St. Peters to the Greenwich beaches of the National Park. But then I passed a park with lots of action happening. It was blueberry festival weekend in St. Peters' Park. Did I really need to see more sand - no! Besides, I could smell food. I peeled into the park, parked my bike, mingled with the huge crowd and wrestled my way to the BBQ's. A full Surf 'n Turf meal was only $10.00! However, I had my eye on those small buckets of fresh steamed mussels which came locally from St. Peters Bay - home of one of the largest mussel beds in PEI; the whole bay is full of the nets that the mussels grow on. $2.00 a bucket! I had two buckets and I wasn't really hungry, they were scrumptious! The first bucket had 18 and the second 17, so that was pretty good value. Oh, of course, I had to have desert, it was a "blueberry festival" after all. Blueberries and ice cream or homemade blueberry buckle (crumble), I couldn't decide, so I had both!

 Hence, my few extra kilometres paid off with a nice seafood treat and desert! - If only I could get that lucky everyday!

 By the way, Basil really likes Canada's National Park signs, he's just noticed that they are silhouettes of his best features!

Day 59 - Aug 5th - Midgell to Brundell Provincial Park
90km

 I toured around the east end of PEI before heading south to Brundell PP, which is very close to Georgetown. I started by riding the Confederation Trail to Souris, where I engaged in my second breaky. I'd breathed in enough trail dust by then to brush everything off and turn south on Highways 2 then 4. Of course today the winds were blowing violently in the direction that they should be at this time of year - from the south - go figure! Highway 4 was also not one of the predicted "PEI flat roads." But, all in all, a nice days ride - pretty warm and muggy still though. I think that we might get some thundershowers tonight, I can already feel some raindrops. I've got the tent up and a tarp over my picnic table, so I should be able to stay relatively dry - if it quits by morning!

 I must say, that I expected PEI's towns to be more pleasant than they are. Most of the ones that I have visited seem like depressed areas, yet the visitor's guide seems to give the impression that these are vibrant communities - not compared to many towns that I have visited in other provinces. It's just like the roads, the tourist areas are clean and well kept, but don't look at our other areas. The Provincial Parks are nice though, reasonable price, clean washrooms and free showers. This one is one of the nicest that I have been to and is next to the Canadian Golf Academy. Apparently, there are three golf courses adjacent to the park. I believe that there's a 19th hole too - I'll have to check that out, perhaps I can ride the storm out there? There's also horse trail rides here and kayak and canoe rentals - one of the more active and popular parks for campers.

 At the campground, I bumped into - guess who? The two young ladies from Quebec who were camped next to me way back in Grand Falls, NB. It was like bumping into old friends. They figured that I've been travelling as fast as them - they're in a car! They seem to have been to all the places that I stayed at, albeit on different days, except that they've already been to Charlottetown and I'll be heading there tomorrow. It was nice to chat with them again though - small world!

 But I haven't seen any touring cyclists for eons, where are they all? I thought that PEI would be chock-a-block full of them, especially with the all the "flat" roads here! Maybe there's a black hole in Ontario that they've sunk into! I've met a few local cyclists who were bike camping for the weekend , but that's it! Perhaps I'll meet more in Nova Scotia, who knows?

 Well, it's time to cook up tonight's delicacy, I don't know what yet, but it's going to include PEI new potatoes. I felt that after riding past millions of acres of spuds, I should support the local economy by partaking in those tasty little ones.

Day 60 - Aug 6th - Brundell Provincial Park to Charlottetown
58km

 A really short ride today; pretty well all the way on Highway 3 and then the TC#1 into the city - relatively uneventful - more potato fields and some nice ocean views (from Tea Hill, I might add!) as I neared Charlottetown.

 Last night's storm was incredible. The thunder, lightning and torrential rain rolled over the campground three times. After each occurrence, I thought that was it, but the system was determined to let us have a triple! The thunder was so loud, it was scary; I haven't seen a storm like that for many years, much less experienced one from the confines of a tent. My tent held up well though, all but one minor drip that's been a bear to fix for a while. I'll really have to go be generous with the seam sealer when I return home. I faired much better than some of the other campers, who's gear was all soaked by this morning. Quite a few campers even pulled out during the night, but me and Bas stuck it out! Where would I have gone, anyway???

 This morning, the skies were still overcast, but the rains stayed away until later this afternoon. Once in Charlottetown, I checked into a B&B that I had reserved earlier, had a shower and then the watched the rain starting up again. I was lucky earlier too, as I had chance to stop at a park that I was passing, pull out my tent and dry it out in the ocean breeze. I'm thinking that it's just as well that I took the time to do that then, while I'm looking at the (torrential) wet stuff coming down now. I believe that all the Maritimes are experiencing the same lousy weather. Hopefully it clears up by Thursday, when I'll be leaving here for Woods Island to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia on Friday morning. Yep, another day off tomorrow, anyone would think that I was on holiday or something! But it seems to be a wise choice, to have tomorrow off - weather-wise, more of the same stuff is forecast - maybe I lucked out, for one day anyway!

 However, today I had to make reservations for the ferry to Newfoundland, so regardless of the weather, I will I have to be in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, ready for next Monday's sailing to Argentia.

 Talk about a small world - At this B&B are a family from Nanaimo, BC and a couple from Saanichton, BC (they live near the Prairie Inn) - hard to believe that one can meet up with people that live so close to home this far away!

 Factoid: PEI's largest (wild) mammal is the fox - not that I've seen any, but I thought that you might like to know that snippet of local information!

Day 61 - Aug 7th - Rest Day - Charlottetown
0km

Views around Charlottetown

Day 62 - Aug 8th - Charlottetown to Trenton, Nova Scotia
87km

 Welcome to Nova Scotia.

 My layover in Charlottetown was quite pleasant, apart from the torrential rain last Tuesday evening. Fortuitously, just down the street from my digs, I found the "Olde Dublin Pub," a good spot to take cover and sample some fine ale and food. The rain was still around on Wednesday morning, but nowhere near as heavy as the previous night. Downtown Charlottetown is very quaint, with lots of historic buildings, including Province House of course - the birthplace of Confederation. I wandered, visited the museum and poked around all kinds of other historic places; generally having a good time and filling my face (with seafood treats) at every opportunity. On Wednesday evening, also just down street from my B&B, I discovered another local pub and microbrewery called the "Gahan House," which served some excellent house ales and some seafood chowder which was "to die for!" I sparked up a conversation with a couple from Switzerland who invited me to share their table and eat with them, so I had good food and good company for the evening.

 But all good things must end and Basil said it was time to ride again! - So off we went...

 This morning, I arrived at Wood Island, PEI, a lot earlier than expected, so I decided to catch the ferry today, rather than wait until tomorrow morning. The ride to the ferry covered some of the same roads that I rode into Charlottetown on. But, instead of riding the TC#1 all the way to the ferry, I rode Highway 23, which was much quieter and about 9km shorter than the main route. The ferry that I took was quite small when compared to some of our BC ferries, but adequate. The crossing to Caribou, Nova Scotia only took seventy five minutes and was a pleasant interlude from riding the roadways. I had a "ferry food" second breaky, which did remind me of BC ferries!

 From the ferry landing, I rode to Pictou on Highway 106, and was surprised to see a roundabout (rotary) at the intersection for the town - you don't see many roundabouts in Canada, yet they are a common sight in Britain. A quick lunch there and I continued the short ride to Trenton's Centennial Park, where I'm camped. The weather was fine all through my ride, but the sky looks a little doubtful right now - I sure hope it doesn't rain, again!

 Trenton's claim to fame - The first place that steel was poured (in Canada or the Maritimes?). Nickname - "Steeltown." There's also a big power station here.

 Compared to PEI's parks, this one's not very busy - only about 20% occupied, but it's not by a beach either!

 Other news today - the odometer clicked over 7,000km. That's over twice the distance of the Tour de France - and about twice as slow!