Okey dokes, so last time I left you after we had been out mackerel fishing which was a ton of fun! We got back from fishing at around 4:00 and we still had not started cycling. We picked up a few groceries to cook our fish with and grabbed a bite to eat before we started pedaling. It was about 6:00 before we headed out, but we were determined to make it to our destination. Our goal was to make it to Brudenell River Provincial Park and we knew that we would be enveloped in darkness for about half of the ride. At Mount Stewart Ted and I stopped for a quick refuel of M&M's and chocolate milk before we were further east bound. We arrived at Brudenell Provincial Park at 10:30 p.m. with the campsite still to be set up and dinner to be prepared and cooked. The staff at this park were super friendly and made sure we were alright setting up in the dark. Our campsite was great except that I turned into a raccoon warrior! The raccoons at the campsite were incredibly fearless and there was not one scare tactic that I did that turned them away. Finally, after many swinging stick attempts, they decided that they were not welcome! I cooked the fish over the open fire and it was well worth the wait...it was delicious!
The next morning Ted thought we should get a game of golf in, so I hesitantly agreed. I warned him ahead of time that I had only golfed a couple of times before and it was slightly disastrous each time. So, I hoped that he would have the patience to coach me through the nine holes of golf. It turned out to be not so bad and Ted was a great coach, giving pointers here and there, and allowing me to dig more than a few balls out of the sand traps. We finished our game around 2 p.m. and then headed out to our next destination which was Red Point Provincial Park. We arrivexd in a little town called Souris about 10 km away from RPP and decided we would grab dinner. We pushed our bikes from where we stopped to get a rest from the saddle. While we were searching for a restaurant we came upon a gentleman named David who was out walking his dog Pip. We later found out David was originally from Memphis and came to P.E.I. to escape the heat and the business of the city. The first comment David made in his Memphis accent was, 'Y'all got a blowout?' After getting my first flat later on in the trip I could not help but laugh while changing my flat all because of that comment. We must have chatted for about 20 min with David before getting settled into grabbing some grub. After eating we pedalled through some construction and onto Red Point Provincial Park. We had to go down a hill to enter the park, but Iwas that gravity was defying us as the wind was so strong coming off the ocean that it felt like we were being pushed back up the hill. We headed to our campsite and I must say it was especially nice having another set of hands to set up the tent. I thought we were going to get blown away. It was also raining a little bit, so getting the tent set up quickly was crucial so that wet gear was minimized. It was hard to believe that this was our last night camping out as we were resting for a big day.
The next day we pedalled up to the East Point lighthouse. We had breakfast there and realized that we had done it - cycled the island tip-to-tip - each part with it's own quirks. After snapping a few shots we headed towards Elmira where the Confederation Trail starts/ends. We hopped on the trail for about 40 km until we reached St. Peters. The town was very pretty and the seascape was super calming. We stopped for some ice cream and chocolate milk - of which Ted consumed an entire litre. I am not sure what his tummy was thinking with ice cream and chocolate milk - dairylicious overload! From St. Peters we took Hwy 2 back into the city and a wave of excitement came over us as we saw the Charlottetown sign. We did it! We pedalled to the hostel to see if they had any beds available for the evening. We lucked out and were able to stay there for the evening, but not before Ted tried to tell me that he got the last bed - yanking my chain, yet again! That night we went to the Gahan House for dinner where we had great food and yummy ale.
Touring Charlottetown was on the list for today and we started out by doing laundry. While the laundry was going we headed down to Confederation Hall, watched a movie on Confederation, and took a step back in time. The whole experience made us feel like we were walking with the Fathers of Confederation. While walking down the streets I stopped in my tracks - I saw relatives of mine from back home! They were travelling P.E.I. as well, so we caught up, shared some travel stories, and carried on our way. Ted and I picked up some lunch from Tim Hortons and then headed back to the hostel. We relaxed there for awhile and then took a brewery tour of the Gahan House. After taking the tour we went down to the wharf to have a lobster dinner. I had never eaten lobster before, so I was pretty excited for the experience. I did alright, but Ted had some pieces that took flight! For a post-dinner treat we went and had some ice cream from Cows Creamery. It ended up that the guys that were behind us in line were Ontarians. We were talking to them and Ted determined that these guys played volleyball with one of his buddies. Crazy coincidence!
The next day I was due to head out and put on some more kilometers. Ted and I went to Cora's for breakfast and I was fuelled up for the morning. After cycling with a partner for the week it was hard to leave, as I knew I would be without company for the rest of the trip. Ted was headed to Halifax for a few days, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I had to relearn to entertain myself for the first few kilometers. It was about 60 km to the Confederation bridge which was where I would say adios to the red sands. The bridge is quite the engineering feat and if you ever have a chance to see it, you should. The guy who took me across the bridge, Robbie, was super nice and offered me a place to pitch my tent for the night, but I wanted to get a few more km in. I made what I thought would be a quick stop at the visitors center, but it turned out to be more of a lengthy one, but for the good. I asked about the campground I was going to stay at and there was a bridge out which meant I would have to backtrack at least 20 km the next morning. I decided against staying there, but there were not many other choices for places to stay. So, the woman at the visitors centre took pity on me and said that her dad loves visitors, so she called him up just to make sure it was alright for me to stay there. So, I pedalled to Port Elgin where I stayed the night with Jim. He was a nice man and we shared some stories before catching some shut eye.
Well folks, that ties up the P.E.I. leg of the trip. I will update more tomorrow and hopefully get through New Brunswick and Quebec. I have arrived home now, but I want to make sure these memories and people are not forgotten.
Stay tuned for more! Smiles,
Ashley :)
