Articles by Karen H

In which I get a taste of the Anapolis Valley and the Bay of Fundy

Breakfast of smoked salmon bennies then a walk on the boardwalk of the Halifax waterfront – always pleasant.

Looking up to Citadel Hill from the waterfront with town clock in background

Petunia baskets are very common and very effective!

Back to transport my monstrous luggage pile to the front of the hotel, having arranged a large taxi to take me to the airport hotel. Lovely cabbie, who helped me shift the pile and we had a nice chat enroute to the airport. I was able to check in to my hotel room within 1/2 hour of arriving, even though it was only 10:30, which was a bonus as I’d expected to be orphaned until I returned from my visit with Julie. Julie and I had worked together 29 years ago on the “Study in Africa” trip where we spent three months in Kenya with a group of university students taking upper level courses; she was the archeology professor and I was the medical person looking after everyone. We last saw each other in Vancouver about 8 or 9 years ago when she was enroute to Quadra Island to visit relatives, and it turned out she had another cousin living a block from my mother. When she retired 6 years ago Julie started to plan a move to Nova Scotia and now lives in Cambridge, a small town near Wolfville in the Anapolis Valley. She picked me up at the airport hotel about noon, and we had an interesting day catching up, and visiting her new surroundings (not so new perhaps, as she drove from Calgary to Nova Scotia nearly a year ago). It was about an hour’s drive away, with a stop at a friend’s garden (fantastic, she could have been on the garden club tour anytime!!) and a coffee shop started by new immigrants (It was called “Just us”, a spoof on “Justice”). We visited a Unesco World Heritage site, Grand Pre, still apparently retaining it’s status! on the shores of the Minas Basin, part of the Bay of Fundy with its’ world famous 40′ tides. Indeed the difference between high and low tides was astonishing.

All this sand is covered at high tide

Lots of iron in the soil in Nova Scotia as well as PEI

the beach itself was surprisingly quiet – long weekend in Nova Scotia as well as BC. The bluff on the far side is the north boundary of the Anapolis Valley.

Minas Basin from South Hill

Grand Pre Beach. The area of Grand Pre was where the Acadians were forcibly evicted by the British and retains a strong Acadian culture today.

Grand Pre beach – tide starting to come in

Minas Basin and the start of the Anapolis Valley from North Hill

We had lunch at a gastro pub on the waterfront and managed to get in just before a group of 18, thankfully out on the deck so that we were a bit protected from their noise. I know from the past two weeks that 14 can make a lot of noise at a table! A last chance at fish cakes, but not nearly as good as those at the Bluenose on my first day.

It was interesting to see Julie’s house, with a pool in the backyard and garden renovations ongoing. She’s had a lot done to the house to make it more useful for her, and seems very happy there which was nice to see. After a good tour around we sat and yakked for a bit more then headed back to the airport hotel for tomorrow’s departure. I promised to come back enroute to my next Maritime destination, Newfoundland 😊. I missed visiting another friend near Bridgetown who is there for the summer at a cottage on a south shore lake, about 1.5 hours out of Halifax – some day I’ll make it there!

And so the trip comes to a close, with the business of travel (getting from A to B) looming large. Not looking forward to shlepping all the luggage back tomorrow! But we will get ‘er done.

Learnings from this trip:

My favourite Nova Scotia expression: “Get it in ya” (translation hurry up and eat, we need to go).

Rolling wet laundry in towels and standing on them before hanging up greatly speeds up the drying time.

Always pack extra bike tools even if you don’t think you need them.

AC units in hotels make great white noise machines.

The end.

In which we complete the route at the “Cluckin’ Hen”, and transfer back to Halifax.

A last group breakfast on another picture perfect day, and we loaded the vans saying a reluctant goodbye to the Markland Resort, which is in a stunning location. We started just past where we left off, at Ingonish Beach yesterday, at the golf club parking lot.

The road was uphill almost immediately, clocking one of four climbs for the day, but of course the undulations are never counted. It was fairly broken road, and no shoulder, so we had been instructed to spread apart to facilitate cars passing us. I got an early start being ready quickly so headed out and up.

The road hugged us along the coast winding around a few inlets, then headed upwards. The big hill of the day was Cape Smokey, advertised as an easy climb of 280 m over 5+ km so none of us were stressed about it – the intro section at 10% took some effort but after that it was never more than 6% and a really pleasant ride up without an amazing amount of traffic at any one time. The wisdom of spreading us out was appreciated, though – it’s hard to pass more than a couple of cyclists on a narrow winding road like that, again fairly broken up and without shoulders. I eventually was passed by a couple of our group, but made it to the top in reasonably good time and did the usual summit shots.

north view from Cape Smokey

a glimpse of the road ahead

Audrey, our trip co-leader, from the top

The road down was very steep, with tight winding corners so I took it very slowly – the brakes got a good workout on this hill. Not many pictures as it was difficult to stop, but at least there were shoulders. Cars were having some difficulty getting up the tight turns at points. We all agreed at the bottom that we went the right direction up the hill! Proceeding on we saw a couple of pairs of fully loaded cyclists heading up – I suspect they’ll be walking most of it unless they’re super human, and alas the broken pavement on the other side will make for a bumpy ride down.

From the bottom of Smokey it was a series of undulations over 18 kms or so to the end at the “Cluckin’ Hen”. We had an interesting stop at a Milner store in Wreck Cove, where there was an amazingly decorated car;

the dashboard had been imaginatively done up, but the car hadn’t been driven for a long time.

someone had definitely had fun!

The milner used mostly recycled material, and it turns out her daughter now lives in Maple Ridge. Another one for the “small world” column. Loved the name of the shop.

We gathered at the “Cluckin’ Hen”, a painfully slow cafe, where at least when it eventually was produced the capucchino was good, and had crackers and cheese at the picnic tables while the van drivers, Coady and Dale, took pedals and seats off the bikes and loaded them for the transfer back to Halifax. It’s a long weekend here too, so the traffic outflow from Halifax was significant, and crossing the causeway at Canso it was bumper to bumper in the direction towards Cape Breton. The drive took about 4 hours with a couple of short stops for leg stretching, but we were all pretty stiff when we decanted in Halifax at our hotel.

My bike fenders were coated in mud, so obviously did their job! I wasn’t sure what the hotel would say wheeling a bike in, but there was nothing said (the lobby was a zoo so probably not noticed!) and I was finally able to purloin a luggage cart to load everything up – the bike bags had arrived a few hours ago for Jill, Henry and I to pack up our bikes. Check in at the Marriott was PAINFULLY slow and there was a mixup in the payment so several of us got charged for our rooms – I suspect it was hotel staff and not Pedal and Sea, but we are assured there will be a refund. A lovely group dinner at the “Little Fish” restaurant ended the CCCTS part of the tour, and we are all dispersing with most flying out early tomorrow morning. I spent some time after dinner taking the bike apart and fitting it back into the bag, and repacking the other cases. Finally got a shower and tumbled into bed about midnight; I think I will sleep tonight!

final ride: 41.9 km, 638 m elev gain

Trip total: PEI 291.87 1793.63 m elev gain

Cabot Trail 300.52 km, 3343.42 m elev gain

In which our tired legs demand rest and we grind our way around the coast- not a rest day!

After a meh breakfast of rubber eggs, inedible oatcakes, sandpaper cheese scones and undrinkable coffee (the yoghurt, eggs and grapefruit were good) we took a group photo where some even managed to hoist their bikes overhead (after decanting water bottles and bags).

We then set off southward, with the first destination White Point. The first 20 km or so were easy ups and downs with lovely views of glassy-still sea in Dingwall Harbour, then onto the main highway (no shoulder) before turning onto White Point Road.

This was relatively quiet which was fortunate as some of the hills we ground up there were only passable by sidewinding up. We have no idea how Henry made it up in his “gear of the day”. At the literal end of the road we followed a path out to the point, initially accompanied by the foghorn but it was clearing so it soon ceased. Beautiful spot.

there was a small cemetery near the end dedicated to the “unknown sailor”.

wild roses with a beautiful rose scent

Our fearless leader Danielle, below

Onward ho, with half of us electing to ride the van up with our bikes back to the main road rather than tackling the 19% grades we had screamed down on the way in, and half grinding up them. We followed the coast on the main road for many km, passing through several tiny fishing villages and lots of scenic viewpoints.

this caught our eye

We had a short stint in a construction zone, with a one way zone on gravel controlled by a traffic light, but unfortunately it was uphill, in the full sun, and a real grind with traffic impatient to pass behind us.

there were shoulders at times, but other points none

We took our time with multiple stops for pictures

the road goes ever on and on

naturally there were undulations! Not exactly a recovery day.

lunch was at the periwinkle inn, expensive and meh coffee, but at least caffeine.

A short ride later we arrived at Ingonish Beach after the last hill of the day – a man made beach which appeared very popular.

This inn is under renovations but has a spectacular perch!

Back at the resort about 3 p.m., we split to do different things. I elected to go for a swim at the private beach nearby which was very refreshing and perfect for the heat of the day.

After happy hour we repaired to the hotel for dinner – it was very slow so we didn’t get out until 9 pm. Good seafood chowder though.

Highlight of the day: White Point total cycling: 54 km, 697 m elev gain

In which we ascend 11 hills (2 peaks, 3 hills and 6 undulations in Mongolian terms!)

I hear many of us, like me, had a bad sleep last night worrying about today’s ride. It was girnomous, with several hills, 2 peaks and 6 undulations in Mongolian terminology (actually it would be passes and not peaks in Mongolia).

We were a quiet bunch having breakfast at 8 a.m. when it opened, having already brought down our bags and pumped up tires, greased chains, adjusted seats, etc. We were anxious to get off before the heat hit, though the forecasts ranged from 21-25C for the day with high humidity and cloud cover for most of it. It was 17C when we started but felt warmer, and short sleeves were perfect but the coat was packed for the descents.

at the start of the park

atop French mountain!

early riding

riding along the coast

looking back at the early road and hill # 2

Cape Breton Highlands from the top plateau

entering the park

Henry and Karen early on

at the rest stop atop the first “warmup hill”

There was a pleasant prelude riding to the park, with several undulations then we were into Cape Breton Highlands National Park and the promised three “warmup hills” were before us. First one, not too bad, second one we were warned had a steep gradient – 12-14% – but short so we got up quickly. Henry had changed his chain – he has three gears, and has to stop and manually change them on his Montague bike… the scenery was absolutely gorgeous and the traffic pretty reasonable so we were able to duck over to the viewpoints to see the vistas.

Third warmup hill wasn’t bad either, definitely work but we made short shrift of it then the climb to French Mountain began. 5 km of average grade 8% – we had a water refresher stop at the Pedal and Sea van very early on and bonus date tarts that were great; by then we had gotten into lowest gear and were churning up the slope reasonably well. Definitely hurt, but really pretty so that helped! No shoulders on the road to speak of, but not much traffic in our direction, it seems most cars did the Cabot Trail counter-clockwise.

Once on top we followed a plateau for about 10 km with a bit of up and down; things were shrouded in mist so only glimpses every now and then through the partings. Then the serious descent started, and we donned our jackets. It was pretty steep to begin with; one of the riders with a broken wrist several months ago opted out part way down due to braking difficulties and the van went back to collect her. By halfway down though the way was clearer and the gradients eased a bit so it was a lot of fun flying down – no major corners to deal with and decent runouts. Whee!

Not much to see at the top through the mist…

At the bottom there was a lunch stop at a restaurant called the Rusty Anchor – only a few of us went in, and a bowl of seafood chowder and an iced coffee went down very well before we set out again for the second challenge of the day, North Mountain. There was some up and down for another 10 km or so before the ascent started – it was advertised by the guides to be NOT as bad as the second warmup hill in gradient, and shorter than French Mountain. In actuality, it was an absolute beast. 450 m elev gain in 4 km with some sections up to 16.7%. Unrelentingly up, and in the full sun at this point. I managed most of the way to the 3rd km with my legs complaining bitterly at the start as they’d already done one peak today. At the 14 – 16.7% grade, cursing Coady our guide roundly for false advertising, I got off the bike and walked the bike up a couple of hundred metres, as did several others of our group and another trio also riding it. When it relented to 12% I started again, and ground my way to the top – it was definitely high fives all around from our group members at the top!! There was a false summit and another hill to the actual summit, but that was nothing in comparison…. we had another water replenishment stop at the very top before donning jackets again and riding down – a scary descent at the top with really steep gradients and curves, then again about halfway down it relented and was a lot of fun. I had a tour bus behind me at one point, as I took the road – it was very patient and as soon as it was safe I moved over to the side and it passed me with lots of waves from the occupants. I’m sure the tour commentary went something like “we’re slowing, folks , for one of those crazy cyclists who, can you imagine, actually want to RIDE up the hill and along this road”….

There was another 15 km to the stop for the night at the Markland Resort near Dingwall – the last of the hills on the GPS was done, and some other short punchy hills that didn’t even rate a hill designation. It was lovely to finally see the hotel, and everyone coming in was cheered by those who had already arrived. There is a lovely beach at the bottom which will need to be explored tomorrow.

Jean has a well deserved rest in an Adirondack chair at the resort

Do we get a rest day tomorrow? No, happy hour briefing informed us we have 50+ km and 700+ m elev gain tomorrow, with a hill of 19% …. yikes. I fed my legs well at dinner with halibut and cheesecake and hope they will keep churning tomorrow! There was a live performer in the lounge so we listened and sang along to some, watched some local dancers who spontaneously got up to dance and the concert finished with an audience member singing a Newfoundland song, Salty Joys, with an extremely good voice. It was even de rigeur to clap, stomp, dance AND sing along at this concert. Lots of fun.

Highlight of the day: the coastal scenery with the rolling road below.

In which we reach the coast and magnificent coastal scapes

We gathered for breakfast in the morning and had an interesting spread from oatmeal to French toast made with oatmeal bread coated with oats, scrambled eggs (bacon/sausage for those inclined) and yoghurt to a background accompaniement of Celtic music. An eclectic end to the stay at this interesting inn!

While adjusting kit for today’s ride we compared insect bites from the no-seeums yesterday – they did considerable damage and several people have significant reactions to the bites. Croquet was not without cost!

As usual we left before scheduled time, most of us interested in doing the bulk of the ride before the heat hit. Although it was forecast to be only 23C high on the coast and 27C inland, it feels more like 30C and up, especially toiling up hills. As I had a small area of burn where I’d obviously missed applying sunscreen yesterday, on the back of my arm, I was very generous today and felt quite sticky all day – better than more burns though. The insects weren’t active in the morning as we bid adieu and gave thanks to the lovely staff (especially Jack the nephew who was helping everywhere!).

We retraced our steps to the main road, and followed it for some km. It was a better surface than yesterday, but still no shoulder – fortunately not very busy at that time. Once we got off the road onto a secondary, parallel road, we all relaxed and were more able to enjoy the scenery.

We rode alongside this river, and up and down through a couple of valleys towards the coast.

There was very little traffic at the beginning, becoming a little busier by the time we rejoined the highway about 20 km later. Some ups and downs – it was amusing to see what rates as a “hill” on the mapped route. We were promised 4 officially on the GPS but some of the undulations were not easy, and few of them were configured well enough to make it down and up the other side. But it was lovely, and we encountered only a few dogwalkers out on the shoulders.

Going up some of the exposed undulations began getting warm..

fortunately though prime mosquito breeding territory, they didn’t bother us. Most of the time we had a tail cross wind, which helped (and was appreciated after some of the head winds we’ve been dealing with!)

Taking care to keep fuelled

Eventually we rejoined the main road, and soon got our first glimpses of the coast

just before rejoining the main route- more civilization than we’d seen for some time!

the two riders going uphill in the background are from our group.

coastal road – no shoulders, again surface breaking down (much worse in parts). Again, most drivers were conscientious about passing at the crest of a hill, and courteous, but there are always the jerks who roar past without seeing beyond us

looking south

a rare downhill stretch

we discovered this on a gravel side road that I pulled off onto to get a picture of the harbour at St. Joseph du Moine

Unfortunately the art gallery we were going to stop at was closed; many other things were, as apparently Monday and Tuesday are days when stores and services shut. Odd, during tourist season; there were lots of cars passing us on the road, so plenty around! It also meant, sadly, that the coffee shop we’d marked had to be passed by as it too was shut, and the same was found in Cheticamps when we arrived there (our inn for tonight is “Silver Linings”). Most of us had our rooms already ready, except for Jill and Henry so we went off to find coffee (just across the road in an eclectic shop/coffee bar) – yahoo, good coffee!! Our next stop was lunch (we made it our main meal) with a lovely view. I enjoyed fresh local scallops (another tickbox) and we admired the photos on the wall of Cheticamps many decades ago.

About half of the group chose to go for a hike and the van left at 2 p.m. to take them to the top of the first hill we are climbing tomorrow for the trail. The rest of us elected to do chores (groceries, bank, laundry, washing hair on my part) and chill for the afternoon. We have a fiercesome day tomorrow with two big hills plus several other punchy ones first, so we are hoping to save some energy for that! Fingers crossed that it isn’t as hot tomorrow as we toil up the bigger hills.

Henry holds the profile for tomorrow and tells us “it’s going to be fine”….

Highlights of the day: the coastal road

In which we all show up 45 – 60 mins early for the departure time, eager to begin the Trail!

Had a lousy nights’ sleep, waking at 3:30 a.m. and unable to return to sleep. I headed down to the breakfast spot at 7:05 thinking I’d be the first one there but was suprised to find more than half the group there already! Another lovely day, set to be hotter in the afternoon (26C predicted) so most of us were eager to be cycling more in the morning than afternoon.

So with maps loaded, luggage packed away on the vans and room keys turned in with agreement to have the dinner charges processed whenever the internet comes up again, we headed out. Almost immediately started going uphill – up and over the main highway to a parallel road which then headed out for some lovely country road cycling. It turned to gravel at one point, but apart from the washerboards that was a pretty decent surface.

Definitely lots of ups and downs, but nothing too drastic.

Plenty of goldenrod, yarrow and fireweed to colour the shoulders.

fellow cyclist Doug, from Salmon Arm; his wife is on the only e-bike

the washerboards took some avoiding. It was gently uphill.

It was starting to get warm, and my Karoo was reading 26C already at 11 a.m.

We peered over every bridge we crossed as we’d been told that one of them (the fourth, but we lost count!) inevitably had trout on view. Never saw any, alas.

Loving that new bike…

Margaree River

All was good to this point, undulating on quietish and fairly well surfaced back country roads, and then we joined the main road. By this time we were a group of 6 or 7; this helped as there were poor shoulders and then the road surface deteriorated significantly. There were huge potholes, and fissures, and the edges crumbled away steeply at some points – no shoulders, so the traffic passing had a challenge as did we. For the most part they were very courteous, bar the black pickup trucks – we’ve noticed a trend with them. I ducked into the Lake O’Law park hoping for some water (none) but washrooms were available and a lovely lake with a nice breeze coming off it – and a loon on the lake. I had been ahead of the rest and watched from below as Jill and Henry cycled by with the larger group so went up to the road again and starting pedalling on but met them coming back and we had a nice break at the lake before heading out once more.

Lake O’Law

A fairly quick 7 km later we arrived at the lunch stop, the Dancing Goat cafe and bakery, and eventually got an excellent sandwich and really good coffee (after three tries/reminders it finally arrived as people all around were served first – seems they’d forgotten mine). Bread is really good around here – the “oatmeal bread” is particularly good but nearly all are home baked and fairly tasty. They were super busy – clearly a popular stop and full of locals – the area around comprises isolated cottages/houses quite widely spread apart from one another, modest looking houses ?some summer homes as well?

We were happy to turn off the main road at this point and onto a much better surfaced road which delivered us after numerous further undulations to our hotel, the “Normaway Inn”. A lovely driveway with trees on both sides ushered us to a very rustic hotel and a few outlying cottages; most of the others had already arrived and we were quickly checked in.

A strong smell pervades the hotel, which turned out to be something the piano tuner in the lounge was using which smelled of floor wax? The rooms were quite rustic – but quaint. It was very hot by this time (29 and 30C) so many of us headed off on an optional loop to a swimming hole. Jill, Jean and I decided to try the river closer than the popular swimming hole, and found a place near the fish hatchery to dip – it was absolutely lovely to cool down, and very invigorating. We also had it to ourselves and heard that the other swimming spot was very crowded so are feeling quite smug!

A church on the way in Margaree Forks

It was also interesting to see all the different stages of salmon at the fishery. There are no wild Atlantic salmon anymore, as they have been severely overfished and so the only salmon around are farmed.

Back to the inn to do the inevitable laundry, get organized for the next day, and visit the farm’s resident donkey (19 yo) and the two new Highland calves – three have been born this week, and one this morning. Happy hour on the croquet pitch, then a few games of croquet before dinner.

The inn is a family affair, with the older uncle roaming around doing some painting today, and greeting people. The nephew, who has an accounting degree from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, is the computer tech who got the internet up and running after the power failures but seems to appear everywhere and is incredibly cheerful. He booked us in, fixed the internet, sang in Gaelic at a concert in the evening (see below) and processed the bills after dinner along with ?his sister?

And the concert… we had been invited for a concert from a local musician at 8:30, set up by Pedal and Sea, and about half of us showed up. It was fabulous – the musician (Neil McDaniel) played piano, guitar, long tin whistle, and mandolin, and gave us some history of the area and the background of the songs he was playing. The newly tuned piano had an amazing depth of sound – it looked ancient but my could he get music out of it… the uncle came in and taught us a little Gaelic for one of the songs’ choruses, which we had to sing! and a bit of history of Gaelic in Cape Breton (once the native language, now making a comeback after kids were punished for speaking it much like ike indigenous languages). There is a gaelic immersion program in one school now. It was very interesting, quite a hoot with the diversions they made in their talks and it turns out this is quite a famous site for music with a music barn that has been frequented by many famous names; Ashley MacIsaac, Philip Glass, the Rankins, amongst others and New Year’s Day ring ins filmed here on CBC. The unassuming uncle taught Gaelic at school in Sydney at one point, and coordinated a number of concerts here of original Cape Breton music, not to mention one or two Ceilidhs (and yes, there was dancing at those!).

An interesting day finished with an interesting twist.

Ride total; 69.9 km and 652 m original ride; 11.5 km and 105 m to the swimming hole.

Highlights of today: the music concert and the highland cow calves

IIn which we are all itching to go for at least a short bike ride to keep our legs going (us old folk stiffen up quickly!) but are banned from our bikes

We had breakfast at the cafe across the street, High Wheelin’ cafe, which unfortunately had pretty dismal coffee albeit decent food. The bakery stuff was rated pretty highly though, apple strudel and oatcakes covered with chocolate and sandwiched with peanut butter (I gave that a miss, preferring to have my oatcakes as a savoury entry). No internet, nor charges able to be put through as the internet was needed for that, apparently. Likely won’t be fixed until Monday, the day we leave.

Coffee at highwheelers with the hotel, Telegraph House Hotel, in the background (grey building)

Attractive Cape Cod house in Baddeck.

After breakfast most of us headed over to the Alexander Graham Bell museum, which had free entry this summer. It was well laid out and I learned a lot – I had no idea he started as a teacher of the deaf, influential in Helen Keller’s treatment, and invented many more things including the hydrofoil on top of the telephone (which patent he apparently had to defend in court for many years). They had a lovely house and grounds in Beddeck and his wife, a former student, was very influential in her own right. It was a good thing we got there early, as it got quite busy with tour buses as the morning progressed. Nice grounds as well; the original house and extensive acreage is still occupied by descendants so not open to the public.

Next stop was the Co-op grocery store, which had limited hours today being Sunday, to get lunch (salad) and then Jill, Henry, Jean and I caught the Lions ferry over to Kidston Island, across the harbour. It advertised a beach for swimming but it turned out to be a very tiny sandy area – we have been very spoiled in PEI! We walked out to the lighthouse there and then went for a hike around the island after a picnic lunch at a lovely spot on higher ground on the point.

ferry dock – it seemed like the kid driving the boat must have been in high school but he was very fastidious and we donned flotation devices for the short trip across the harbour.

harbour on Kidston Island from lighthouse point

I’ve never seen such enormouse rose hips!

Baddeck from lighthouse point

It was a lovely day, not too hot out of the direct sun and few insects on Kidston Island because of the breeze. We did a loop walk around the island and saw snakes, inchworms, and chipmunks. We queued for the ferry back as there are only 6 allowed on the ferry at a time so included the ferry operator leaving only 5 spaces! There was still a queue to come over; lots of tourists in town.

Beer on the upper of the Yacht club (cash only, still no internet services) in the early evening with Coady, Dale (the tour guides) and fellow traveller Kit and then headed back to the other side of town with the intent to have a cheap dinner of a couple slices of pizza from the pizza shop across from the hotel. Alas it was closed on Sunday so had a repeat performance of haddock in the hotel, with a group from the tour I espied sitting in the dining room as I was queing for admission. Popular place! Good food again, and the bill was signed to the room with a promise to sort it out tomorrow morning as we left. Packing and organizing occupied the rest of the evening.

Today’s highlight: Alexander Graham Bell museum

In which we ride the Confederation Trail, and feel the heat.

A little croquet on the lawn while waiting for the departure was pleasant…

We left again on island time, 9:30 with the heat already starting to be felt. It was mildly windy compared to other days here, but forecast to be mostly a cross/tailwind.

very pleasant cycling with some long pulls uphill, and stops for photos and to admire the osprey chicks. There are a number of artifical platforms set up for nest building and so far every one has been used.

After about 20 km we hit the Confederation Trail and were off road from then, apart from a few isolated road crossings. It was well packed small gravel and a joy to ride on, through trees, marshes and open fields.

hardly a soul encountered, but no wildlife apart from chipmunks, rabbits and insects when stopped.

every now and then there was an info stop and often these were accompanied by shelters and picnic tables.

bulrushes galore

happily the shelters provided shade as it was starting to get warm.

this one reminded me of the ladyslippers that are famous on the island, but alas we never saw any (too late in the season I believe)

we rode through all kinds of terrain

most of the road crossings were very quiet

gentle rolling trails unlike the 40 km hills in BC!

we hopped over each other in small groups

I got some good videos riding, practicing picture and video taking while moving but unfortunately the site doesn’t support them

this stop after a hot patch alongside a marsh was particularly appreciated. The ice cream flavour was “wolf pass” which was intriguing and was delicious – peanut butter swirled through with chocolate chunks. Never did find out why it was named “wolf pass”!

some very serene spots. It was quite warm, up to 29C in parts, and fairly humid.

We ended our PEI ride at St. Peter on the Bay, had lunch there (excellent seafood chowder, another tick on the list!) and then were driven to Charlottetown to our lovely downtown hotel. It comprises several historic buildings across from the main church, and only a short walk to the harbour and downtown historical sites. There were actors in period wardrobe wandering around the square when we first arrived. With everything stashed away and a shower to wash off the trail dust, we broke into small groups and wandered around town. We wandered around the downtown area admiring the old buildings and attractive tourist areas (wharf, below)

downtown houses

downtown church

downtown

Our boutique hotel – the whole block of restored houses belongs to the Great George Hotel.

Quite a lovely harbour area, a little like Granville Island. Found a classic beavertail place – another tick off the list! I used to love those from the shacks on the side of the Rideau Canal, but about fainted when I saw the posted calorie count.

lovely street of restored houses behind the hotel

town hall

Main basilica, across from the hotel.

I eventually found a sushi restaurant for some takeout dinner. Later, most of us went to a musical at the nearby Confederation Arts Centre called “Tell tale Harbour” which outlined a small town’s attempt to recruit a doctor so they could be allocated a new factory to sustain the town. Well done, and quite funny, with good voices. The audience was equally as entertaining – they were very supportive/receptive and many carried in cans of beer which were replenished at the break.

And that is the end of PEI as we roll out tomorrow to Nova Scotia by ferry.

highlight of the day: Confederation Trail cycling

In which Karen dips into the Atlantic ocean and we demonstrate a firm grasp of island time.

We gathered for a good breakfast at 7:30 – 8:00 and were ready to mount bikes and ride by 9:30. We are firmly on island time now…

Our route today took us back on the bike route through PEI National Park, battling headwinds gusting up to 40 km/hr. It was bliss to get a row of trees blocking the wind on the exposed parts, even if they were dead trees from Hurricane Fiona.

Dead or not, they were an effective and appreciated windbreak!

A quick stop early on at an old lighthouse yielded a free facial, as the beach side wind gusts spat up a good amount of sand which stuck to the sunscreen liberally applied to the face.

Glad I was wearing runners today as it made the sand walking much easier. Bless those two-sided pedals…

Dalvay Inn from across Dalvay Lake on the way out – originally a home for one extremely wealthy family with the habit of lots of entertaining.

We wound our way around the point and caught another bike trail which passed by some lovely and well kept houses; the debate was on whether these were part time summer cottages or full time residences. One typical Cape Cod style house was particularly attractive:

The bike trail followed the water around the point

Lovely cycling, but still fairly windy with a cross head wind at this point.

We passed the craft shop with the lovely garden but didn’t go in – most of the others had ridden by it yesterday so went in for a visit. We had a brief rest at the top of hill, as we had lots of thyme….

We were looking forward to the next section, which had a very brisk tailwind! It was indeed fun, and the wind helped to speed us up the undulations so we made excellent time.

Lunch stop was at Fin’s Folk, a place down by the beach in a lovely location. I got my lobster roll – another tick!

It had lovely views from up top and a spectacular beach, with a few people out enjoying the views.

you can certainly see the weather coming here

some of our group enjoying lunch

more beautiful red sand beaches running for miles

We rolled back to the hotel at 2 p.m. and had time to do the inevitable laundry, clean ourselves up and then Jill, Henry and I trotted across the road on foot to see Dalvay Beach. It was absolutely lovely – a very unusual texture to the sand made it feel like a foot massage walking on it in bare feet and again invigorating albeit a tad cold.

Miles of spectacular sand, and nary a soul to be seen unlike Stanhope Beach yesterday.

I had a swim and Jill took many pictures, practising with her new camera – Henry incongrously took out his cellular phone, only recently acquired, and called a Scottish friend, prompted by our visit today to the first Scottish settlement in PEI. We were driven in by a few sprinkles of rain starting.

Dinner was leftovers from lunch, plus crackers and Brie, washed down by Raasay whiskey, in the conservatory adjacent to my room. An elegant finish to a lovely and relaxed day.

Highlights: Beaches!

In which the conditions are perfect – little wind, sunshine and spectacular vistas!

We packed up and left Kindred Spirits inn at 9 a.m. for the next stop, promised an easy day and lots to see.  We were not let down… there was little wind, sunshine but not too hot, and fabulous countryside!

We were almost immediately into Brackley Beach Provincial Park, which features red sandy beaches and outcrops. 

looking north

coast looking south

Stunning.  Better yet, there was a dedicated cycling trail and yes, it was almost flat!  There was another bike group, from FreeWheeling Adventures, that we hopscotched with during the day, though it looked like they were doing an out and back day trip.

a few of our group; we were widely spread out today

Yup, what’s not to smile about here?

note all the dead trees to the right; hurricane kill

wild thyme is prevalent on lawns and verges on PEI and en masse makes a lovely picture

After cycling out of Brackley Beach Park we connected with North Rustico provincial park, more lovely beaches, and a wooden boardwalk along the water and rejoined the route on the highway. 

It was actually quite smooth and looked very new.

The main highway was busy, with some  ups and downs, so we were quite happy to deviate off after about 10 km onto a side road which wound us around a point and past more fishing farms.  We think these were likely mussels, with different looking setups than the oysters we’d been seeing.

They looked older than the oyster systems as well.

there were dingys out working on the systems.

waiting for Karen to take yet another picture!

another nice quiet road

We rejoined the main highway again and then another fairly busy road but at least all had decent shoulders.  We stopped at a craft shop recommended for lunch but vetoed the coffee machine (Bun-o-matic) and instead had crackers and cheese on the edge of the fabulous garden that we discovered behind it.  It was a beautiful building as well, with lots of natural light and different levels for different artists to display their works.  One such was a card designer from North Vancouver, ironically.   The garden was well designed and filled with crafty and unusual furniture made from different materials – it was being enjoyed by a large number of people.  The lawn rolled down in the distance to the sea – gorgeous.

there were buddhas everywhere – the owner apparently from Bali

all beautifully landscaped and maintained

my favourite part!

The next stop was the start of PEI National Park – sand dunes and beaches featured, and they were popular with masses of people around, however still parking spots in the lot were noted as we cycled out…. It was heavenly to dip the feet in the waves.  Sea temperature was fairly cool but it was really refreshing. 

After marvelling at the masses at Stanhope Beach we pedalled away, again on a dedicated bike path which was rimmed on either side with a yellow vetch and patches of purple thyme.  We have been seeing this all the way along, and on lawns in a mass effect is very pretty, but the combination was lovely.

There were several other beaches along the way, and at the entrance to each a line of cars parked on the shoulder and a traffic marshal turning people away from the parking lots.  The long view showed clusters of people, then nothing, then another group, corresponding to the parking lots… amazing sand though.  We learned later that Hurricane Fiona in 2022, with sustained winds of 200 km/hr, washed much of the sand dunes away and many places took a couple of years to rebuild the dunes.  There were a noticeable number of dead trees on the inland side from the hurricane as well. It was a very pleasant ride, again pedalling along a dedicated cycle path, past a conclave of herons and finally back to civilization. 

Our route directed us onto a wharf road for a possible stop at a well-known lobster roll place; the lineup was stretched down the ramp so we rolled by and back to the path which took us directly to our inn on Dalvay Beach.  We are still in the park, staying in a period hotel originally owned by an American tycoon, now Parks Canada owned and run.  Interesting place, and everything is faithfully in period but close look shows work is badly needed on the exterior. 

It’s a huge rambling place, with spacious rooms and a dining room added recently; the only thing lost in the hurricane was a chimney but we all remarked we wouldn’t have wanted to be here during the storm

Definitely a feeling of a different era

A sitting area on the top floor

corridor

gigantic beds

We are across the road from the beach and much of the sand dunes ended up on the grounds, and water up to porch level. The downside of a historical building is that there’s no fridge or coffee making facilities in the room so my brie is on ice with some cream I cadged from the kitchen in a takeaway cup and I’m now ready for my early a.m. coffee (instant).

Dinner was in the dining room and was excellent; I can tick off crab and scallops from my list of seafood to consume in Atlantic Canada as I had starters of both. Everyone was impressed with their dinner selections and the seafood chowders seem to be universally good. Potatoes and fish – how can you go wrong in PEI?

Another shorter cycle tomorrow, but headwinds gusting to 50 km/hr in the forecast so could be interesting.

Highlights: sand of various hues