In which the 26% chance of showers predicted morphs into torrential downpours and some intermittent steady rain.
After our epic group dinner yesterday, with huge portions of food, we appeared for breakfast a little green but I was amazed to see what people put away again. I only wanted an egg and toast, and received one with the white still moving, ugh. The chefs could use some upgrading in this kitchen. One of our cyclists is an ex-chef, who had to change careers as he developed an anaphylactic seafood reaction, and he wasn’t impressed with his food either. The lavender creme brulee yesterday sounded great, but was inedible; far too dense with a mere whiff of lavendar. Oh well…we are moving on.
We set out at 9 a.m. under grey skies, but with hope in our hearts as the forecast had changed to tailwinds, with only 26% chance of rain. Some blue was peeking through… we are heading south today towards Summerside, about 80 km but not a ton of elevation gain, only ~300 m. The first notable event was riding by a skunk that had become roadkill but in the middle of the lane…. that stuck with us for awhile. We made good time to start, with lots of photo ops – we hit the coast and kept coming across oyster farms, had no idea they had so many here. It was like the north coast of France, every bay was full.
The dots in the horizon are buoys attached to a line and anchor, and the oysters are seeded onto the line.
some of the crew; the only Ebike rider is the woman in red in the middle.
Leger (my bike) is happy for a rest too!
the roads were well surfaced for the most part, and the majority very quiet. Reminded me of riding around Nanaimo on the back roads a long time ago.
After 45 km or so we came to a tea house and stopped for coffee; it was like another world. The pace was soooo slow doing the coffee/tea/hot chocolate orders we were there for a looong time…. kind of like the sloth in Zootopia, everything moved in very slow motion. It was a bit like frozen time there outside as well as we had a long chat with someone cleaning up the street – there had been a soapbox derby down the hill yesterday and apparently it’s quite a serious one as the winner is sent to Akron, Ohio for a big championship…When we eventually were able to leave, most of the rest of the group had departed (Jill and Henry put in the last order) and the heavens opened. There was a deluge, and water ran down the street in a river – we ducked back inside, shaking off water from 15 seconds out in it, and waited until the onslaught had slowed a little. Under steady heavy rain we departed, thinking un-enviously of those who had left shortly before and were caught out in the worst of it. Our raincoats kept us dry, but everything else was soon wet.
Happily it didn’t last too long, and about 20″ later we were merely dodging puddles on the road and mentally thanking the considerate drivers who avoided splashing us.
Henry at the top of a hill
starting to lighten up
lovely countryside to ride in, very bucolic
We had a period of dry, and the roads dried up as well as our coats. There were more hills after lunch than in the morning, most being long pulls up rather than steep so Jill and I elected to remove our raincoats after a few of them as it was getting warm inside. The kiss of death, as 100′ later it started spitting again and we were in light rain showers on and off for the rest of the ride, increasing near the end to steady. But at least we missed another torrential deluge that the rest were caught in ahead, right at the end after they’d more or less dried out from the first one! 78 km total.
We were collected in Summerside and went to a grocery store to get some provisions for the next couple of days and dinner tonight. Then a 45 min drive to our lodgings, where we are staying for the next two nights; next to the Ann of Green Gables interpretive centre. There is a collection of fun fare type “attractions” on the highway before this, reminscent of the cheesiness of Niagra Falls downtown. However the hotel has lovely spacious rooms and is in a similar style to Avonlea; best of all has a bath!! which quickly was put to use. The rain and wind is still around tonight and showers have been coming and going.
A quick trip to rewax the chain, the nightly laundry and it was time for happy hour (briefing and snacks) in the hotel lobby with the group. I had discovered I’d left my swimsuit in the changerooom at the last hotel (no biggie as it was an old one with the elastic already deteriorating) and it was amusing when I related this to hear what other people had left behind as well; both in the Mill River Resort as well as in Halifax. There is a trail of detritus behind us of forgotten belongings. All of us will have lighter bags by the end at this rate…
Dinner was (somewhat stale) sushi from the supermarket, salad, crackers, cheese and pineapple in the hotel with Jill and Henry, washed down with a new single malt I discovered in Nova Scotia; Raasay, from an island in the Hebrides. Lovely smooth whiskey with light peat taste. None of us were very hungry so didn’t feel like braving the rain to walk to the nearby restaurants (about a km away). As I write this the rain is heavy again with wind but we are assured tomorrow will be sunny again, no rain in the forcast again until Friday.
Highlights; It was a lovely cycling route with some lovely views and pastoral scenery.