When we arrived on PEI, we were amazed at how different the
landscape was compared to New Brunswick. The roads were suddenly quite straight
and flat and we were surrounded by bright red sandy soil much of it with potato
plants flowering or dairy cattle. There were many signs along the way for rural
town centers and it reminded us much of Grand Isle in Vermont…if it was
surrounded by the ocean and much larger in land area.
We chose Linkletter Provincial Park for our first evening of
camping, just outside the community of Summerside – one of the two “urban”
centers of PEI. We set up camp overlooking Northumberland Strait and headed
back into town to bike along the Summerside boardwalk. It followed shops and
restaurants at ocean’s edge and transitioned into a separate bike path with
views of the farmland across the bay.
Returning to our campsite, we were SWARMED by mosquitoes,
thicker than we have ever experienced (yes – even thicker than Pharaoh Lake,
Tom…). We must have been camping next to a salt marsh just after these
bloodsuckers had hatched. In long sleeves, we ate chocolate fondue from a can
with strawberries as quickly as possible and ran for the car where we would
spend the rest of the evening. Suddenly, the fact that they only charge to
leave PEI via the bridge made complete sense as we imagined a bidding war at
the tollbooth after each visitor experiences these bugs!
Luckily, we had entertainment as the neighbors that just
pulled in started wrestling with their overly complicated tent. The husband
refused to help, electing rather to smoke cigarettes at the picnic table while
the wife struggled. It wasn’t until an hour and forty minutes later that the
tent took shape…we would have been willing to help had the husband been willing
to help…sheesh!
The next morning, with mosquitoes still plastering the car,
we drove to the showers and got out of the park with tires squealing. We
followed the coast to West Point, where we walked along the red sandy beach,
finding a striped lighthouse along the way.
We then drove to Tignish – a town on the northwestern side
of the island, which happens to be the start of the Confederation Trail, a long
distance rail trail that circles the entire province. We made lunch in the park
(couscous, herring and corn wraps) before setting out. The trail was very flat
and well maintained and we biked through forests and past many potato fields
before making a quick u-turn.
Our next stop – after some dessert at the dairy bar was
Cavendish, where we surprised Mary-Ellen and Karen for the evening. We spent the
night sharing stories from our trips and playing music (and eating excellent
second dessert), before hitting the hay.
We said our goodbyes that morning, before finding each other
again at Prince Edward Island National Park. Lisa and I took our bikes on the
bike path in the Cavendish section, which followed the shoreline overlooking
many reddish bluffs along the way. It was the most scenic biking that we had
seen to date on PEI, and the stiff wind offered some great exercise on the
return trip.
We drove to the next portion of the National Park, for some
views of interesting sand dunes and much more “normal” sandy beaches – rather
than the reddish hue that we had become accustomed to on the trip. There seems
to be no shortage of public beach frontage on PEI.
We found lunch at “Rick’s Fish n’ Chips” in St. Peter’s
before following the road south towards Wood Island, to catch the ferry to Nova
Scotia. They aren’t going to get that return toll from us after all – HA!
No comments:
Post a Comment