To each trail, its own bike

For the last day of September, I found myself spending most of the day admiring Prince Edward Island by bike. Two bikes, actually.

I drove over the Confederation bridge yesterday from New Brunswick to PEI, a 12.9 km long bridge – apparently the longest bridge in the world over ice-covered waters: Luckily for me, there wasn't an ice cube in sight during my crossing. When I arrived on PEI, I was greeted by a huge welcome centre suggesting loudly and clearly that PEI has a booming tourism industry of which they seem to be very proud.

The interesting thing about being here now is that its the end of the season. Many touristy places are closed until May; there is such a scant number of campers left that I have my pick of sites when/if I find an open campground; and the roads are fairly quiet. What this translates to for me is lots of space to park and camp where I can without worry of someone shovelling me towards an official campsite, free entrance to several spots that during the peak season would have charged me, and lots of wide open roads and trails to jump on my bike and explore.

PEI has transformed an old railway line running from one end of the island to the other into a bike path. . Over 400 kms of trail traversing the island! How can I resist? Well, for starters, I've got the wrong bike for these trails. Its because I love Betty the Road Bike that I won't submit her skinny tires to chisel and gravel and pebbles. The tourist info guy suggested that I rent a bike (of course) but I wasn't about to fork out precious dollars for something that I'd only use very briefly. Might as well put those dollars towards something that I can use again and again in similar situations. This line of thinking took me directly to my first stop on PEI: Canadian Tire.

I've threatened to buy a cheap but handy go-anywhere bike since Kamloops, so I finally bought myself the newest inhabitant for the journey in the Jamboree: a little silver mountain/hybrid bike with fat tires that I can ride on gravelly trails, or alternatively, into town for a beer. I love Canadian Tire.

As I exited the store with this rather significant purchase, the downpour that google weather predicted hit. I managed to find the little silver bike a temporary spot in the Jamboree (her permanent spot is sharing the extra bed above the driver's cab with Betty, although she's a little heavier to lift) so that I could manoever our way through the rain with the wipers going full tilt to a campsite that was actually open and not far away; Cavendish. My neighbour is our dear Anne of the Red Braids.

When I awoke to sun and warm temperatures – I dare say reminiscent of summer, even – I took the playful silver bike out for an initial test ride. Our first stop was next door to visit Avonlea, Anne's little village, quiet and mostly closed so gratis to wander around. Without the hoards of tourists elbowing their way through the buildings and gift stores, in a hurry to take as many pictures and buy those souvenirs before their busses leave in 4 and a half minutes, it was quite a pleasant visit, despite the inherently cheesy touristy aspect of it. We gotta love Anne, and when in Green Gables, its a shame not to pop in and say hello.

I then took the as-of-yet unnamed silver on a 20 km trail through the PEI National Park. Another thing I've discovered in the quiet wake of tourist season: people seem relieved that the hoards are gone, and that they finally have enough time to slow down and notice that you are there; I think everyone I passed by today waved, called out a hello, stopped for a chat, or gave me tips on what to look for further on down the road. So incredibly nice.

The trail took me through forest and dunes along the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I only came up on one other person the entire way along this trail, called the Homestead trail, but I did sneak up on a few examples of the local wildlife. So far, I've spotted fuzzy red and black caterpillars shuffling their way across the paths; slitherly little snakes that would swerve to get out of my way and then pose for me standing perfectly still in the foliage along the side of the path; and curious foxes, in no way fearful of humans. I saw six foxes in total today, sauntering nonchalantly, sometimes playfully, along the side of the road. When I stopped to photograph one of the six, he was downright flirtatious with me, showing off his jumping skills to catch a little bug in the grass, then luxuriously rolling around in the grass, and finally trotting along beside me not a foot away for a while before carrying on with his afternoon.

They must be fed regularly by tourists.

I stumbled upon a littering of apples along one of my paths. Many suffered bruises from the fall, others suffered from all sorts of bugs and worms keen to gorge on their fruity goodness. But I managed to go apple picking anyway, if you call picking off the ground "apple-picking", and found a good stash of apples to take back to the Jamboree. They are a bit on the sour side, and small (because they are natural!), so I plan to make apple crumble with them. MMmmmmm. And, I think it makes a difference that I found the apples before the snake, don't you? And so, dear Mr. Frost, that about does it for apple-picking for me (for now, anyway), too.

Its supposed to rain tomorrow so once I finished this gravelly path, I seized the sunny day, swapped the silver for Betty (she's great on gravel but for paved roads, I like my road bike), and did the ride I was saving for tomorrow of speed and smooth sailing on the cement. I cycled 26 kms to the nearby town of Rustico, with a quaint harbour equipped with an original Atlantic lighthouse, and stunning ocean views - especially in the setting sun - before returning, famished, to the Jamboree.

The rest of my day was filled up with trying to work out how to tune my guitar, reading, and writing this blog post to you. That, and noticing how utterly pretty and charming PEI is. I think I'll stick around a few days.

link to the pictures marking the end of my 3rd month on the road!

Welcome to PEI