No, my wheels weren't really turning backwards, but there were times when I was sure I wasn't moving in a forward direction!
My first introduction to the day was the sound of wind and rain in the middle of the night. My second was when my alarm buzzed to wake me for breakfast. Not heavy rain but drizzle greeted me, and it was very wet outside. Ah, it's too early to worry, it's time for breakfast. And what a fabulous meal it was - freshly made waffles with lots of fruit, bananas, blueberries and peaches. Yum, a good start for my energy stores for the day.
I have to admit I was worried enough about the weather to ask Arlene if they had an available room for tonight. They did, but I didn't make a decision at that moment. I really wanted to move on, but I also really didn't want to ride in the rain. So I took a little relaxing time after breakfast, taking another look at my maps and dreaming of a good riding day. The drizzle stopped, my bike said she wanted to ride, my tiny traveling companion Rover said he wanted to ride, and I agreed. (And no, I'm not going to blame my bike and Rover for what happened to our riding day...) Everything was already in the panniers and ready to go - all I had to do was retrieve my bike from its locked storage area. My plans for the day were to ride to St. Peters, find a place to stay, drop my gear in my room, then head out to the Greenwich section of Prince Edward Island National Park. Time to roll...
Before I headed out of town I stopped at the bakery to pick up snacks for later. That bakery stop lasted a longer than expected amount of time because of the conversation I had with the guy setting up pizzas for the oven and generally taking care of things. He asked me where I'm from and where I'm heading. When I told him I was from Massachusetts, he told me that he spent 15 years living and working in Worcester many years ago. He's from PEI, but escaped to work elsewhere (Massachusetts and then Yukon Territory, what an interesting constrast) for a number of years. He went on to tell me a story of an older man (named O'Reilly) from Pennsylvania that came into the bakery a few years back. This man thought that one of his ancestors may have come from PEI, so he was using his trip here as research. My bakery pal's name is Reilly, and he was trying to figure out if they possibly could be related. After many questions, and many "no" answers, they figured out that their grandmothers were sisters. Amazing. And conversations like this one are part of the magic of touring for me. Somehow when I'm traveling on my bike, I end up meeting and talking to people whose paths I would never cross in my normal day-to-day life. Maybe I need to change my habits...
Finally, I was on the road. Not five minutes after I started, the rain started too. A fleeting thought crossed my mind, maybe I should go back to the B&B. But hey, I was already wet and as soon as I hit wet roads PEI's red dirt started flying up and sticking to my bike, so it already needed to be cleaned. I might as well keep going! I started out this morning wearing both my knee warmers and my rain jacket, so I was all set for a wet and chilly ride.
Since I opted to head straight to St. Peters, I was traveling on a cross-island two-lane road as opposed to following the edge. Going through the middle of the island meant a repeat of yesterday's gently rolling hills. The countryside was beautiful but I have very few pictures because I decided it was time to protect my camera. I parked it in a (thankfully waterproof) pannier for a good chunk of my ride. There were farms, occasional houses, woods, marshy areas, trees. There was wind-driven rain, heavy, then light again. And then - the sky changed to a lighter color gray, the rain stopped, and the road surface actually began to dry. That was good, but there was bad too in the form of the wind. The ever-present wind got even stronger. I was heading pretty much to the north, and the wind was coming from the northeast at first. It was slowing me down, and at the same time it was doing its best at trying to blow me right off of the road. Hanging on to the handlebars definitely wasn't optional today.
Looking back towards Montague. And yes, I had just reached a flat spot after a climb, and the road ahead of me continued to tilt up. But remember - while the island is rolling, the hills are not very high. According to The Atlas of Canada (http://atlas.gc.ca), the highest point on the island is 142 meters.
As I was slowly heading uphill, an image appeared. It was another touring cyclist - easy to recognize by the Bob trailer he was pulling. Scott was having a better riding day than I was since that very strong wind was at his back. Nice! We stood on the side of the road and talked for quite a while. He's on a fast journey across Canada, starting on the west coast on August 1st. He was heading to Wood Islands, planning to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia today. He's close to the end of his journey, and it sounds like he's had a fabulous trip. It's always fun to stop along the road to share touring experiences, isn't it? (And is it just me? I keep wanting to say Woods Island instead of the correct name of Wood Islands!)
Before we got too chilled from standing in the wind, we headed out in opposite directions. At that point I was very close to St. Peters, just a short uphill and one more downhill to the river and to the visitor center. I have to admit I had to walk up that short hill. The wind was so strong that I was about to get blown off the road at the slow starting uphill speed that I could manage. I got back on my bike and headed down, and I actually had to ride in the center of the lane. There was no way for me to ride close to the right edge of the road and stay upright because the wind kept pushing me to the side. At that point I was relieved to get to St. Peters!
Can you see the wind? And yes, it was blowing - and gusting - directly into my face. When I looked at my speed heading downhill into St. Peters, I was only moving at 8 miles per hour and I was pedaling as hard as I could.
I headed in to the visitor center. There I found a helpful staff member, information on places to stay, and other travelers with similar questions. And there was a line to use the computer too; everyone was checking their email. Nice of the information centers to include computer access as a free service!
I ended up at the Greenwich Gate Lodge, a small motel in the center of what I guess you would call a town. There are two motels right next to each other, a fish & chips restaurant, and a convenience store. The other motel has a restaurant that serves breakfast & dinner, but that restaurant is closed on Mondays. Small town!
My idea of dropping off my gear and heading out again on the bike didn't appeal to me too much after I got here. The wind was getting stronger, and the woman at the visitor center said that it was predicted to gust to 80 kph this afternoon. I was already having trouble riding - in fact the wind was so strong that I had to walk the short distance from the visitor center to the motel. I could barely even push my bike! I remember one day on my 1999 tour in the Pacific Northwest when I was happy to be pushed south down the Oregon coast by a very strong wind. I was sure that day that if I had been heading north that I would have ended up sitting on the side of the road unable to move. Now I know that my feeling that day was right - today the wind was definitely not in my favor.
As it turned out, it was a very short riding day today. It certainly wasn't planned that way, but it was still OK. The first order of business after I got here was to clean and re-lube my bike so it's ready to go whenever I am. Then I could have a relaxing afternoon, doing a little bit of walking, but mainly it was quiet time.
Tomorrow? First, I'm hoping beyond hope that the wind dies down overnight. I may stay here a second night to give me the day to explore a bit more of the northeast corner of the island - the area known as "Bays & Dunes". I'd still like to ride out to the national park at Greenwich, and doing an additional loop in this area sounds appealing too. Only the morning will tell...
