The weather forecast was absolutely right when it said there would be a stong wind out of the north today. But I'll get back to that a little later...
Taking the day to rest yesterday - although I'm not sure walking for four hours really classifies as rest - was definitely the right thing to do. I was awake this morning before the alarm starting buzzing at me, and I was ready to hit the road. Breakfast first, of course. Then someone from the cooking staff retrieved my bike from its home for the last couple of days, a locked room in the basement of the inn. My bike said that she didn't mind the rest either, but she was ready to hit the road too.
I made a quick stop on the way out of Charlottetown at a Tim Hortons to pick up a muffin for a snack along the road. (After all, I've been hearing about the place from all of the crazy guys from Canada, so I needed to check it out myself!) I've found myself on pretty empty roads most of the time, at least from a standpoint of stores that might have good snacks. I have a stash of Luna Bars with me, but I've found that it's a good idea to have some additional snack foods - usually some kind of baked goods and fruit - with me too. Water? That too - my water bottles have been sporting blue Gatorade and my Camelbak has plenty of water.
Then, it was time to hit the road. I started the day by following Trans Canada 1 in a general eastward direction. I say general because there was a while when the road marked as east became straight south as it followed the shape of the island. There were a couple of times early in the day when my bike and I almost were blown totally off the road. The strength of the wind was pretty unbelieveable, and it didn't let up all day long. In fact, I can almost blame the wind for a change in the roads I took today. When I left Charlottetown this morning, my intent was to ride as far as Wood Islands Lighthouse. Then I was going to head north on a two-lane road, cutting to the inside of the island instead of following the coast. Montague was my planned stopping point for the day, and in spite of my change in route, it was still my stopping point for the day. I just got there by following a different set of roads. (And you probably already know that I seem to have a habit on these trips of not following my plans!)
I changed my riding roads today because I didn't think I'd be too happy riding 15 to 20 miles into a strong north wind over rolling hills. This section of island is known as "hills & harbors", and I can confirm that there are hills. They are nicely rolling, nothing that requires super low gearing, but they are hills. I stopped at a gas station / grocery store when I started to think about changing directions. I thought it would be a good idea to try to figure out how many more miles I would be covering, and I knew that if I was going to change my route it was time to make the change. I had a nice conversation with the guy staffing the cash register, and he sort of confirmed the distances remaining in each direction. I say "sort of" because no one seems to know how many miles or kilometers there are between two points. They can only tell me how long it takes to drive. That almost worked today after I asked how fast he was driving. When I got the answer 100 kilometers per hour, I could at least take a guess based on how long he told me it took him to get to Wood Islands and how long it would take to get to Montague.
So tell me, do you know how far it is to different towns in your area? Or would you give a cyclist the kinds of answers I have been getting. "Oh, that usually takes about 20 minutes." I can't even complain about the unit of measure because I'm very comfortable converting from kilometers to miles and back again. So I don't really care which one I am given - I just care that I know if I'm dealing with miles or kilometers.
Based on my conversation about distances, I did decide to head back a short distance and then follow some of the back roads over the hills and through the wind. I rode through farmland with an occasional house along the way. For a good chunk of time I had the road to myself. Most of it was very nicely paved, and it was definitely a pleasant place to ride. Trans Canada 1 was also a pleasant road for riding, but the contrast of the smaller roads was a nice change of pace.
I pulled into the town of Montague a little faster than I expected from a mileage standpoint. It was early, and I was planning to head toward the eastern edge of the island, but I stopped to find a place to stay first. I'm at Edgecombe's B&B, which is just a short walk out of the center of town and access to restaurants. Arlene greeted me, showed me my room and bath, and introduced me to Tibby, the family dog. She has the run of the house, and she is very friendly if a little bit of a character. I left most of my gear at the B&B, taking just a few things with me in a single almost empty pannier.
I can't really say why, but I wasn't done riding for the day. I headed down the road to see the lighthouse at St. Andrews Point. It's funny, I rode right by it on the way out, and when I hit the end of the road I wondered where it was. There weren't any people wandering around, so there was no one to ask. I turned and started riding back to the west, and what do you know! There it was! Of course I was looking for the lighthouse on the water side of the road. Bad expectation on my part - the lighthouse was on the side of the road away from the water. When I finally found it I could see how I missed it on the way out. Between a curve in the road and trees, it is pretty hidden from someone traveling east on the road. It looks like it would be visible from the water though, and of course that's the important direction.
I followed Arlene's suggestion and had dinner at Windows on the Water, a cafe that overlooks the river that flows through town. Scallops with fresh vegetables and a baked potato hit the spot, but I still stopped at a store on the way back to the B&B to pick up some chocolate as an after-dinner treat. And yes, I plan to share the chocolate with Rover!
This B&B is definitely a winner. There's a room for me, and my bike is locked in the shed in the backyard. She is sharing her home for the night with several bikes that are here for B&B guests to use. My room is small but has everything I need. The bathroom is private and down the hall. No problem there, and no, I don't need to get dressed for my middle of the night bathroom runs since the room is furnished with a nice, clean terry-cloth robe. I was given a spot in the refrigerator for the Gatorade I picked up for the morning, and there's a nice sitting room that the B&B guests are welcome to use. I had to ask Arlene where she & Dennis sleep because the first floor of the house has only 2 bedrooms, and both are used for the B&B. She said that they have two more bedrooms & a bathroom in the basement that they use during the summer, and then they move back upstairs at the end of the B&B season. Apparently the season for B&B guests here is pretty much limited to about 4 months of the year.
Rover was quite pleased to meet one of the bears who shared our room for the night.
I chose 7:30 for breakfast tomorrow morning. Arlene said that she will get everything set and then will head out for school. She is a first grade teacher, and Dennis works for Tourism Canada on the ferry between here and Nova Scotia. He spends his days riding the ferry and talking to folks about PEI. That sounds like an interesting way to spend his days - and long (10-hour) days at that. We spent a little time talking about the current set of ferries, and a little talking about the proposed ferry from Boston to Nova Scotia. The no longer running ferry from Portland to Nova Scotia was an 11 or 12 hour ride, and the one from Boston will be even longer. I still think that when I head to Nova Scotia that I will take the ferry from Bar Harbor.
Dennis is a road biker too, and although he did mention the rail trails to me, it was in the context of CN Rail running a ferry to PEI before the Confederation Bridge was completed. Along with cars, they also carried rail cars on the ferry. He confirmed my suspicion that the Confederation Trail was once a rail bed. And Dennis was one of the few people who mentioned the trails but understood my preference to riding on a paved surface - and riding on the same roads that all of the other vehicles use. Apparently that's his preference too!
I talked to Arlene a bit about my plans for tomorrow. She confirmed what I thought - that East Point is a long jaunt from here. It's probably close to 60 miles, and there isn't much out there from a place to stay and eat standpoint. She suggested staying in St. Peters, which is actually the town I was thinking about for a place to stay tomorrow, and she suggested heading out to Greenwich, where there are beaches and a national park.
