It's almost time to wander...

...and I'll be starting from Summerside!

I briefly considered driving across the bridge, leaving my car at the visitor center, and heading out on my bike immediately upon my arrival on the island. That thought didn't last too long since I'd really prefer to have some time to unwind from my long drive. My plans are to get on the road fairly early Thursday morning, so in spite of losing an hour due to switching from Eastern to Atlantic time I should still arrive at a reasonable time, hopefully relatively early in the afternoon. Early enough to do some walking and relaxing, that is.

Why Summerside? Why any place? Summerside is a seaside city to the northwest of Borden-Carleton, the point at which I'll be entering the province by way of the Confederation Bridge. And although it's the second largest city on the island, you have to take 'large' here in relative terms. With a population of 14,654, and with a walking guide published by the city, it sounds to me like Summerside will be a reasonable place for a bit of wandering by foot. A bit of a walk in the afternoon, a relaxing night, and I'll be heading off on my bike on Friday morning.

And what direction? My current thought is to head around PEI in a counter-clockwise direction. If the road happens to be next to the water, I won't need to cross the road to satisfy my picture-taking habit. And while my spring tour in Downeast Maine served to remind me that roads that look (on a map) like they might be next to the water often aren't, when I want to turn down a road that heads toward the water, it will be a right-hand turn - no traffic to cross. But really, I don't think it matters which direction I take. Even if there is a prevailing wind direction, since I'm hoping to go around the whole island I figure there's no way around fighting a headwind some of the time. Of course if someone out there knows a way to always have a tailwind, please let me know. That would be sweet!