Prince Edward Island - June 2012

Following our Kentucky cycling trip, we spent a few days in Ohio with kids/grandkids before heading to Washington DC. We spent a couple of days sightseeing in DC and then drove to Portland, ME, where we picked up another couple who were spending the week on Prince Edward Island with us. Our first stop along the way was at Saint John, New Brunswick, CAN.

The purpose of this visit was to see the Reversing Falls. When the tide goes out the St John River empties and falls about 15 feet. When the tide comes in from the Bay of Fundy the river is stopped, the tide pushes it back up the river and it rises the same 15 feet. We timed our visit so that we could photograph the rising tide about noon and the falling tide about 8:00 pm that evening.

On the road again we headed for Prince Edward Island taking us across the Confederation Bridge This is the longest bridge in the world over icy waters, 8 miles long connecting New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. Before crossing, we stopped at the visitor’s center and took a few pictures from the observation tower of the bridge and the bay next to it.

After crossing the bridge we headed toward the city of Summerside where we stopped at a cafe called Sharkey’s for lunch; our first time for “Fish & Chips”. Our home that night was the Northport Pier Inn in Alberton where every room is an ocean front room. We drove to the light house at the North end of the Island. This drive let us see the start of the Confederation Trail in the town of Tignish. It is a hard packed gravel trail that runs 260 miles to the opposite end of the Island. Leaving there the next morning we drove to the Bike Shop in Charlottetown to pick up rental bikes for those needing them. From there we drove to our “rent house” which was about midway up the Island on the East shore. This was a 7 bedroom, 7 bath, home - plenty of room for the 10 in our group.

From the House we planned our sight seeing trips and bike rides on the Trail.

As for biking, we did 5 rides. The first was a short 10-mile loop out of the house to the Confederation Trail, up the trail and back to the house. This was a ride for people to familiarize themselves with their rental bikes and investigate the condition of the Trail. The Trail was no problem, flat and very smooth for an unpaved trail.

Next day we rode from the house to the Confederation Trail, up the trail past the town of Mount Stewart and back. Another day we drove to the east end of the island, Elmira, and cycled a loop to the East Point Lighthouse. That particular day, it started raining about the time we reached the lighthouse so we cycled back about 6 miles in the rain.

Back on the Confederation Trail the next day, we rode into Charlottetown for lunch and returned. Charlottetown is the Capital of PEI and the largest town on the island. Our final ride of the week took us back to Charlottetown, passing the University of Prince Edward Island, to the end of the Confederation Trail.

Other than biking we did a lot of sightseeing since none of us had ever been there before. We played on the beach although the water was too cold to get in. We saw several light houses and even climbed 3 flights of 18-step stairs and a ladder to get to the top. We ate lobster and seafood at a church social, did fine dining at the Dundee Arms Restaurant and ate at a Nursery that also had 60 flavors of ice cream. A very good time was had by all.

Along with Lynne and I on this trip was Don & Sondra Heaton, Harold and Pat Landers, Sam and Margaret Arafat, with their daughter Danyah and her son Brooks.

For more photos of our Prince Edward Island trip, click the PEI link on the right side of the page under Links to Cycling Pics.