Goin' For a Bike Ride: Onwards to Prince Edward Island

I rode north across Nova Scotia to the Northumberland Shore to take the ferry to Prince Edward Island (PEI). Along the way, I passed by a big, cool but stinky colony of cormorants.

The scenery became more pastoral.

This area is definitely 'New Scotland'. Town names are written in both English and Gaelic. This is the cenotaph statue in New Glasgow.

Going to PEI entailed another ferry.

PEI has extensive bike paths including one that runs from one end of the island to the other along the old railway routes called the Confederation Trail.

I'm now on the east shore where there are nice sandy beaches and lighthouses. The ocean is nice and warm. I spent some time looking for beach glass and found a nice handful.

I climbed the lovely lighthouse tower you see above. Here is the view from the top.

PEI has lots of iron oxide in the soil giving it a unique dark rust color that is quite pretty especially above the ocean on the exposed cliffs. The island is just gorgeous with a quiet beauty that is different from more rugged Nova Scotia and Maine. The nickname 'The Gentle Island' really fits. There are lots of potato fields and wheat that is still green. The fields go down all the way to the ocean creating a very nice contrast between the land and ocean. The potatoes are in bloom and have quite a nice sweet smell.

I've had great weather all trip except for a few hours of rain here and there. Two days ago, however, it rained like it meant business. I got soaked on the bike and camped in the pouring rain, also. It's tricky making camp and keeping everything dry when I'm all wet too. I managed all right, though, and slept well despite torrential rain all night. I did wake up before dawn when I started getting dripped on. The tent wasn't leaking, however, the condensation on the inside of the tent was getting knocked off by the force of the rain outside. I use a single walled tent to reduce gear weight and this is the main drawback of this type of tent compared to a usual tent body plus rainfly two layer tent.

With a rainfly, there is an air gap between the tent and fly so even if the inside of the tent gets condensation, it won't get knocked free as easily, though, it still can get you wet through the mosquito netting.

There are lots of slugs around here. Being from the land of the giant banana slug and having gone slug licking at Outdoor School (the slug slime makes your tongue go numb), I really don't mind them much unless they are eating my flowers. Until now. I woke up to this. Slugs all over the tent.

I put my bare foot in my soggy bike shoe and, squish, there was a slug in it. Ewwww!!!!

I rode up to Souris (pronounced Surry) yesterday and treated myself to a bed in a nice little inn.

Riding into town, the bike engaged the automatic brakes as it always does when a sign such as this is seen.

The view inside was quite terrific!

I saw this curious sign in town.

Darth Vader has moved to PEI and has an Erf while his housemate Moeder has a Hoeve? Hmmm!

I took the five hour ferry to Îles de la Madeleine, a string of narrow islands that belong to Quebec.