PEI 2: Free Advice? What's It Cost?

Day 2
Wednesday, July 20, 2016

When he heard we were going to bicycle on PEI, a bicycling friend said, "I hear the Confederation Trail has some good riding." 

I said, "That goes straight through the middle of the island. We're riding around the island to see the coastline."

But the woman who checked us into the campground our first night gave us a map that described a way to get into Charlottetown on the Confederation Trail, allowing us to avoid traffic going in and out of the city. Then she told us that the Confederation Trail had several tributaries to it and one of them would take us where we wanted to go after Charlottetown. Looking over the provincial map, we began to worry that the main road  - part of the Trans Canadian Highway - might have too much traffic, so maybe we'd give the trail a try.

We had no trouble following the directions into Charlottetown where we spent a few pleasant hours wandering around and stopping for an early lunch of fish and chips at a restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the water. 

The Province House National Historic Site in the center of the city was closed for renovations, but at noon they put on a musical performance about Canadian and PEI history. They had an entire bit on how proud they are of their national health insurance highlighting - in song - the fact that Canadians look out for everyone, not just "Me."

In 1864 representatives from the provinces of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI met at the Province House to discuss uniting as a confederation, probably why the Confederation name is so ubiquitous throughout PEI. But when the Confederation of Canada actually came into being, Prince Edward Islanders did not sign on, wanting to maintain their separate island identity. Then they got into serious debt building their railroad and, in order to avoid ruinous bankruptcy, decided that maybe joining up wasn't such a bad idea.

A street near the Province House in Charlottetown. 
The city has a homey feel to it.

We were still aiming to stay primarily at provincial campgrounds which are generally superior in most ways to the private ones. By my calculations we had about 30 miles to ride after leaving Charlottetown around one o'clock to get to Northumberland Provincial Park, on the southern coast. We'd have plenty of time.

But although the Confederation Trail took us into Charlottetown, we couldn't find our way out. We'd find some signs for it, and then they'd go nowhere. We spent about an hour riding back and forth, asking random pedestrians for directions, until we finally got on the trail and started going somewhere. Sort of. You've got to check out the website to really appreciate how idyllic the trail sounds: "The 435 kilometers of rolled stone dust trail has gentle gradients which never exceed 2% (up or down). This Island wide exploration corridor is ideal for visitors of all fitness levels." Rolled stone dust, my ass. It was topped with a thick layer of small red pebbles, like bicycling on the beach. I was afraid I'd fall and told Rob not to follow too closely. At least if I did fall, I'd probably have a soft landing and wouldn't have to worry about falling into traffic. 

And forget about "..beautiful rolling hill scenery, quaint villages and broad bay seascapes..." We were in the middle of nowhere, far from any towns and the only views we had were of green plants crowding each side of the path. Then we were riding through a dark tunnel of trees. We'd come to a road and see no signs, no hint of where we were. I had some idea from our road map that the longer we stayed on this, the further we'd get from the main road and ocean views. 

Maybe the gradient never exceeds 2%, but all we could maintain was an unsteady ride at 9 mph. Give me hills on solid ground.

But what worried me most was how isolated it felt. If we broke down for any reason, how would we get help? We saw no one, no houses, nothing, and the roads we crossed were empty country roads.

We stopped when we came to the next road crossing. "They don't even tell you where you are," I said.

"Can we get off this? This is awful," Rob said. "I'd rather have traffic than this."

That's what I love about my husband. Our thoughts are always in sync.

We could see a sign down the road with a highway number on it. We studied the map and figured out a way to get back to the highway. It was longer, but we'd hopefully make better time than this shit riding through what felt like molasses. 

As soon as we got back on the main highway everything opened up. Fields of grain, silos, expansive views, smooth shoulders, rolling hills, and little traffic. We stopped to rest at a farmstand that had tables and chairs on an outside deck. We filled up on fresh strawberries, cookies, soda, cheese and crackers.

We arrived at Northumberland Provincial Park after 6 p.m.

A final note about the Confederation Trail. During our two weeks in PEI, we crossed paths with several other self-supported bicycle tourists, all of whom had tried out the trail and nobody had anything good to say about it.

This is not the exact route we followed as I couldn't find the Confederation Trail on the map. I do know that we reconnected with the Trans-Canada Highway somewhere near Vernon Bridge. We clocked 55 miles for the day.