PEI 16 - Easy Riding

Day 10
Thursday, July 28, 2016

We took it easy today, just 42 miles.

After about 20 miles we stopped at the  O'Neil Home Gallery, a cafe and art gallery, located on a residential street in the small town of Malpeque. 

We relaxed on the porch while savoring freshly baked cinnamon rolls and tea, then went inside to admire the paintings of owner and artist Scott O'Neil.

Then after only ten more miles of riding we came to the town of Kensington and an old railroad station converted into a restaurant with outdoor seating next to the railroad tracks.

This photo comes from the Island Stone Pub website.

We ordered burgers and beer as we enjoyed relaxing at the outdoor tables, a pleasant switch from last night's Subway sandwiches.

These are two random pictures I took during the day's ride.

We searched out a grocery store in Summerside, which serves as a gateway to the northwestern third of the island. In 2009 we began a five-day bicycle tour with our children from here, riding 40 to 50 miles each day. 

We had to be careful packing all those groceries - including eggs - into our panniers. And they didn't all fit. Fortunately we had a little pack that Rob could carry on his back for the short ride to the campground.

We arrived at Linkletter Provincial Park by late afternoon and had our choice of campsites right on the water. The woman who checked us in said, "You'll want to pick a site back in the trees. It's supposed to rain tonight." 

Darn. It didn't look like rain, but we decided to take her advice anyway. We set up the tent, got showers, and the sky grew dark. I started dinner while Rob packed up the panniers, storing everything under the picnic table. 

I felt the rain hit the top of my head at the same time I saw it falling into our scrambled eggs, prepared with green peppers, mushrooms, and cheese. Let's eat! Dinner, wet and rushed, was delicious. We left the dirty dishes on the picnic table, grabbed our new package of Oreos and dove into the tent, very thankful that we weren't in bear country.

A few years ago we bought a lightweight tent for backpacking and bicycling. It's really small. There's not even enough room to sit up and enjoy a game of cards. But we had our Oreos and some good reading to keep us happy until the rain stopped. 

It didn't. At least not before we fell asleep.

42 miles to Linkletter Provincial Park,
averaging a mellow 9.7 mph.