PEI 5 - Get me to the ferry on time! (Or not)

Day 4
Friday, July 22, 2016

Ever heard of Les Isles de la Madeleines? You're not alone. Many Canadians haven't either.

Earlier in the summer, in June, Rob and I attended Maine Fiddle Camp, as we do every year. Quebecois fiddler Eric Favreau was my teacher. When he introduced the first tune for the week he said it was from Les Isles de la Madeleines, a group of islands that is part of Quebec, but to get there you take a ferry from Prince Edward Island. Wait. PEI? We'd be going there this summer. That got my attention.

Back home I did a little research. I found out that there are several private campgrounds on the islands and that the ferry leaves every day at 2:00 from Souris, on the eastern shore of PEI.

Today we were within striking distance of Souris. Sort of. We could definitely get there in time for the ferry if we took the direct route, on the main highway. Or, we could take the scenic route, which was about 60 miles looping around the coastline. Maybe we could get there in time, but probably not. If we didn't make it, there was a campground five miles north of Souris. We'd take the ferry tomorrow.

The scenic route got our vote. After all, for us bicycle touring is not as much about the destination as about how much fun we can have along the way. 

With an early start we headed east along a narrow peninsula to the charming town of Georgetown, past a beautiful park along the water which would have been a lovely place to stop, had we not only just gotten started. After about 15 miles we were off the peninsula and stopped at a tourist information center for a short break. 

We pulled out our map and showed the woman at the desk where we were planning to ride, along the Points East Coastal Drive. Would we get some nice views?

"This part," and she pointed to the next 20 miles or so, "It's mostly through trees. You won't see much."

We decided to take the highway for the next ten miles or so. Turned out it had a smooth, wide shoulder, not much traffic and we started to fly - 18 miles per hour, then 19, 20. In no time we arrived at the turnoff for the next part of the scenic route and pulled into a gas station. We shared a soda.

"What a blast," I said. "What do you think about staying on this? We can easily make it to the ferry then."

"Sounds good to me," Rob said.

We needed to get there by 1 o'clock. We made it by 11.

Here it comes!

It took about 40 miles to get to the ferry in Souris.