Day 75: Souris, PEI to Saint Peters, PEI

July 11, 2017

We had a good time today sightseeing and meeting people. The riding was good once it warmed up and the sun came out. For one of the few times this trip, we had a strong headwind for miles. It was a longer than average day and we were both very tired when we got in.

We had breakfast with the couple from Cape Breton we met yesterday.

Colette and Bill - on their first unsupported tour

Then we rode up to the Basin Head Fishery Museum. It was OK - Kerry enjoyed it, but to be honest, I've seen about enough boating and fishing stuff to last me awhile. We had just a little sprinkle of rain while we were there, but it passed quickly. Basin Head is a provincial park with a nice beach. It was windy and chilly on the beach, but people were arriving with their towels and coolers and beach toys ready to spend the day.

There were nice facilities at the beach.

Our next stop was the Elmira Railway Museum. We enjoyed reading about the history of train service on PEI. This train ran until 1972. They had one thing we'd never seen at any railway museum - a rail bike!

The easternmost end of PEI is East Point. There is a nice Visitors Center with a café and visitors can climb up the old lighthouse. The view from the top was great, but I had to take pictures through the glass windows.

At the visitors center, we got into a conversation with two women in cycling kit. Nancy, from North Carolina, who's spending several weeks on PEI this summer and her friend Carolyn from California had driven in from Charlottetown with their bikes. They have done a lot of bike touring, including some of the cross country routes Kerry is trying to talk me into. We had a great time talking about cycling with them.

Carolyn and Nancy - fellow long distance touring cyclists

After leaving the lighthouse, we had 35 miles to our destination. The sun came out and was warmer, so that was good, but we hit quite a headwind the last twenty miles.

Fishing wharf at North Lake near East Point - very scenic

Wind farm near East Point - I guess strong winds are common here.

The route was right along the shoreline, past farms and fields. There were lots of fields of hay bales. Kerry had to stop and talk to a guy he saw baling to find out what they did with all the hay because we hadn't seen many farm animals. He told Kerry that there were plenty of cows on PEI to feed.

Kerry had questions and needed the answers!

We took a break from the wind with about 10 miles to go and rode out to Shipwreck Point. It had a great view. There is a lighthouse, but it is not accessible to the public. There is, however, a café which had hot fudge brownie sundaes and strawberry rhubarb pie to give us the strength to get to the end of today's ride.

Tomorrow, we head west again to Rustico and will be riding through the PEI National Park. It should be a beautiful ride.

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 3,063 miles (4,929 km)

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