By Foot and By Bike: July 20, 2014 - The Journey Without and The Journey Within

Summer beers, I've had a few, and I'm now digging this whole blueberry ale thing. Right now, I'm sittin on the porch at The Landing in Tyne Valley, sipping a pint of the Gahan Brewing Blueberry Ale, while, in Moncton, I had one at the Pumphouse Brewpub. Life really can be about the simple things.

I did somewhere between 75-80km's today; a first full day of riding the trail.

My oysters just arrived - my first time ever eating them fresh on the half shell - let's see how this goes. (Sorry, pictures were taken with my DSLR)

Okay, yum, never done that before, but it was a truly nice experience that I'll do again in these coastal areas. I had the first one straight and found it bitter afterwards, but used the lemon and horseradish on the second one and it rounded it out wonderfully. I wonder if there are such things are freshwater oysters in the Nechako...

Some may wonder at this, as I mostly follow a vegetarian diet, but I figure that local, sustainable seafood helps to stretch the edible resources on the planet, so it's okay. :)

Shadow self-portrait.

Today was a first good day of exploring along the Confederation Trail. I saw the foundations for 2 old water stations from the steam enine days, which really brought home that I'd never thought of that before. The information signs explained that these were for refilling the boilers of the steam engines, which would need more or less frequent refilling based on conditions, so they had these wooden water towers on cement foundations along the track to refill them!

Information about the Water Tanks

Around the 50km mark on the trail my legs started to get sore and the motivation to keep going suffered, especially when the gravel on the trail was looser packed, making the bike run a bit slower/with more difficulty, and with lots of side slip when the gravel was particularly loose.

The very start of the trail, in Tignish.

One of the many bridges on the trail.

Silhouette of a cowboy cyclist?

I played mental games to keep going - singing songs and telling myself "no stopping until I've gone another 5km's". Little by little it worked, and I made it to the road at Ellerslie and started exploring to find my B&B. First, though, was a much needed ice cream stop.

Around 2pm, I'd managed to find the Potato Museum in O'Leary and had a large order of over cooked fries. They were very crispy, but the centre had begun drying out. The lady doing the order taking, serving, and cooking, had gotten distracted by someone who had a lot of questions about potato skins and left them in the deep fryer too long. They were still edible, so I ate them with a lot of ketchup, not wanting to make a big deal of it. The tip I had readied, however, went back into my wallet.

The Potato Museum itself, well, it was a good place to learn about potatoes and their history, and how it came to be such a prominent vegetable in PEI (and around the world), but, I had been hoping for a bit more fun from it. I mean, they've got a giant potato outside the building (the world's largest perhaps?), so it's proven they can ave some fun (at least, I hope it does).

The old telegraph pole, with rubber insulators

An old grain elevator that's been repurposed?

A field of potato plants in bloom. When first brought to Europe and Asia, they were grown more for the blossoms then for the potatoes!

I was surprised to learn about the Mi'kmaq reserve in PEI, on Lennox Island. I guess I'd thought that most of the First Nations on the East Coast had been wiped out, but I was wrong! And I've heard that the reserve is actually doing pretty well!


Information about Lennox Island.

Although I'm having a great time on the this trip, I'm really starting to feel that it would be nice to share this kind of adventure with someone else. I know that would come with its own challenges, but I'm starting to think they would be worth it, and could be worked out/through.

I've tended to do a lot of solo travel. There are some ways I really enjoy it: being able to do my own thing, be flexible, meet all kinds of new people, and not have to tell someone that being around them, or anyone else where I need to be social 24/7, is really draining and there are times, even when traveling, when I just need some "me" time, or time to be social light with someone else. There are also disadvantages to solo travel, like increased costs, not having someone to chat, sing, or dance with, or to cajole me into doing something outside my comfort, or even to share a view or experience with, and by sharing, make it better. |I still remember how much better concerts are when they're shared with someone you love, and how something silly (like the rabbits hopping away from me on the trail today) can become side-splittingly hilarious with the humour amplified in reflection with a friend. It was great to hang out with Roberta (another traveler staying at the Murphy Tourist Home, who grew up in Williams Lake), Peter, and Louise last night in Tignish, but I'd also enjoy a more constant companion on PEI.