July 25th, 2014 - End of the ride

The view this morning.

Another good day. The weather was great for the ride into Charlottetown, and I made good time and enjoyed the country going by. Challenge #1 for the day was my second flat of the trip, between St. Peters and Morell. It was frustrating to have to do the tube change, and I wished I'd patched the tube last night. I'd passed a few other tour riders on the trail and they then passed me - turns out we'd be doing this leap-frogging a few times on the trail.

Trailside tube repair.

The other tour riders.

The hand pump from the bike shop was serviceable, but not the best by far. I used the High Volume mode to start, then walked around pumping up the tire in the High Pressure mode to get up to rideable pressure, partly to avoid using even more DEET to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

When I got to Morell, I sent off a few postcards (but not the one for Sarah, who will be super stoked to get one from the Birthplace of Confederation), then borrowed the full pump at the Adventure Centre, which worked much, much better.

On the ride, I amused myself by coming up with a song to the sound of the bike as I pedaled at a relatively constant rate. "And it's never enough, oh it's never enough" to the sound of the rear hub, the squeak of the chain (it's dried out a bit over the last 3-400km's) and the squeak of my left pedal, all making a rhythm and main melody.

Just before noon I arrived in Mount Stewart, took the branch trail, and went to the Thoughtful Squash to try that Maudite Poutine. It came with a good conversation with the owner and chef. The poutine was good, although they used "potato puffs", which were like tater tots or mini hashbrowns. It's a bit weird to me still, in a place with so much fresh potatoes, to have these. The owner explained that she likes to do something a bit different and it was still good, but it doesn't fully make sense to me. I could see roasted potatoes being a better, although longer cooking, fit.

I think the stretch between the start of the Hillsborough River and St. Peters is the most scenic on the ride.

Taking the turn to the spur trail to Charlottetown, I saw a flash of orange on the trail in front of me. It was a medium sized fox and flashed out of sight before I could even grab out a camera for a picture. This has been a completely rabbit free day, though.

Riding down the trail to Charlottetown, I noticed the back tire getting softer, but sank into denial, until I finished the trail, at which point the pump came out, the paniers came off, and I pumped up the tire until it was good to ride to the Hostel, get a shower, and return the bike.

The last bike photo.

Then, it was time to tour the town.

I found my way to Province House, which was the location of the Charlottetown Conference, which began the conversation between the colonies to create Canada. The worn down stones of the floor, the old leather chairs and the wooden desks, the coal burning stoves; it all oozed history. Standing in the room that was the home of the Upper House, and which was used for the meetings in 1864, a sense of the meeting came back. Chatting with the Parks Canada staff helped to flesh out the role that alcohol played in forming the connections between the politicians who eventually wrote the agreement that moved the British North America Act, forming the Dominion of Canada as a nation on July 1, 1867.

After some shopping and touring around Charlottetown, it was time for me to turn my attention to food, and I wanted to have oysters again. I got a selection of 10 oysters from around the island at an oyster bar and had a good chat with some of the staff, but I was still feeling hungry, and wanting a beer, so I went to Gahan House for a stout and some fish and chips. The stout was good, but a bit thin (their brown ale is thicker), and the seasoning and perfect cooking made the fries the best I've had all trip.

Back at the hostel, I chatted with a lady from New Zealand who had grown up in Prague and realized (again) that I really want to make journeys (bike and hiking pilgrimage trails) a continuing part of my life. So, there will be many more journeys to come.

Tomorrow, however, the journey is the one home.