East Coastlog

[popo weenie]

beautifull pictures indead

happy you get to see a lot of good ole down east

heather you may fine a relative in rustico as thats where they were born, on your grandmothers side

enjoy the rest of your trip and a safe journey home

[phorbesie]

really?! was your dad born there?

i knew that my grandFATHER (ie. my mom's dad) was from rustico but not that my grandmother might be...i guess i thought they met later because my mom told me that her dad left there at a fairly young age.

my grandfather was a Peters and i asked a bit but there are tons of peterses there so i'm not sure if i was amid relatives, but probably!

[Schwa.]

Gotta love the Logs!

Keep'em comin yous twos

[Northern Wish]

Awesome.

Thanks,

S

[AD]

Excellent use of the word isthmus, Todd. Very impressive. I hope you one day publish all your travel journals in a hardcopy format. They are great reads, all of them.

[Baj]

The EAST rules, glad your enjoying it.

Thanks for the logs, you do a fantastic job.

[Velvet]

Thanks for noticing AD, I appreciate it.

[Velvet]

East Coastlog, Stardate 082507

In the morning we carried on with the scenic drive. Got down to the Potato Museum and parked in their lot. They didn’t open for a couple more hours, being Sunday, so we made lunch, unhooked the bikes and tried out the Confederation Trail. PEI was quick to belly up and finish their part of the still incomplete Trans Canada Trail, and I was eager to try it out. Built on the old railway line, it’s a smooth crushed stone path that travels from one end of the island to the other, with several optional detours along the way. We went about eight kilometres through pretty scenery and over bridges with nice rest stops along the way before we turned around. Man, I loved it. Doing the whole trail is definitely in my future. Passed on the museum itself but we visited the gift shop and took some pictures of Rocky the Lobster in front of the giant potato they have out front before heading off. We stopped for a snack at an oyster place. They were having shucking contests on the patio and giving away the final product. Heather imbibed, again I abstained.

Our final tourist stop of the island was the bottle houses. Some guy with an apparent drinking problem built two small houses and a church out of bottles. Each structure is made from over 10,000 (mainly liquor) bottles imbedded in cement. It made it into Ripley’s column but if you go to PEI you can certainly skip this one given the $5 it cost, though it is certainly curious.

Surprisingly paying the same rate as a car ($40) we crossed the impressive 12.9km Confederation Bridge (longest bridge over iced waters in the world doncha know) and headed back to my folks’ place where we slept one more night in the mighty Sunseeker and with some sadness handed over the keys.

It was a good ride.

[Velvet]

An aside:

I dig graveyards so we stopped at a few on this trip. I noticed one tombstone at a cemetary near Summerside still had the old tagger on it, which I found amusing.

[Ms.Huxtable]

Oh man those oysters are making me drool.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

did you ever get a donair then?

frig the suspense is killing me

[phorbesie]

the oysters were actually the previous day when we drove past malpeque bay. i ordered up a bunch and then realized they were giving away free ones at the end of the shucking contests which were being held on the patio, so i snagged some of those too. i kinda wished i'd ordered some baked ones, but being where we were i thought i'd better try the natural product!

[Velvet]

Only from Greco Davey Boy.

Yeah, the timeline on the oysters was off but it scanned better in the next log.

artistic license

[backbacon]

An aside:

I dig graveyards so we stopped at a few on this trip. I noticed one tombstone at a cemetary near Summerside still had the old tagger on it, which I found amusing.

They probably got a small discount for advertising.

Oh, and Velvet, you dig graves!? With a shovel? [edit] Ohhhh, nevermind.. just got it. You have an interest in graveyards.. okay... that makes more sense.

Great stuff, Velvet and Heather! So fun to read! I second the book idea... I'm sure you have lots more excellent travelogs in your future!

bouche, you can relax now... I'm all caught up with the photos AND reading part!!

[Davey Boy 2.0]

nnnnooooooooooooooooooo

[Velvet]

East Coastlog, Stardate 082707

We barely, and I mean barely got on the ferry to Madeleine Islands, which leaves from Souris, PEI. It was waiting for the laundry to be done that did it, plus I missed a little sign taking us a bit off course, but either way we were running behind. I noted that not many people seem to exceed the speed limit here on PEI, even on the 90km/h highway, as I flew by them at absolutely outrageous speeds. We pulled up to the ferry with about eight minutes to spare and told the guy we had to get our bikes together and deal with long-term parking across the street at the B&B that supplies the only service in town, $5 a day. The guy gets on his walkie-talkie and the next thing you know we’re parked twenty feet from the ferry ramp, and for free. We race to get our shit together while they hold the boat for us and before you know it we’re on. Whew, we made it!

Beers were reasonably priced on the boat so after a quick lunch in the cafeteria we hit the bar. Five hours later we dock after circling around the gorgeous Entry Island, the only non-connected island of the Madeleines that is inhabited (pop. 130).

Okay, a bit about the islands. The Magdeline Islands lie between PEI and Newfoundland and belong to Quebec, hence they are usually called the Iles de la Madeleine. It’s about a dozen or so small islands, six of which are connected by sand dunes. Five of the six islands are French speaking while one is English. About 13,000 people live here and many of them make their money in either the fishing industry or salt mining. Between April and January you can get there by ferry from Souris, PEI. You wanna get here in the winter you gotta charter a plane. The ferry dropped us in Cap aux Meules on Cap aux Meules Island (all the islands have a town with the same name as the island) and after a brief stop at the info booth we headed across the island towards the campground in Fatima, as it was past 7pm when we rode off the ferry. As always when getting off a ferry the first ride is up up up and as we crested the hill overlooking the ferry we could already see the other side of the island and the ocean beyond. Fatima was about four or five kilometers away, tops, through smatterings of roads and houses. The maps here seem like they are almost actual size. We stopped for some groceries along the way and made it to the campground in time to watch the sun sink down into the Atlantic Ocean while the almost full moon rose splendidly behind us.

We ended up riding only about eight and-a-half kilometers on our first outing; Heather’s first bike trip and the first time I’ve cycled with someone else. It was an easy segue in to our tour.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Guest

[SmoothedShredder]

Nice trip T + H! Thanks for sharing! Love the beaches on the Madeleine Islands! I gotta do that Cabot Trail one day for sure!

[Velvet]

East Coastlog, Stardate 082807

We woke to brilliant blue skies and farted around for a while. Showered, made some hot cereal, repacked and by noon we were on our way. Our plan was to go in whatever direction the wind was blowing so we headed north, which actually started with a little east, but soon enough we had a brisk wind at our backs and we were just skating along at around 25km/h taking in the sights. We veered off the main route on the next island (Havre aux Maisons) and went to a beach and saw a lighthouse. The scenery was truly stunning. I had no idea that we had such tropical looking geography in Canada. To the right was red cliffs eroded with holes by the pounding waves, to the left a long stretch of white sandy beach backed by white cliffs.

Just as we were nearing the end of Havre aux Maisons we stopped at a beach and checked our options over a delicious crepe at a funky little kiosk. We had gone about 20kms and it was past 2pm. There was a campground about a half a kilometre up the road, and not another (nor another restaurant) until we reached the end of the island system, about 45kms further. We decided to go on, which may or may not have been the best choice.

The wind blew us along the sand strips that link the islands with endless beach backed by the Atlantic Ocean on both sides of us. The upper part of the islands hooks around, so for the last thirty kilometers or so you can see where you’re going to end up across a huge bay. As a matter of fact, from where I sit typing this I can see all the main things we passed in the last two hours of yesterdays journey. We saw a small grocery store along the way and grabbed some food for dinner and plowed on.

The day was getting long and we were tiring. As the wind was behind us the whole time we hadn’t felt tired enough to rest as much as we should have along the way. Heather was getting exhausted as we turned the corner away from our backwind. This was her first time hauling gear and riding anything close to this far and she was feeling it, but she was a real trouper. She sucked it up and powered right through, with little Rocky poking his head out of her pannier all the way.

So here we are on Grande Entrée Island at site number 22 of the only campgound for four islands. Before me is the land we rode all day with the ocean beyond while behind me is a red rocky cliff jutting out into the same ocean. Anywhere you are here if you can get to high ground you can see the sea on both sides of you.

The stats, for both days:

Time: 4:26.38

Average speed: 16.9

Distance: 74.93

Total distance: 74.93

Top speed: 55.0

As mentioned, the ocean is in front and behind us. Beside us is a large and incomprehensible cross, made of what seems at first to be discarded plastic signs but on closer inspection a pattern shows that the panels were likely made for the structure itself. I’ve no idea what this thing is on about but it sure is conspicuous.

So we’re taking tomorrow off with the plan that we’ll boot around this island a bit. The view from our campsite is too spectacular for just one night.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Guest

[bradm]

Velvet, the images you linked to in your most recent log aren't showing up (I get "no permission" errors when I try to view them directly).

Aloha,

Brad

[Schwa.]

awesome

[Velvet]

I see 'em.

[bradm]

I see 'em.

Maybe it's a log-in thing? I noticed that the most recent pictures are hosted on a "kodak gallery" server, rather than on flickr, which was used for the previous pictures (which I can see fine).

Aloha,

Brad

[phorbesie]

brad can you see the full moon pic in the previous log? that one was on the kodak site. my flickr is full so i had to use a different site for the remaining pics

[bradm]

brad can you see the full moon pic in the previous log? that one was on the kodak site. my flickr is full so i had to use a different site for the remaining pics

Nope, I don't see any pics of a full moon.

Aloha,

Brad

[phorbesie]

ah...then definitely a log-in type issue. i've posted pics from kodak on other sites before no problem. same as snapfish. i hate how jambands only lets you use flickr, which i hate.

not sure what to do as the flickr account is full.