Jen's East Coast Adventures

I ended up waking up at the crack of dawn today, and it was a beautiful, fog-filled wonderland, so I had to get up and take some pictures. I then packed a lunch and hopped on my unloaded bike and proceeded down to the National Park, which was where I had wanted to get the night before. It was much more fun exploring on a virtually weightless bike! I found a few trails that were begging to be ridden, so I detoured on to them, and had tones of fun ripping through them. There was this really neat semetary along one of the trails that apparently houses the remains of some of the first Scottish settlers in the area.

I finally got down to the beaches, and Wow, what beaches! Miles of beautiful sand and lovely waves that would have been kick ass for surfing if they'd been a bit bigger; there was a sand bar about 30m from shore, so if there was bit more swell, the waves would have totally been breaking nicely off shore.

After a few swims, I was ready to head out, having not made any forward progress yet today! Instead of pushing by bike back up the beach (I hate backtracking and I HATE pusing!), I discovered the wet sand was firm enough to ride on. I then had a lovely ride along the shore for a good 3kms or so. It was fabulous, but I definitely got several double takes!

I headed back to camp, and when I was almost there, I saw a sign for a steak house and pub, 2 kms out of the way. Well, I'd been craving steak since the night before when I had to settle for tuna, so I figured 2 km was no big deal. Unfortunately, I must have read to sign wrong, because I got to the end of the road, and no steak house. I headed back and realized there was a different side road I should have taken. So I head down it, and at the end of that road... you guessed it: no steak house! I was absolutely famished by then and quite disgusted both with myself and with ambiguous signs, so I ate a few granola bars and headed back to camp. I packed up and got to Mount Stewart, and this neat cafe called the Trail Side Cafe, which is conveniently right beside the CT! Their menu was posted on the window, and unfortunately, no steak, but my granola bars had warn off, so I figured I'd go into the empty restaurant and have an early supper (around 4pm by this time). No such luck; it was booked solid for a function!

So I asked a shop keeper near by where I could get a good steak, and they said Charlottetown! A good 60kms away, and out of the way to boot! So I asked where the nearest restaurant of any sort was (besides the Trail Side Cafe, obviously). They directed me to a golf course, which was relatively close, but still a few hours away. So off I go, bothering some guy in a truck when I was getting close to make sure I didn't go the wrong way (wasn't gonna do that 3 times in a day!), and I finally reached my destination, and my steak!! Ah, bliss! Some fried clams and a few beers, and I was much happier.

Now, to find a place to stay. My book said there was a B&B about 30kms away, but of course my cell phone doesn't get coverage at the golf course, so I pedal onward into to falling night, stopping to pull on an extra layer and put my lights on my bike. It was pretty creepy pedaling down the CT at night. I think I scared a raccoon at one point; I thought it was a skunk, but there was no stench, and I scared it enough that it definitely would have sprayed! I got to the town where the B&B was supposed to be, and low and behold, my cell phone has coverage, AND the B&B has a room! Turns out they were still about a 30 minute pedal away, but I was already rigged up for night riding, so no problems there. I even stopped to start gaze for a bit! The B&B was a welcome site, as was the shower and the chokecherry wine the owners shared with me when I came down to chat before going to bed.