Distance: 86km
Elevation: 384m
It had been a calm and peaceful night. The first after many noisy ones I figured.
Around 8:30 the morning, Shannon and Marco came over to say farewell. As usually, they were on their schedule.
It was really nice to have met both of them.
They went off to meet an aunt of Shannon and stay there overnight. Maybe I would meet them again on my way to Halifax?
It was a beautiful warm day. I took my time for my morning chores and was in the saddle by 10am.
It had turned out that meeting Mathieu and Claudia along the way would not work out. They were simply too far behind me. Also, Google Maps had let them astray the day before and they have had to drag their bikes through no man’s land for 9km. This had made them even slower.
However, we agreed to meet in Montreal on my way back home. I was very much looking forward to that.
I had an early lunch at Subway and followed the Confederation Trail to Charlottetown where I would meet Lindsay, my second Warmshowers host on this trip.
This trail was a converted railroad track. In the nineteenth century they auctioned this project off to the cheapest provider and paid by the kilometer of tracks installed.
The track company managed to install 400km of tracks on PEI by following waterways and valleys rather than by crossing them in straight line.
As a result the trains could only move very slowly due to the many curves. It had been a scandal back in the days.
What had been bad for the trains was great for the trail. It was even, oftentimes guarded by trees and easy on the eye.
After 85km of calm and eventless cycling, I reached Charlottetown and after a little waiting, Lindsay came home from work.
We said “Hello” and I set up my tent in the back,
I had a shower, loaded the washing machine and asked Lindsay if she wanted to join me for dinner. Luckily she agreed and we went to a nearby food court.
We had burgers, salad and craft beer and were listening to some life music.
She had been born and raised on PEI and was a registered nurse today. I guess she was in her early forties. She was leading a long term care facility for elderly people.
She was a cyclist but interestingly she had never cycle-toured and had never used Warmshowers as a traveller. But she was a host for about 10 years already. Impressive.
I asked her why and her reply was “essentially because I can and because I like to meet interesting people and hear their stories”.
She was super relaxed with regards to her safety. After all, this was an island where everyone knew each other and looked out for one another.
I mention that because Michèle in St. John had been very concerned with her own safety both as a female cyclist and as a host.
We talked about traveling, her job, and a lot about death since she was confronted with this a lot at her workplace. It was very interesting.
Around 10pm I went to sleep in my tent.