Day 4: Summerside to Borden-Carleton

Tuesday, July 28

Temperature: High 75°F / Low 63°F

Conditions: Clouds and fog turning to sun.

Distance Walked: 22.9k

Experiences of the Day

Today we walked the trail "backwards" so that we could self shuttle with the rural bus. We weren't sure how far the trail was today — our walk was from Summerside to Borden-Carleton and there were two trail options. Leaving early (5:47am) and taking the shorter route from Summerside worked out quite well as we missed a lot of the highway traffic that would be on the road in the afternoon. 

Advice: Bring earplugs for highway walking as it can be quite noisy at times.

Grabbed coffee and the washroom at the ESSO and before we knew it we were having our "lunch" break in Lower Bedeque. We sure loved that the museum was closed because we all made good use of the bench outside! Did you know that LM Montgomery taught for a short period of time in Bedeque in the little schoolhouse in 1897-98? You can tour the schoolhouse in Lower Bedeque.

So far, my favorite part of the walk was the red road just outside of Lower Bedeque. We noticed that there was some asphalt that was used to patch potholes in the red dirt road, we haven't seen that before. Two tractors went by and gave us an obligatory coating of red dust; I guess we are now official Island Walkers!

Our trail angel today was Kapiz Dev Chauhau. We finished our walk from Summerside and walked over to Island Pizza (902-855-3000), which is getting ready to for its grand opening. We were immediately greeted, offered Gatorade and a washroom! Kapiz, a former cancer biologist, and his crew were busy finishing up renovations, but took the time to talk with us and offer support. What a terrific guy...he even held my Gatorade so that I could take the selfie! We had planned to take the PEI Rural Transit bus back to Summerside, but we arrived so early that we decided to call a taxi. It was nice to have the extra three hours to relax at our Airbnb.

While we were walking, Therese was off to SportChek in Summerside where she bought a bike, Anne, to ride the Island Walk. She also picked up a tire pump, two spare inner tubes, bike shorts and shirt, tools, and a helmet. All items that we would later leave behind for someone who would benefit from them.

Finished off the night with a trip to Red Shores to see the harness races. Not being familiar with the sport, we talked to Rocky Schurman (a former driver) and took his suggestion of a box bet on #124. This turned out to be a good bet (I wagered $6) with a lousy payout ($5.95). The ladies sitting behind us in the stands were from Ontario and asked about the Island Walk (I had my shirt on...it's my only clean shirt...). One of them had heard of it, but had never seen or known of anyone doing the walk.

Summerside

PE-1A outside of Summerside

Callie from SportChek!

Anne on her first outing!

LM Montgomery taught in Bedeque in 1897-98.

Lunch stop at the museum.

Road repair?

Confederation Bridge

Crazy drivers!

Why does the barn have rectangular pop outs on the side? Potato storage?

Kapiz Dev Chauhau, owner of Island Pizza and our trail angel!

Harness racing at Red Shores.

Rocky Schurman gives winning advice on the races.

The truck had a gate that was used to start the race.

Day 4: Summerside to Borden-Carleton, 22.9k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Yogurt, blueberries and granola
• Trail Snacks: Veggies, nuts, cheese, banana, V8, ADL chocolate milk(!)
• Lunch: Egg, cheese and hummus pita roll at home
• Dinner: Chili Mac, Kale, veggies and hummus

Lodging: Airbnb in Summerside

Day 3: Victoria to Borden-Carleton

Monday, July 27

Temperature: High 76°F / Low 55°F

Conditions: Sunny with some clouds later in the day.

Distance Walked: 18.7k

Experiences of the Day

We wanted to get an early start, so we left right around 6:30 a.m. and enjoyed the cool morning air. We enjoyed the peaceful countryside, ocean views, and watching the machines harvest potatoes in the fields. 

As we approached the end of the third section, I spotted three gentlemen who appeared to be working on a car in their driveway. Therese and I decided we were going to ask them for a ride to the visitor center in Borden-Carleton while Linda and Kate opted to walk. Fortunately for us, more trail magic occurred and a very nice gentleman named Grant quickly agreed to take us into town. We had a nice visit with him and were very grateful for the ride. Our trip into town did not disappoint: views of the bridge, some fun with Anne, and COWS!

We bought month-long senior passes for the rural transit system and took the bus from the visitor center to Summerside where we are staying in an Airbnb. Tomorrow we will walk from Summerside to Borden and then take the bus back. Our bus driver Steven was amazing! He gave us a nice little tour and told us all about what we were seeing along the way.

Victoria Road potato fields

Potato harvesting along Victoria Road in Lower Tryon.

Potato fields

Trail magic: Grant gave us a ride!

Therese gets a costume consult.

When on PEI...

Day 3: Victoria to Borden-Carleton, 18.7k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Susan at the Oxley House B&B was absolutely amazing and sent us away with a to-go breakfast. Her bread is off the charts amazing!
• Lunch: Snacks
• Dinner: Veggie burgers, kale, veggies and hummus. 

Lodging: Airbnb in Summerside

Day 2: Dunedin to Victoria

Sunday, July 26

Temperature: High 79°F / Low 55°F

Conditions: Sunny

Distance Walked: 25.6k

Evening Walk: 1.9k

Experiences of the Day

We were feeling good, left nice and early and started our walk. In fact, we were feeling so good that we walked an extra half kilometer because we ended up missing the turn off for MacEachern Road! Heather, who did this walk two years ago, told us how she got lost in this general vicinity. I completely get it now. We saw the little hiker sign and in fact I even had my picture taken with it, but there was no Island Walk sign with it and we just kept walking right on by, right up that great big hill! 

Advice: if you see a hiker sign, double check your map because it may be that the Island Walk sign is missing.

Once we got on the correct road, we had a very delightful walk through the trees. The road was quite perfect because it wasn't too dry and it wasn't too wet, making for a nice firm yet comfortable walking surface. 

Very shortly we came upon an adorable little building with a sign, New Argyle School. We saw a gentleman sitting on the front porch and recognized him as the runner we had passed earlier. Believe it or not he was a MacEachern — his grandparents had been students at the school and later his mom had taught there. We had a delightful conversation, he offered us water and presented us with fresh raspberries! What a wonderful treat. Trail Magic!

We knew it was going to be a long walk, with not a lot around. So I had reached out to Bryson to ask him if he knew where we might be able to get water along our way. He directed us to the Free Church of Scotland and Reverend Compton. Being Sunday, we were sure to find people there. 

We arrived to find parishioners inside listening to the service. We took our shoes off and laid on the ground with our feet against the tree for a little bit of relief. Once the service was over, we introduced ourselves and the Reverend Compton invited us in for water, the washroom, and lunch! We took him up on the first two, said our goodbyes and continued on our journey. Trail Angel!

We heard barking and suddenly two Great Pyrenees showed up on the trail. They were the loveliest dogs we have ever met and escorted us for about two kilometers. At one point we wondered if they were going to walk us all the way to Victoria! Eventually they disappeared down a small driveway.Trail Guides!

Our host, Susan at the Oxley House B&B told us that we just absolutely must meet Sheldon White, who is one of the people on the Island Walk board. I let him know we were going down to Richard's for some dinner and who walks up but Sheldon himself! He had all kinds of great advice for us and assured us that today's walk was one of the hardest. Phew, were we glad to hear that, because it had been really hard: humid, hills, and heat all contributed to a tough day.

It was only our second day and we were all pretty tired — the humidity was between 64% to 78% (at least that's what the internet tells us), with lots of sun. That said, we met terrific people and are looking forward to continuing our walk tomorrow to Borden-Carleton.

Professor MacEachern treated us to raspberries and cold water.

Crops on New Argyle Road.

Another long red road.

We love our umbrellas!

Argyle Shore Cemetery (1850)

Reverend Compton at the Free Church of Scotland.

Potato fields by the sea.

Therese with our trail guides.

Potato fields.

Sheldon stops by to say hello!

Day 2: Dunedin to Victoria, 25.6k + 1.9k evening walk

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Freeze dried scrambled eggs, and cheesy GF rolls from Mary's Cornwall Baker!
• Snacks: Broccoli and hummus; cheese
• Dinner @ Richard’s for fish tacos, including deep-fried haddock, roasted beets and pickled onions. Scrumptious!

Lodging: Oxley House B&B

Day 1: Charlottetown to Dunedin

Saturday, July 25

Temperature: High 81°F / 61 Low °F
Conditions: Sunny
Distance Walked: 24.2k

Experiences of the Day

After months of anticipation, the day was finally here and our friend Billy led us to the trailhead. After some quick goodbyes and thank you's for hosting us, we made our way to the trail. 

The two really fun things that happened along the walk: 

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a friendly couple of honks and a wave only to discover that it was Billy who was on his way back from dropping off our friends' packs!

As we were leaving Cornwall, a very nice lady on a bicycle approached us and asked us if we were doing the Island Walk! It turns out it was Verna Lynn Weeks from the tourism association out on a bike ride. People here are so friendly!

One of the most interesting things we saw was a big stump that was covered with shoes! There was a gentleman doing some work out in the yard so we stopped by to ask him the story. As it turns out, his mother saved shoes of various family members that they had worn on vacations and decided to attach them to the tree as a remembrance of the trips. A walk down memory lane if you will.

We had a really nice time at the Matos Winery, where we met the owner. We lounged out front in the shade, fought off a multitude of spiders, and chatted with some people from Montreal. From there, we had just 500m to go!

When it was all said and done we walked for about 6 hours, which does not include the time that we spent at the grocery store, eating lunch, or wine tasting at the winery.

Tomorrow we head to Victoria.

Start of the walk.

We will also be walking part of the Trans Canada Trail.

And we are off!

Giant bee condos.

Charlottetown art from the Confederation Trail.

A walk down memory lane.

We loved our umbrellas...a 100% must have for the sun!

Day 1: Charlottetown to Dunedin, 24.2k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Bananas, oranges, apples, yogurt, blueberries, oats, GF muffins and Tim Horton's coffee. Thank you, Billy!
• Lunch: Cornwall Independent Grocery.
• Dinner: Made dinner at the house. 

Lodging: Airbnb

Charlottetown Here We Come!

Friday, July 24

Temperature: High 75°F / Low 60°F
Conditions: Sunny
Distance Walked: 3k

Experiences of the Day

We knew before we ever arrived here that the people of PEI were wonderful based on the interactions we have had with folks both through the Island Walk FB group and by phone. The four of us (two Oregonians, one Californian and one from Thailand) have been planning our trip since last November.

How lucky were we to have Billy host us on our inaugural visit to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. I had posted our trip to the Island Walk FB group and fortunately Billy happened to see it. He reached out and has been a wonderful ambassador - answering questions, making suggestions, picking us up from the airport, helping us with some errands and touring around downtown!

Airport meeting!

We ordered Island Walk swag from All Star Cresting at the end of June, but shipping to Oregon would mean that we wouldn't receive it prior to departure. Brenda at All Star was so kind - she suggested holding on to the items for us to check out once we arrived. She even sent us her number in case our plane was delayed and we arrived after they closed!

Brenda at All Star Cresting

Dinner in Charlottetown

Evening walk, 2.9k

Meals & Accommodation

• Dinner: Haddock, beet salad and sweet potato and bacon poutine at John Brown.

Lodging: Billy's House