Day 9: Christopher Cross to St. Louis

Sunday, August 2

Temperature: High 77°F / Low 63°F

Conditions: A few high clouds; breezy with some gusts 

Distance Walked: 17.2k

Experiences of the Day

We have been spoiled by our hosts at the Thistlebloom B&B: hot coffee on our deck at 6:15 this morning, a scrumptious breakfast, and a delightful dinner with our hosts Todd and Heather. They can accommodate a wide variety of dietary needs — it was just so safe and reassuring to be able to indulge in all they had to offer. After breakfast, we saw our island walking partners walk by so we called them over for a cup of coffee.

Todd shuttled us to Christopher Cross, and we started our reverse Island Walk back to the B&B. We are so glad we decided to stay at Thistlebloom for two nights because it is incredible. Truly a must do if you are planning to walk the trail. 

We enjoyed the scenery along the way and broke our walk up into two parts with a break at the Stompin' Tom Centre. Being from the United States, I had never heard of Stompin' Tom. The little museum was quite well done and we enjoyed listening to the musical performance at 1:00 p.m. (free show daily). You could also tour the original schoolhouse, where I invited Lisa from New Brunswick to sing with us. As it turns out her Dad had been a friend of Stompin' Tom and apparently they would hang out at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.

We headed back to the B&B and along the way we saw a herd of cows. It was the strangest thing: as we walked along the side of the road the cows all lined up to look at us. We stopped and looked at them. We would walk some more, they would walk some more. We would stop and look at them and they would stare at us. All lined up. It was something for sure.

Todd and Heather joined us for dinner at our request and we had delightful conversation. For dessert there was Irish Moss pudding. My immediate response was that it tasted like the ocean, but I think our host Todd described it better: it tastes like the ocean smells. Having grown up and near the ocean in California, I think that he has described the pudding perfectly because when I ate the dessert it reminded me of being at the beach.

After dinner, we took a walk down to the beach where many members of the family had their summer cottages.

Our favorite stay of the trip!

Therese enjoying an Island Walk bench.

Stompin' Tom Museum

It was a great performance!

We are watching you.

Irish Moss pudding!

Summer cottages at the beach.

Day 9: Christopher Cross to St. Louis, 17.2k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Western omelette (Lynn); scrambled eggs, yogurt with berries and nuts (Therese) 
• Lunch: Mountain House
• Dinner: Baked haddock, roasted carrots, beet greens, and potatoes. 
• Dessert: Avocado chocolate pudding (Therese) and Irish Moss pudding (Lynn)

Lodging: Thistlebloom B&B

Day 8: O'Leary to St. Louis

Saturday, August 1

Temperature: High 66°F / Low 61°F

Conditions: Cloudy with mist in the morning. 

Distance Walked: 30.4k

Experiences of the Day

Ran into a man on the Confederation Trail a couple minutes outside of O'Leary with a head net on so we quickly geared up for a serious mosquito encounter. We eventually met up with a heavy mist and wind and broke out our rain gear. The misty rain was coming straight on, so my umbrella became more of a shield and worked quiet well. 

Disaster struck when I looked down to find that one of my socks had disappeared just past Roseville. Seeing a lady preparing to turn onto the highway, I flagged her down, showed her the sock and asked her to keep an eye out for it. She seemed in a hurry, so I figured I probably wouldn't see my sock again. 

Some time later, a car comes racing to a stop with that wonderfully kind lady waving my sock out the window, "I found your sock!" In disbelief I thanked her and blew kisses as she drove away. Trail magic! If you know her, send her my eternal gratitude!

Meanwhile, Therese had ridden ahead and encountered quite a bit of moisture. She was greeted by the kindness of the owner of Tremblay's in Miminegash where she warmed up, enjoyed a cup of coffee and chatted with the locals. She especially enjoyed visiting with owner Laurie, and Kaitlyn, while waiting for us.

What a highlight. I was cold and wet and I walked in to two smiling faces and hot coffee, that brews all day. I sat down, spread out all of my wet stuff and warmed up. 

Great store and lunch counter. Laurie was cooking up fresh bacon for their famous breakfast sandwich! I saw at least two dozen people come in for breakfast sandwich, pizza, BLT, or a sub. 

Arriving at Tremblay's, I had the breakfast sandwich (which I had been dreaming about since I saw a photo on FB some weeks ago). Our two friends met their shuttle back to O'Leary and I took Anne for a spin down to the harbor. With refreshed legs, I returned to the trail to walk the last few kilometers to the Thistlebloom B&B. 

This was a quiet section of the trail and provided unexpected delights:

• Harness riders outside of O'Leary
• The red fox who joined and led Therese along the road for 250m
• Beautiful flower stand
• The sock whisperer who triumphantly presented the lost sock
• Roadside bakery stand
• Oh, the beautiful floral smell somewhere just past Roseville!
• The LeClair wedding party that provided delightful music for 10 minutes or so during the last bit of my walk
• Marie, the lady who provided a glass of water at about kilometer 29
• Our lovely hosts Todd and Heather at the Thistlebloom B&B
• Beautiful views the entire way!

Heading out of O'Leary.

Harness practice

Confederation Trail at Jerry Rd

A long straight stretch of the Confederation Trail.

The little red fox escorted Therese!

My sock!

Tremblay's

Harbor at Miminegash

Wheat fields.

Ebbsfleet

Thanks for the water!

Thistlebloom B&B

Day 8: O'Leary to St. Louis, 30.4k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Leftovers
• Lunch: Leftovers
• Dinner: Cullen skink, potato salad, and fresh yellow beans 

Lodging: Thistlebloom B&B

Day 7: Ellerslie to O'Leary

Friday, July 31

Temperature: High 66°F / Low 61°F

Conditions: Overcast; moist start but overall a nicely dry day

Distance Walked: 26.9k

Experiences of the Day

The PEI magic is just so amazing. I had received a wonderful message from Jo-anne asking if there was anything we needed at all and that she was willing to help. 

Our initial plan was to take the PEI Rural Transit from O'Leary to Ellerslie and then to walk to O'Leary. But then we experienced the warm humid days here on the island and when we saw that our bus was going to pick us up at 9:34am, we kind of rethought about that idea. I messaged Jo-anne about potentially giving us a ride to Ellerslie.

Trail magic happened just after 7:00 a.m. this morning when Jo-anne pulled into the parking lot of Ferguson Funeral Home. We piled into her car and she graciously drove us over to Ellerslie. She also gave us the most scrumptiously delicious raspberry zucchini muffins! I don't think I've ever had a muffin that good in my life. So much magic!

The walk itself was uneventful: the rain stayed away and we ran into a very small hiker on the trail. But it was a long walk...and I was oh so happy when Anne met me at the trailhead in O'Leary! I jumped on and off we went to the Canadian Potato Museum where Charlene brought me a delicious blueberry bread pudding! Perfect ending to a terrific day.

Best raspberry zucchini muffins ever!

I should have taken all that were offered!

Rest area

Blueberry bread pudding at the Potato Museum.

Day 7: Ellerslie to O'Leary, 26.9k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Yogurt, berries, granola. 
• Snacks: ADL choc milk, gigantic sticks of pepperoni and cheese, protein bar, banana, V8, electrolytes.
• Dinner: Chili mac, milk, broccoli 

Lodging: Airbnb in O'Leary

Day 6: Wellington to Ellerslie

Thursday, July 30

Temperature: High 69°F / Low 62°F

Conditions: High clouds with a few sprinkles

Distance Walked: 20.7k

Experiences of the Day

So we get some funny looks sometimes. For example, people ask where you are from, how long you are here, and so on and so forth. And then you mention the Island Walk and some people look at you a little sideways. In a nice island-like way of course. But when you tell Jeff the taxi driver what you are doing and he is picking you up at 7am to drive you 2.3k, he just lets out a big belly laugh. As in, seriously, you are walking 700k and you want me to drop you off at McDonalds so that you can catch the PEI Transit Bus? Yes. We have to save our feet for the trail. And we all had a good laugh with him. Of course now that we have left Summerside (land of the taxis), we are on our own. Well for the most part anyhow. 

Stephen the bus driver who we have come to know over the last couple of days took very good care of us and got us up to the trail in Wellington. There, we met up with Therese and today's trail angel CJ! Having Anne join us on the trip means that we had a few logistics to address and CJ stepped in to lend a hand. Well, actually a truck, and he transported Anne and Therese up to the trail in Wellington where the four of us all met up again. Therese ended up riding all the way up to O'Leary while the rest of us walked to Elerslie Elementary, where we caught the bus, for the second time today, up to O'Leary. The clouds stayed high and we stayed dry. It was a great day of walking.

Advice: If you are planning a walk and all of this sounds confusing, here are the logistics: 

1. PEI Rural Transit Bus from Summerside to Wellington

2. Walk Wellington to Ellerslie

3. PEI Rural Transit Bus from Ellerslie to O'Leary

The bus requires a reservation.

We trudged over to the Potato Museum for some dinner and ended up getting pretty wet on the walk over. I never know what to order, so I was eyeing everyone's dinner as it was served. One lady was sure to let me know that a small plate of poutine would be plenty. She was right and after dinner, I went over to talk with her. Turns out Marion is a local and so I asked her if she would be willing to give us a lift to the Co-op so that we might pick up some breakfast items. Not only did she give us a lift, but she waited for us and then drove us home for the night!

Watercolors

I'm not always so on top of the note taking during a trip, but we have found that if you use Blogger, you can print a very nice book of your posts. Adding water colors to the blog is new...after taking water color classes this spring we put together a miniature painting kit for the trip. It has been really fun to talk about what should go into each painting as we walk the trail. Therese is doing a terrific job with her painting!

Our trail angel CJ!

Jim the taxi driver in Summerside.

Steven our Rural Transit Driver

Relic from the old train line.

Fireweed

Keep going!

The artist in action.

Day 6: Wellington to Ellerslie, 20.7k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Yogurt, blueberries, granola, leftovers
• Snacks/Lunch: Cashews, V8, banana, apple, peppers, carrots, pita bread with hummus and ADL choc milk!
• Dinner: Pulled pork poutine and milk at the Potato Museum

Lodging: Airbnb in O'Leary

Day 5: Wellington to Summerside

Wednesday, July 29

Temperature: High 79°F / Low 62°F

Conditions: Sunny

Distance Walked: 19.6k

Experience of the Day

Another great day on the trail. Because we are self shuttling, we walked this section "backwards" going from Wellington back to our Airbnb in Summerside. We met our PEI Rural Transit driver Sanana at McDonald's and she took us up to Wellington where we were delighted to find an absolutely stunning trail and so many bunny rabbits!

We had a restful afternoon and then headed over to the neighbor's place for an afternoon beverage. Sigrid and Perry were a delightful addition to our day and shared their wonderful garden with us. After easy conversation and many laughs, we said our goodbyes and headed home for a quick dinner.

My absolute favorite part of the day was Highland Storm: The Elements at the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre. I just felt like the performance and the stories that were told were relevant to what we are seeing and experiencing as we do the Island Walk. Plus, Emma gave us a stamp in our passport! We also met volunteers Fred and Linda who reappear later in our trip.

PEI Rural Transit requires reservations.

Sanana our driver.

Starting the walk in Wellington.

Another bridge, more pretty views.

Confederation Trail

Fireweed

A nice evening with Sigrid and Perry.

Emma stamped our passport!

Highland Storm: The Elements at the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre.

Day 5: Wellington to Summerside, 19.6k

Meals & Accommodation

• Breakfast: Egg, cheese, hummus and olives on pita
• Snack: Nuts, cheese, bars, banana, electroytes
• Lunch: Yogurt, granola, blueberries
• Dinner: Leftovers!

Lodging: Airbnb in Summerside