July 31st, 2017, Day 71,  Sackville, New Brunswick to Victoria-by-the-Sea, PEI. 95km

We’re on PEI.

Wait,  let me rephrase that……

WE ARE ON PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

and……

WE RODE OUR BICYCLES TO GET HERE!!!!!!!

,,,,,,except for Confederation Bridge, of course, but no one is allowed to bike across that.

Charlie reminded me as we were shuttling across it that he’s probably the only person to have run across both Confederation Bridge and the Peace Bridge (in Calgary) on their opening days. Yay Charlie! You never cease to amaze me!

Thanks to Carolynn and William Bembridge who opened their home to us even though they weren’t home, Charlie and I were well rested, freshly showered, with clean clothes when we left Sackville.   There’s a Sandpiper Festival this past weekend in Sackville and the day before we’d driven the Bembridge’s car (with their permission) out to where the Sandpipers are usually seen at low tide. Charlie said that he’s seen the beach totally heave with bird activity, but yesterday we saw none. We must not have been there at the right time of the day.

A trail runs from Sackville all the way out to Confederation Bridge, apparently. We started out on it but after a bit more than 10km it started to deteriorate so we left the trail when we came to a paved road.

Charlie lived in these parts for a long time and made contact with many people, from students, faculty at MT A, to the kids and the parents of those kids who he coached in soccer. Church contacts, community contacts, friends of his daughters, friends of his ex-wife……  Charlie knows a lot of folks. So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that the person he flagged down for directions was someone he knew. Charlie had coached all 3 of Peter Manchester’s sons in soccer, 3 boys, all men now, educated, employed and living their lives. Peter and he chatted for a while, then Peter gave us directions and told us that we’d be passing by his summer home and asked us to stop in as we passed.

We rode. It was a spectacular day and we only had about 76km to do, we thought. (Ended up to be 95km). Traffic was light. The roads did go up and down but nothing too intense. We were enjoying every kilometre. A man in a truck pulled to the side, got out and waited for us to get to him.   Charlie was concerned; he couldn’t place this guy. Bill Cook introduced himself and said he’d just wondered if we needed directions or anything else. He was on the way to a fishing area to help people with their fishing gear. When does anyone stop like that? We were impressed and thankful.

Eventually we got to Peter’s place set across the road from  the longest strip of undeveloped beach in the area.   Peter must have been watching for us because he waved and called us over. He has an old lobster boat on his property that he, and his sons, when they’re around, are turning into a bunkhouse. He has some creative ideas and he wants it to “look flashy, but not too flashy” and have “a veneer of plausibility”.   He invited us to stay the night but we declined gratefully. We have plans and PEI is where we want to be tonight.  So we left. Before long we  passed a gravel road and Charlie asked if we had time for a stop.Yes, we do. We looped around to a well hidden house. Charlie expected to see someone there but instead met up with someone else he ,knew from when he worked at Mt A.  Ken and Janet Adams are enjoying their summer on the NB coastline. Retired now, Ken was a chemistry prof and advisor to international students. They were pretty darn surprised when Charlie rode up to their screen window!

On and on.   Finally we got to Confederation Bridge, which we crossed via the shuttle. From there we did about 25 more kilometres to get to Victoria-by-the-Sea. So incredibly, astoundingly beautiful…..   We were there once before with Rebecca, our sister-in-law and Willy, Charlie’s youngest brother. 2007, I think…… We met them in Sackville, and cycled from there to PEI, then rode the Blue Heron Trail. We had so much fun! When we got to VbtS, we ate at a restaurant off the wharf. Charlie asked the waitress who the most colourful character was in the place, and she indicated a man at the bar. Charlie sent him a beer. We finished our meal and were about to head out when the waitress told us that that man owned the boat tied alongside the wharf and would we like to join him and a few friends for a ride? Sure thing! Excellent! We climbed aboard. My antenna perked up right away. Music was BLASTING, people were all over the place. The boat took off like it was being chased and there we were, speeding into the night. One girl with whom I’d had a quick conversation about her boyfriend and how much in love she was, started swinging around one of the outside ropes or poles or something. She was drinking and having a real good time. I thought that if she fell off, we’d never find her so I coaxed her down and asked her all about that fantastic, amazing, handsome, delicious man she was dating. Kept her feet on the boat. That’s what counts! Anyway, Rebecca got the “captain”, owner to turn around by telling him she thought she was going to throw up. Turns out that the guy who owned the boat also owned the restaurant and his name was Myron Mitten. Myron was a lawyer who got busted and did time for running drugs up the coast! What a tale!

Fish and chips never taste better than after a sea water swim. It was so refreshing! The fish was fresh and lightly battered, the chips sizzling. My new favourite beer is a Blueberry Beer made in PEI , Gahan. Try it, you’ll like it.  

We sat outside the restaurant, taking advantage of their wifi and waiting until it got a little darker. We had our stealth campsite all picked out; the back side of the lighthouse. We would be hidden  in plain sight, but we planned on setting it up when things quietened down a bit more.   A man walked by us on the wharf…….

“Hi. Are those your bikes? Where did you come from? How many km do you do in a day? What’s your destination? ” He was really interested in our trip and asked many questions, including if we had blogs. The conversation evolved as conversations do. He spoke of Mount A. Charlie divulged that he’d worked there for 25 years. We walked towards the lighthouse together. Bob lived in that direction and we’d admitted to our camping plan. “Would you like to come by in the morning for coffee”, he asked. “Great idea! Thank you! We’ll be happy to!”

Someone, Sue,  I can’t remember her last name, came by on a bike. She is related somehow to the man, Bob Gray. She took one look at Charlie and said, “I know you! You’re Charlie and you were Dean of Students when I was at Mt A.”

Proof, once again,  that it’s a small, small world!!!