Cycling the Confederation Trail -2
/This was decision day. Should we finish riding the Confederation Trail or not? We figured the key was finding a way to ride one direction only, the problem being we needed to find a way to get back to Blanche at the end of the ride. But how?
We called rental car companies and surprisingly, no cars or trucks were available for rental. Neither Uber nor Lyft are available in PEI. We did try another ride share company as well as cabs and local transport companies, but none were interested in traveling that far outside of Charlottetown. While we noodled it a bit more, we left the campground unsure of our plans and headed to the Acadian Evangeline Region of PEI. We were curious about Maisons de Bouteilles ‘Bottle Houses’, that we’d heard about in Wellington.
Welcome to the Evangeline Region
En route, we got a look at Cape Egmont Light. We’d intended to visit, but after checking out the very rough, rutted, gravel road that led to the light, we opted out.
Cape Egmont Light pictured from across the bay
After driving through several charming little Acadian towns, we came to the Bottle House attraction.
A very large bottle consisting of beaucup bottles greeted us at the entrance.
According to the Bottle House website, ‘ [a] clever recycling project of the late founder of The Bottle Houses, Édouard Arsenault and his daughter, Réjeanne Arsenault’, the Bottle House village contains three separate buildings utilizing 30,000+ recycled bottles: a six-gabled house built in 1980 consisting of 12,000 bottles; a tavern constructed in 1982 using 8,000 bottles; and a chapel erected in 1983 with 10,000 bottles.
The six-gabled house consisting of 12,000 recycled bottles glued together. Credit- Keith Watson
The admission to the bottle house village and gardens was $10/each, probably a reasonable price, but we were still in a quandary about riding the trail and touring the site just didn’t appeal to us. We checked out the gift shop and took a few pictures outside, but gave the tour a pass.
We thought perhaps a visit to the local Visitor Info Center in Mt. Pleasant might provide a solution to our transport problem. The woman behind the counter was helpful and even made a call to the Confederation Trail Coordinator, but to no avail. We continued on in frustration to Alberton where we spotted another small visitor center. Our hopes were slim by this point, but what the heck.
Isabel greeted us warmly and we launched into the explanation of our problem. “I can arrange rides for you”, she said without hesitation. What? Did we hear her correctly? “Either I’ll do it myself or I’ll find someone to pick you up and return you to your van after your ride. Give me your number and I’ll call you back with the details.” Unbelievable!!! And sure enough, she called within the hour with ‘the plan’.
We checked into the Cedar Dunes Provincial Park campground in the shadow of the West Point Lighthouse with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.
We camped in the shadow of the West Point Lighthouse.
Miscouche to Portage - 25.3 miles
We were up at 0500 the next morning to meet Brian, our ride for the day. The plan was a bit complicated, but workable. We met him at the Portage trailhead where he parked his truck. We all drove to the Miscouche Trailhead in Blanche where Brian let us and the bikes off. He drove back to Portage in Blanche and reclaimed his truck while we cycled back to Portage on the trail where Blanche was waiting.
Brian dropped us off in Miscouche and we cycled back to Portage where Blanche was waiting.
The day was cool and clear and we made excellent time. Riding in the early morning for also good for spotting animals… 2 fox, 15 kamikaze snowshoe hares in summer fur that kept darting in front of us, 2 scurrying moles, 2 shy, peeking chipmunks and too many birds to count.
We were back to West Point by early afternoon sipping cold beer, eating lunch and enjoying a second story patio overlooking the harbor at Lighthouse Willy’s.
Tignish to O’Leary - 27.3 miles
The next morning was a repeat. We were up early, meeting Brian this time at the O’Leary Trailhead where he left his truck. We all drove in Blanche to Tignish, the official end (or beginning) of the Confederation Tip to Tip Trail. We cycled backed to O’Leary where Blanche was waiting for us once again. We only counted 4 chipmunks on the trail and were quite disappointed in the showing.
Tignish... the western terminus of the Confederation Trail.
There was only ~8.5 mile distance (17 miles roundtrip) between O’Leary and Portage that we needed to complete the following morning. Easy peasy. We stopped in Alberton to bring a thank you bouquet to Isabel and a gift card for Brian. Not sure we would have finished the trail without them. When we returned to the campground, we were spent but exhilarated. One short leg to go!
O’Leary to Portage and return - 17.3 miles
A very busy morning. We drove to O’Leary and rode the final miles to complete the trail ride. It had rained during the night and the morning was damp and overcast. The trail was wet with lots of deep puddles. We finished!
It was late morning when we headed to Mt. Pleasant to pick up our Tip to Tip Certificate. David will provide all the statistics and more trail specifics in his next blog.
We, however, were off to Cavendish for the afternoon. We couldn’t leave Prince Edward Island without visiting the Island’s most memorable and famous character. Come on along with us to Green Gables National Historic Site. Anne (with an ‘e’) is waiting.