Day 70: Kindred Spirits (Borden-Carleton – Grand Tracadie)

July 18, 2014

Prince Edward Island is a wonderful mixture of agriculture and tourism with some fisheries around the edges. The island is known as a tourist destination for good reason. The coasts and villages leave you awing at every turn. Instead of taking the shortest route across the island to Nova Scotia, I decided to take a day’s jaunt exploring some of the coastlines. With the sun shinning, neither the rolling hills nor winds could get me down. My only complaint is that the most scenic coastal roads have no shoulder. Since all the other tourists are also rolling along here in their tin boxes, it makes for a mentally exhausting day but people were patient and generally allowed me a wide berth. I’ll let the pictures describe the views for me. You may have noticed the number of pictures I post, how many I take even more so, is a good indicator of my mood and how anxious I am about getting to my destination.

A random farm turned into a Anne of Green Gables Farm, also offering buggy rides with Mathew
A random farm turned into a Anne of Green Gables Farm, also offering buggy rides with Matthew

One of my long preplanned destinations was Cavendish, which is Anne of Green Gables territory. I actually skipped most of the Anne sites or just cycled by. I had wanted to visit not so much as a pilgrimage to L.M. Montgomery’s fictional world than a tribute to childhood reading. My siblings and I were book fiends from a very young age. We started with blank notebooks in Paraguay. Mom would send us to the general store to sell the extra eggs, after buying some necessities we could buy notebooks with the change. Since we never had enough for all, she saved them until we each had our own book. What a joyous occasion when the new notebooks care out. I can’t recall what we drew or wrote in them and unfortunately they ended up in the outhouse when we moved.

These red dirt roads are so familiar even in North America
These red dirt roads are so familiar even in a North American setting

In Canada we all had very active library cards; with six of us, I’m certain we were a substantial portion of the books moving in and out of the little Springfield library. Walks to the post office across the tracks were carefully coordinated with the opening hours of the library. But still we often ended up in the same book either because there was currently nothing else to read in the house or we read the same series. Anne of Green Gables was such an example. It wasn’t unusual to find two and on occasion three of us reading the same book over each other’s shoulder. This is a delicate practice: matching reading speed, holding the book steady, being willing to wait when one is called away, not breathing too loudly, and so on. I’m sure this was an important contributor to our diplomatic skills. With an unquenchable desire to know what happens next, anything is possible.

The first of many lighthouse pictures to come. This one is along the bike path in Prince Edward Island National Park
The first of many lighthouse pictures to come. This one is along the bike path in Prince Edward Island National Park

Road Report: 133km
As noted, the roads are hilly with no shoulders. The conditions of the pavement is better than New Brunswick. Cavendish is very touristy with a lot of traffic and not really worth the hassle.

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