Day 27: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada

Day 27: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada

July 9, 2016

Miles: 45
 
Pictou to Charlottetown

We woke early this morning, despite the loud music and fireworks late last night.  Oddly, the noise didn't really disrupt either of us.  We both slept soundly through the night - (I guess this isn't really that odd). We woke in time for breakfast.  Continental Breakfast is really a hit or miss, and this morning like yesterday, it was a miss. After we ate (very little), we went back to the room to check on de Tour and Wimbleton, our now routine.  We had lots of time to kill.  The distance to the Ferry was only 6 miles, so we thought to leave about 9:30a to catch the 11:15a Ferry.  It was only 8:30a.

When we got to our room, I called to reserve tickets for the Ferry, but was told only round trip tickets were available.  We only needed to buy a 1-way because we planned to exit the island by taking a bridge into New Brunswick west of Charlottetown.  All 1-way, walk-ons are first come, first serve the woman said. She also said that one of the two Ferry's was out of operation, so we needed to be at the Ferry terminal early 'more than 1 hour early' to make sure we got a spot on the 11:15a Ferry.  This sent us scrambling to pack and leave the hotel as quickly as possible.  We were ready in less than 15 minutes and out the door.   We pedalled like crazy.  We really didn't want to miss the 11:15a Ferry because the next Ferry after that was scheduled at 2:45p.  This was too late because we had a lot of miles to ride to get to Charlottetown once on PEI.  We got to the Ferry terminal at 10:10a, quite early as it turned out. In fact, we were the first in line for walk-ins.  To kill time and to recharge, Steve had an egg sandwich and I had two fried eggs.  We both had a cup of coffee.

 After waiting an hour, we boarded the Ferry.

Here is one of the sights we saw from the Ferry.

 Another random shot on the Ferry.

Once we docked, and just outside the Ferry terminal area, there was an information center.   The woman who worked there encouraged us to take Route 1 all the way into Charlottetown.  We had intended to take a shorter, more direct route, but she said Route 1 was the safest route for the bikes.  Unfortunately, it increased our ride by 5 miles, but better be safe than sorry.  As you may remember, we did learn the hard way two days prior that the most direct route isn't necessarily the best route, so we took Route 1 as the woman recommended.

We rode 40 miles pretty much straight through with one rest stop.  Even though the temperature was cold (high 50s to low 60s), it was a beautiful ride to Charlottetown.  Here are a few pictures below of the island to give you a view of how beautiful the island is.

 

As you can see the island is green!   It was a long 40 miles with a lot of rolling hills, but the wind was blowing mostly in our favor so this helped.

After approximately 20 miles, we stopped to rest and recharge.  Steve bought fresh strawberries and I bought a gatorade.

We were carrying cheddar cheese and cashews and feasted on these as well.

One of the locals took this shot of Steve and me.

We arrived at the hotel at about 6:00p.  We are staying at The Great George hotel in the center of town.  Just beautiful.  I had made reservations that morning.  I really didn't think I would get reservatins at this hotel because when I looked online it said that no rooms were available.   This hotel is rated the highest with Trip Advisor (5 stars), so I was very surprised when I called that there were two rooms available.  And because it was the same day reservation, the hotel had discounts running to fill the hotel.  We actually got this room 1/2 price.   It is more like an apartment, but called a suite.   Living area, kitchen and bedroom.  Continential breakfast is included as well, and we were given a $25 gift certificate at check-in to use at any of the 10 restaurants that they own locally.

This place even has a private washer and dryer in the suite for us to use at no cost.  How sweet is this!

We took showers then relaxed a bit, then went to get dinner. Steve here below enjoying a fresh brew from a local brewery.  Essentially from the sister restaurant across the street, both owned by the The Great George hotel.

Dinner is served.    Steve had penne alfredo with beef medallions.  A pork chop, sweet potatoes, roasted corn and brussel sprouts for me.  Yummy!  

Tomorrow night we are staying again in Charlottetown to explore and rest up.