Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Review

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Unboxing

Glorious November Morning

Gusty Goings on

Chase the Ace

Beehive brrr

Autumn Amble

Fall Frolic

Strathgartney Hike

Stratford Traffic Jam

Crowbush Cove beach walk

Strawberry Lane with Kathleen

Downtown Dash

A fourteen minute ride into downtown taking just one minute using 'time warp'.

Windy Wobble

Midtown Meander

North Shore

PEI National Park

Birthday 2021

Windy Wander

A cold and windy ride on some different roads.

Montague to Georgetown on The Confederation Trail

Kenny Road to Montague Junction on The Confederation Trail

Midtown Mosey

Talking My Way Around Town

A much longer film than I intended,

Pownal Pedal

Narration for a change.

Pownal Passage

Roundabout Mayhem

Beehive Bicycle with Kathleen

Mount Stewart to Kenny Road on The Confederation Trail

Pownal Loop again

A perfect cycling day, a tailwind on fast smooth roads, a section of trail, a picnic, 21c and blue skies.

Tea Hill

Pownal Loop by road

Another great day to be out on two wheels. Main roads were busy but the country routes much less so. I took a sandwich in my jersey pocket and stopped halfway to eat and enjoy the scenery. I met a cyclist from Newfoundland who was just in PEI for the weekend.

Trying to make the road crossing on Route 1 near Mount Albion meant a long wait for a break in traffic.

Charlottetown to Hunter River and back on The Confederation Trail.

64km ride to Hunter River and back on The Confederation Trail.

Charlottetown City Limits loop

Charlottetown with Maisie

Baltic Road to East Point on The ConfederationTrail

This Sunday dawned warm and sunny so we drove 90km to our previous turnaround point just east of Souris. Passing Basin Head we drove into a thick blanket of sea mist bit this cleared as we veered inland. We parked at the Baltic Road trail crossing and set off on one of the most remote stretches of The Confederation Trail. Emerging from a nearly continuous canopy of trees after 9km we reached Elmira, the end of the former railway line (now The Confederation Trail) where the station, ticket office, buffers and a stretch of rails give a small sense of how the railway looked 40 years ago.

Leaving the trail we headed out on almost deserted roads for a further 9km until we reached East Point with no more land left to cycle. A pod of seals was relaxing a couple of hundred yards offshore, their black skins glinting in the sun. The lighthouse with its gift and snack shop and a sprinkling of cliff top homes gaze out north and east towards Newfoundland and The Atlantic Ocean.

Completion of this 35km leg marks the conclusion of our bike ride to all points east and makes a total round trip ride of some 242km in half a dozen rides over the last few weekends. A short break is now in order for beaches and a bit of hiking before we choose another section of The Confederation Trail to ride.

K and I ride to the Hillsborough Bridge and across

Bear River to Baltic Road and back via Souris on The Confederation Trail

Tea Hill via the new Hillsborough Bridge bike path

I’ve ridden the Hillsborough Bridge many times on a gritty and narrow shoulder. This week all four lanes of the bridge re-opened after a year of strengthening work coupled with the introduction of a dedicated bike lane, shielded by Armco barriers, which runs on the west side of the bridge.

I decided to check it out on a sunny Friday. The Riverside Drive Grafton/Street junction is a slow mess using the bike lanes and I may just ride that section on the road another time. However my experience on the bridge was much calmer than before with smooth tarmac and a wide path to myself.

I combined the ride with a loop taking in the grim climb which is Tea Hill. I made it to the top without getting off but only with much grunting and puffing and a very elevated heart rate. I am an old man after all.

A powerful southerly wind propelled me back.

St Peters to Bear River on The Confederation Trail

On Sunday we rode stage four of our easterly trek. An hour’s drive took us to St Peter’s where we parked and unloaded the bikes in glorious sunshine. The previous day’s heavy rain had all soaked away and the trail was dry but somewhat less well-maintained than in more populous areas.

At one of the bridge crossings we watched a kingfisher hunting and saw a family of geese, their position in the reeds betrayed by honking. Insect life abounded and the slight tailwind meant they easily kept up with us (uncomfortably for us!).

With two possible turnaround points in mind, we chose the sooner in view of the heat and humidity. That simply means we now have two longer rides left to complete the ride to East Point

Douglas Station Road to St Peters on The Confederation Trail

We set out from Canavoy on the third leg of our eastward bike trek across PEI with a stiff northerly crosswind. The dazzling blue skies belied a cool ride at 14c. This is a remote section of trail and we passed just a couple of runners.

We also met a biker, a paramedic student from British Columbia studying at Holland College, who had ridden from Charlottetown to Morell. He confirmed that the trail closure signs were genuine and a bridge was out while repairs were being undertaken. We followed a detour signposted on Route 2  and by the time we rejoined the trail and eventually reached St Peters it was clear that our round trip would be 48 km, not the 38 we had planned on.

Despite the annoyance of 10 km of road riding, our afternoon was full of interest. We had a bald eagle circling above us for several minutes and we encountered a pair of geese stubbornly blocking the trail while shepherding their couple-of-week-old fluffy goslings into a pond. I had a rat or perhaps a vole running alongside my front wheel for a few seconds. This ended up being Susan's longest ride to date in both distance and time.

Corrigan Road to Douglas Station Road on The Confederation Trail

Today dawned bright and clear with the mercury rising. We drove the twenty minutes to Corrigan Road and set off on leg two of our eastward cycle trek on The Confederation Trail. I am an advocate of helmets for road cycling but on the trail we often ditch them. So, with long locks a-flowing, we headed into a northerly crosswind. This section of the trail becomes increasingly remote and it will get more so. We passed just a handful of other cyclists and walkers despite it being our best weather of the year so far.

After 18 km we stopped at a road crossing and took a water break (both in and out!) and turned around for the return ride. There are nice rural views and many glimpses of the Hillsborough River to the south. We kept an eye out for the beluga whale which has recently swum upstream and set up camp in Mount Stewart but no sign.

On arriving back at the car Susan had a comical but well controlled dismount. We dusted ourselves down and hurriedly lashed the bikes to the car to get out of a mosquito swarm.

Charlottetown City Limits loop

Brackley Point Road to Corrigan Road on The Confederation Trail

A loop around Charlottetown

What the video doesn't show is the twenty minute delay at the start while I repaired a front wheel puncture, nor the relentless uphill slog into a gale while we reached the early high point of our ride. The blue sky and sunshine I liked; the flags standing out stiff not so much, except later when they were pointing at our backs!

Movie Night

 

We sat down to The Zookeeper's Wife knowing only that it was a tale of Second World War heroism. After the opening sequence our attention was rapt. The sheer brutality of the Nazi machine flattening Poland was demonstrated by the bombing of Warsaw Zoo. The Germans rounded up prized animals for genetic experimentation then systematically slaughtered the defenceless remainder.

We caught our breath from this action and followed the resistance activities of the zookeeper and his wife who went on to smuggle hundreds of Jews out of Warsaw using the zoo as a way station. It was highly satisfying to see the Nazis turn the zoo into a pig farm for meat only to have the owners drive around Warsaw in a cart, obligingly collecting scraps for pig food, while all the time picking up and hiding children for later release right under their noses.

The following night we watched The Way Back, a deep character study of a former basketball star who had fallen into alcoholism after the death of his young son. We see him find purpose again coaching a failing high school team back to greatness. You don't need to know anything about basketball to appreciate this, just about humanity.

Winter River hike in the snow.