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.