Prince Edward Island was great – we loved the towns, the countryside, the beaches, and the city.  We even had fantastic weather – the day after I left I guess the skies opened and they had rain, hail, and funnel clouds – glad I missed that.

They did have one interesting idiosyncrasy: their speed limits.  We noticed this all over the island.  One minute you’d be doing 90kmh in the middle of the countryside (makes sense), and then suddenly, with no real logic behind it, the limit would drop to 50kmh for about 3 minutes (no town or village in sight), then pop back up to 100kmh.  There was a real sense of whimsy to it.

They’re also big on traffic round-abouts, which I consider very sensible – after 2+ years in the UK, I came to appreciate the efficiency and ease of travel that round-abouts bring.  We were a little surprised to find more that one brand-new, absolutely massive round-about on the outskirts of a little village, or at the crossroads of two farm roads in the middle of nowhere – I feel there was a certain optimism to those – an anticipation of great development in the near future.

It all came together on my drive to the ferry on my last day.  The speed limit skirting Charlottetown was a sensible 60kmh, until I got near a causeway, when it dropped to 50kmh.  Fine, that continued for a good 10 minutes.  Then, less than a kilometre from a double round-about in Stratford, in what I would describe as a stretch of retail plazas, it jumped to 100kmh.  Did I mention the upcoming round-abouts?  The recommended speed limit through them was 30kmh, so we sped up, just to slow down.  As soon as I left the 2^nd round-about, the limit jumped back to 100kmh (as the twit in the black Ram truck let me know with his horn), stayed at 100kmh for less than 1 kilometre, then dropped to 70kmh for no apparent reason. (less than 1 kilometre)

Do you suppose the road planning commission just drew numbers from a bowl and threw them at a map of PEI?

Off to the tip of Cape Breton today. I just went online to find the ‘least mountainous, best for RVing highway – 105 or 223?’  Google came back with 105, which it says is for, ‘transport trucks, heavy commercial vehicles and large tour buses.’  Great.  Perfect.

But right below that it says, ‘though it does feature a notable climb over Kelly’s Mountain. And beware the hairpin turn at the very bottom of the mountain.’

Well, isn’t that just dandy. Wish me luck!

**Edit:  Well, it was neither as bad as Google made out, nor nearly as bad as my imagination had inflated it.  I made it to Litte Bras D’Or just fine – I will say, a hairpin turn at the bottom of a mountain (and I mean a full-on 180° switchback) seems like poor planning by the Nova Scotia roads department. 

Steps before 10am: 6, 355. Chips this week: None.

One of the things that made our week so great was a good friend of MB’s who lives in PEI.  She had a car to spare and was so incredibly generous, so we were able to zip all over the island , park everywhere, and not take down the RV every time we wanted to go anywhere.

Had to laugh at some directions we received: her friend Brenda has lived in the countryside in a small province for too long.  She recommended a certain restaurant, and the directions included the sentence, “It’s right across the street from where The Blue Mussel Café used to be.”  Think about it.

Recommendations for future visitors:

North Rustico (The Little Maison’s lobster crepe and affogato crepe were both spectacular).

Victoria by the Sea (we had prosecco & seafood nibbles on the end of a pier watching the sun set).

Dining: Reel Seafood, Tyne Valley Tea Shop, Casa Mia & The Lobster Barn in Victoria

Shops: Fleurs de Liz, Bittersweet Rose, Red Sand Jewellery

And our biggest surprise?: The somewhat mundane-seeming-at-first-glance town of Summerside.  The Summerside Waterfront Café was a complete revelation; I had the best massage of my life in the Golden Lotus Spa (and Michele had the best pedicure); and although everyone thinks Cows when they think PEI ice cream – trust me, Holman’s is the place you want to go.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot – you must sign up for the Prehistoric Island Tour.  Really.  A 90-minute walking tour of the only beach in PEI that has revealed fossils of giant reptiles and 2’ long millipedes (eeh) from pre-dinosaur Permian period.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just had the best week in PEI.  I have a friend in Burlington who says, “PEI is positively my most favourite place in the world”.  And now I see why. 

It seemed we were showered in a week’s worth of pixie dust, because every little town we visited, every café or restaurant we checked out, every boutique we went into was lovely.

I picked MB up at the Charlottetown airport (gotta love an airport with cheap – and more importantly, easily accessible for a big rig – parking).  My lunch at Claddagh Oyster House was delicious, but I have never been served an entire head of lettuce before.  I asked for the wedge salad (you know: blue cheese, bacon, hard boiled egg, etc) and a WHOLE head of iceberg lettuce was put in front of me. With my frugal mother’s words ringing in my ear, I ate all the most expensive ingredients and left the lettuce (did I mention it was an entire head of iceberg?) behind.

(As per usual, forgot to take pictures.  Sigh.)

Here’s a breakdown of what the summer trip is supposed to look like between July 5th & October 5th:

1. Bruce Peninsula, Manitoulin Island, Muskokas
2. Montreal CFUW Conference & tour of the Quebec South Shore
3. Saguenay and Charlevoix
4. Miramichi, Shediac, and the east coast of New Brunswick
5. Prince Edward Island
6. Cape Breton
7. Newfoundland
8. Central & Southwestern Nova Scotia
9. Halifax to Saint Andrews, then the Saint John River Valley
10. Quick bolt across southern Quebec and straight home to Milton

But that’s not what is happening.  Routes #1, #2, & #3 – all as planned, no changes there.  And I continue to tell people they need to go to Charlevoix – absolutely stunning.

But then #4 changed to the Saint John Valley (Edmunston, Fredericton, Moncton), as I couldn’t find decent campgrounds near Miramichi, and the roads across to Bathurst and south looked pretty mountainous.

#5 is still PEI, but extended at either end.  Because, you see, I’ve cancelled #7 – Newfoundland. Yup, cancelled. The whole province – not goin’.

More to come.

Yesterday I left Truro, after a wonderful stop at the Masstown Market (thank you CH) and headed to PEI. I’m not afraid of heights, I am a level-headed, practical driver who knows that if she has no problem staying within the lines on a regular road, she will have no problem staying withing the lines on any road. And yet . . .

I wish I had had one of those rings that can measure your stress level yesterday afternoon. The first spike would have been just outside Port Elgin, NB, when I first glimpsed the massive (20km long and 200 feet high (in places)) Confederation Bridge. Then the signs saying it was a toll bridge – of course it is. So I’m driving along the Trans Canada at 90kmh, with at least 15 – 20 cars and trucks behind, scrabbling in my wallet for my credit card with one hand while steering with the other, as this monstrosity looms ahead.

Then we get on the bridge, whose speed limit is 80kmh. Eighty. Single lane, either way. The barriers are 3’6″ high on either side. Yes, less than 4′. I’m driving an 11′ tall, flat-sided wind-catcher at 80kmh. (By now the stress ring would have exploded under the pressure.) I had checked the wind speeds, which were quite low. Yeah, sure, low whilst on terra firma, surrounded by trees, with hills and buildings all around, breaking the wind up.

I am quite sure I was whimpering aloud. By the time we were halfway across and the bridge had levelled out to a nice, low 130′ above sea level, I was feeling a tad better. And then I saw the last third of the bridge which, like the New Brunswick side, rises back up to its fun, daring, jaunty height of 200′ high. The whimpering returned. Finally we were nearing the end, thank God. Inexplicably, we were directed around the toll booths (so that mad, one-handed scramble at the beginning was completely unnecessary, how nice).

You know in those comedy movies, where the nervous flier gets off the plane and bends down to kiss the ground in thanks? Had I not had half of NB traffic behind me on the highway, I’m pretty sure I would have done the same thing.

Of course I made it just fine. But you know all that was going through my head on the last half of the trip? ‘Maybe I’ll take the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia next week instead of the bridge.’

(I forgot to take a photo – yeah, right, when exactly would you have been able to do that? – but I’ll try to remember on the way back)

Steps before 9am: 6,543. Chips: none.

I bought a folding bike, then discovered that it wouldn’t fit folded into the storage compartment.  So I had a bracket installed in the back hitch and tied the fully-unfolded bike to it (so I could have just brought my own not-foldable bicycle and saved myself a chunk of change).  Then I thought it would be better to have my new bike protected, so I bought a travelling bike/rack cover and tied it on.  But the cover started flapping, so I bought more bungee cords (cordons élastiques au Québec) and tied that sucker down good.  Great – problems solved.

Yesterday, a camp staff member was capturing my info, standing at the back of my rig.  “Do you have a license plate?”  ????? Of course I have a license plate – what kind of a question is that?  Oh, wait.  Rats.  It seems I have fully obscured my rear license plate with my bike, rack, and cover.  Splendid – a traffic violation waiting to get caught.

I will figure this out in PEI. 

I’m sitting outside my RV with cup of tea and a book after a lovely morning at Five Islands and a store called That Dutchman’s Cheese Farm (yum).  It’s an interesting campground – the KOA at Truro, NS.  The staff are very friendly and helpful, the location is great – just off the Trans Canada backing onto the Debert River (where the bear was spotted), but the lots are very, very close together.  I’m here for four days and once I moved from the firs site (with the budgies) I didn’t have neighbours on either side.  Until today.

A caravan of massive Class A RVs has arrived, all pulling a Jeep or Bronco, and are squeezing into the spots all around me.  It seems they are part of Fantasy RV Tours.  I was aware of this organisation, because I use them (indirectly) to map out my itineraries (more on that later).

They’re all American, mostly from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.  Their rigs are very big, very posh, and very, very clean.  (note to self: must wash RV while in PEI.)  It must be relatively early into their tour as they seem to be getting to know one another.  Tomorrow is Tidal Bore Rafting – it seems the neighbour to my left is trying to talk the neighbour to my right into joining the rafting, but neighbour B is having none of it.

I’m trying to read but it ain’t easy – they do like shouting to one another instead of getting up and going over to the one another’s sites (I guess it saves steps).  They seem very nice and polite, but really, I do not need to know what Bob & Helen are cooking for dinner tonight, or that Martin & Bev’s daughter’s basement back in Boca flooded last night.

I pulled into the Truro KOA midday yesterday.  I was supposed to arrive today, but had called ahead to ask if I could check-in a day early (no, this time it wasn’t a scheduling error on my part – this change was intentional and internet-driven).  The only site they had for me for this one extra day was one of the more expensive ones – it comes with a paved patio, gas barbeque, patio table & chairs and a fire pit.

The staff at this KOA are really nice, but the campsites are very, very close together.  I did a quick set-up upon arrival while the neighbours on either side were away – they’re both in trailers that were in place, but they had clearly gone away in their cars.  As I’m moving to my regularly scheduled site this afternoon, I didn’t bother with a full hook-up – I just got comfortable on my patio with a book and some tea.

The neighbours on one side arrived back (they’re from Georgia and have the most beautiful and seemingly tranquil black standard poodle) – they seem pretty chill.  Then the neighbours on the other side arrived.  Their campsite looks more lived in, like they’ve been here for quite a while. Then I heard some noises (they are on the side where my main windows are and where I sit at my dining table).  They have a dog – okay, he’s quite whiny, and barky, but dogs will be dogs.  They are an interesting bunch – if I had to guess I would say a grandfather with a blended family – kids of different ethnicities and ages.  I counted at least 6 people?  It’s a fair-sized trailer, but 5 kids and a grown-up must be cosy in there.  Oh, and the noises?  They have budgies.  Two large cages with at least 4 or 5 (I was trying not to stare) songbirds, on little tables under the awning.  Budgies.  In an RV.  Hunh.

Here’s hoping the birds go indoors at night, and stay that way until a decent hour in the morning.  Those little beggars are noisy!

Steps before 9am: Zero (there was a bear spotted in the woods about 50’ from my site yesterday morning – no walkies for me!)

Just drove through the cutest town this morning – although, I must say, all of the towns I’ve seen in the Maritimes are very pretty: Fredericton, Amherst, Oxford. Tree-lined streets, beautiful and interesting houses, picturesque downtowns.

But what made Oxford noteworthy was their recognition of their high school’s graduating class. The two main streets were lined with banners with each graduating student’s name & photo – how cool is that?

Steps before 10am: 4,110. Chips: Zero