We've had our spell of unseasonably warm weather here on the Island, and just as it turns colder, down to single digit Celsius weather, I decide it's time to enjoy the afternoon and get out on my Versys for a quick boot around Bedeque, Prince Edward Island, with a visit to Sea Cow Head lighthouse out on Sevenmile Bay near Borden-Carleton PE.
I knew it was going to be a cooler ride this afternoon, so underneath my heavy cotton duck riding pants I had a pair of track pants on, and wore my heated jacket on under neath my leathers, but never had it plugged in this afternoon. It was brisk enough on the highway for me to need to turn on the heated grips while wearing my summer gloves, and as I rode along the highway headed towards the Tim Hortons at the Borden-Carleton Esso, I found it was raining, and worried that the weather forecast for this afternoon might have been off by a bit, but the rain was only spitting and I soon rode out from underneath it, and on into town where I filled the tank, then got a cup of coffee to fill me.
I left my pit stop and headed North on 118, then wound my way out to Campbells Shore on Sevenmile Bay.
I had Sea Cow Head in mind as a destination, as I haven't visited it this year, and I wanted to get some photographs of the shoreline in this noon light.
Campbells Shore is a deadend dirt road, so I had to double back out to 119 to make my way further West into Fernwood, then onto Sea Cow Head Road, which leads you to Lighthouse Road.
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| The Sea Cow Head lighthouse |
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| Sea Cow Head looking towards Campbells Shore |
Can you see the Confederation Bridge in the background? This is a lobster boat just off the headland, checking and baiting his traps. It's a strange sort of pirouet as they haul in each trap of the set, pull out the rock crabs and lobster, then re bait the traps and lay out the set, with two buoys to mark each end. The buoys are specific to the boat, and the other fishermen will know exactly who owns the set of traps just by the design and colour of the buoys.
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| The Versys gets you there |
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| I wonder what this was used for and how long it has been embedded in the ground like that? |
The salt sea air is highly corrosive to metal, so if you told me this was only ten or fifteen years old I would believe you. My friend Danny takes great care to ensure that all the fittings used in and on the boat can handle the sea water, as it really acts quickly to oxidize and corrode metal.
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| Sea Cow Head Lighthouse, Sea Cow Head PE |
I think I covered all the angles there, so it was time to go, but not home, I wasn't ready for the ride to end, so I headed over to Leard Mill road and stopped at Wrights Pond to see what the fall colours were like, but I think they will peak later on this week, as there is a frost warning tonight that should kick the sap into high gear.
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| Wrights Pond, Bedeque PE |
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| Bradshaw River, the other side of Wrights Pond |
I wimped out when I saw the grass growing up between the road here, as it had rained earlier in the morning and standing puddles on a clay road is not something I want to risk taking my Versys down, regardless of the fantastic grip of the Shinko 705s, as they load up quickly in wet clay and become slicks in a matter of seconds, so discretion is the better part of valour so they say, and I did a u-turn and headed back out to the road.
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| I'm a wuss |
Route 112 heads through Bedeque, then carries on out to the point opposite the city of Summerside, and as I'd seen it many times from Holland College located right on Summerside Harbour, I really wanted to see the opposite view from Salutation Cove.
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| Summerside PE as seen from Route 112 |
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| damp clay roads in the treeline |
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| Salutation Cove PE |
Unfortunately someone has been doing some illegal dumping on the shoreline, as evidenced by the waste concrete in the photo above.
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| The sand bar and it's lighthouse of Summerside Harbour |
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| Keep to the right unless you are wearing your water wings |
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| Salutation Cove PE |
And now its time to head back out on 112 and head into Summerside to pick up some dog and cat treats.
There were quite a few ducks in the water but not enough to warrant stopping for a photo, as the light was in the wrong spot, and I'd have been taking a picture into the sun of a flock of geese in the distance, so I just rolled on past Summerside, then turned East at Traveller's Rest roundabout (beating the transport truck by going too fast through the on ramp, oh yeah!) and pulled in to find that puppy training class was just getting out, and I fell in love with many of the young puppies that were eagerly spilling out of the doors and straight at the bad biker boy. Heaven!
Zippy got a knuckle buster, and I bought some catnip and a couple of toy mice for Odie the cat.
Time to head home and have a late lunch...
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| Route 110 overlooking the Wilmot River bridge |
The tops of the potato plants have been sprayed to kill the plants, and the field will be harvested soon, dry weather preferred to wet.
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| Dunk River with a few fisherman |
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| Harvesting the potatoes at Dunk River PE |
And that's pretty much it. Rolled in to find I had a fleaBay bit in the mail which makes me very happy, and to find my brother-in-law Cap'n Kirk playing with his 2017 Triumph Tiger XCx trying to start it. He's a bit ticked off, and has been all over the forums to find that it is a common glitch with the bike to fail to start, blow lots of white smoke in the process, then to promptly start and never have the issue again. His bike is still in the "Won't stay running" phase, and he's got the battery on a charge to try again. "It's going back!" he muttered as we headed into the house.
On a good note, Zippy was really happy to see me and smell my bag and his new bone. :)
Cheers, and have a great weekend!
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