2019-10-27

2019 The Penultimate End of Year Ride

Penultimate: 
adjective
/pəˈnʌl.tɪ.mət/
second from the last:

  • It's the penultimate episode of the series tonight


I'll give you a definite maybe on that, but won't commit myself at this time...

Paynter's Creek PE

Day Tripping - Charlottetown to French River PE and Return - 170 km - 2.75 hours
Charlottetown PE to French River PE and return
Meaning I hope the season never ends and I strike a delicate balance between the "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" and swim trunks with flip flops while riding this Fall on Prince Edward Island.
I think the worst problem with Sunday rides is trying to fit one in after a nice long night of watching movies, then a lazy morning sleep in. Caroline joined me ready to go just after lunch, but it took me a bit longer to get ready to roll, and I was considering three layers on my legs, when I decided that it was simply time to haul out my insulated overalls and make do with my heated jacket, the overalls and a thermal layer top and bottom. Okay, time to see if I am still limber enough wearing all of that and still get a leg over my bike... 

Lean, Mean, Marshmallow Machine...
Err, perhaps "Lean" in a "nothing but Marshmallow" sense?
There was a huge mass of dark clouds low over the island, but we could see blue sky ahead and to the sides, and as the weather report called for cloudy and no rain, we were fairly sure that it was just a dark sky, but we could really feel the chill while riding underneath it.

We stopped off along the way to say hello to Caroline's mother, only to find that her brand new car had it's first dent in it, due to a loose shopping cart smashing into the passenger side door! What a let down! She'd driven her Kia for years without a scratch, but now her brand new Mazda gets marked up before it is even a month old, and by someone who was in such a rush, they couldn't be bothered to return the shopping cart properly! Grrrr.

We finally rode out from under the cloud cover, and wow did that make the fall colours stand out for us! Thankfully we had turned off of the Trans Canada Highway, and were heading North up to Stanley Bridge along the Rattenbury road, and just soaking it all in, until we turned north onto route 20 and I had to tell Caroline that I was turning around to get a few pictures of Paynter's Creek that flows out into SouthWest Rver, and on into the Atlantic Ocean on PEI's North Shore. 


Paynter's Creek



 
South West River


Oops
 Just up the road was a line of trees that had been brought down by hurricane Dorian, and it was a huge impact statement of quickly mother nature can shrug us off her shoulders...


Yes, that is a portion of the tree still lying on the roof of the cottage there.



Caroline casts no Shadow on the shore of the South West River
 We made our way to the look off for French River, and I got a snap or two of the colourful little harbour there, then proceeded through the small village and up to the New London Lighthouse.


French River PE
 This time of year we weren't getting off the bikes at each stop, as it is a bit of an ordeal to unplug from the bike, swing a leg over, pull off gloves for the camera, and schlep about all bundled up like Randy, Ralphie's little brother from that 1983 Christmas classic, "A Christmas Story".

[overdressed for winter] Randy I can't put my arms down![Mother tries to grabs his arms down, putting his arms back up] Mother Well, put your arms down when you get to school.[Mother putting his scarf back on, Randy bawling] 
Randy [is trying to catch up]  C'mon, guys! Wait up! C'mon, guys! Wait up! 
Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked there, but I think you now understand why there may not be as much movement on days where the daytime high is 8 degrees Celsius and that does NOT include riding in shadows or under dark clouds.

New London Lighthouse

 The photo below didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but it does show you the contrast between the clouds that I've been talking about, but it is a bit sad that you don't see the same well lit view of the valley that we did.
Irishtown PE
 We trucked on through Kensington and headed out past Clinton View Lodge where I used to be employed as a maintenance man at the Lodge, so I dropped back of the building to take a picture of "Clinton's View".
 
The view from "Perrin's" Clinton View Lodge
Harding Creek and the South West River 
 Also known as Lot 20 according to the 1764 Survey of Saint John Island as it was then known then. Wikipedia has a great article on how the island was ceded from France to Britain in the Paris treaty of 1763. 

 "Never get off the bike"
That was my motto today, and we rolled up into Cavendish trying to take the Rue du Gulf Shore Parkway West along the coast, and I was floored by how hard the treeline at the Cavendish Campground got hit by the hurricane!

Wow!
There was one stand of trees that seemed devastated, and could have been bulldozed, but for one in six trees still standing. One in Six! Of course, that was along the shore line where the soil doesn't hold terribly well, and the trees would have just lifted their roots and toppled over, like giant divots on a polo course, you chainsaw the tree trunk and tip the stumps back into place to replace your divot. Wow! 
It turns out that you can no longer get there from here, and we would need to head back out and do a ride of shame as Caroline calls it, and over to another intersection to get onto the Rue du Gulf Shore Parkway West, but that side was a bit of a loss, as the whole parkway is  closed to traffic due to construction, and very well barred off, I might add. We rode along the coast for about two kilometres before hitting the barrier, so all we managed there was to ride two kilometers of coastline and then do the ride of shame once again back out to Cavendish road where we turned left and headed in to North Rustico Harbour to snap a couple of pics of the area. 


North Rustico Harbour
The Hunter River as it meets the Atlantic Ocean


The Canada Geese are taking advantage of the respite offered in the bay. 


The Court brothers Mercantile Empire

 


Caroline spent many of her summers in and around this beach, and my friend Zac knows the area well.
In 1915, the federal government expropriated land around the lighthouse, including where Emard Court's house sits.
The Court family has been involved with court cases and attempts to settle the land title for more than 20 years.

North Rustico Lighthouse seen from the south side looking north
The sun wasn't as strong as it had been when we started out, both of us plugged in, but with our feet and knees now bearing the worst of the weather, we could tell that the day wasn't going to last much longer, and were content to amble out of North Rustico and opt to head through Oyster Bed Bridge and take highway 7 pretty much straight into Winsloe, where we gassed up, then took the bypass back to my underground parking where the bikes are both plugged in waiting for next weekend and a good clear day for another "Marshmallow Ride" so yes, this was the Penultimate season ender. And may it ever be so. :D

Cheers!

2019-10-20

2019 The East Point Fall Colours Ride

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I was thinking that I'd feel awful guilty come Monday if I didn't get out on the bike and enjoy the good weather.

Priest Pond PE as seen from Northside Road Hwy 16


Caroline met up with me at my place, where I was proceeding at a snails pace to get my gear on, which may be understandable as the high for today was a partly sunny 10 degrees Celsius, so multiple layers were the order of the day, and we finally got out and on the road and across the bridge into Stratford.



Link to Google Maps.

Day Tripping - Charlottetown to East Point and Return - 215 km, 3 hours

Charlottetown to East Point and Return

Ooh! Excitement to be sure, stopping for gas then being held up by a cage that is afraid of the construction up the road where the new roundabout is going in, doing 30 kph in a 70 zone. *sigh*



We started off on the Trans Canada Hwy 1, but turned north in favour of 48 road, or Highway 5 if you prefer, that would spare us the TC1 traffic and take us straight up towards Cardigan. 

Blueberry Fields near Albion Cross PE



Overlooking MacVanes Pond 
We made it out to East Point to arrive just in time to provide a subject for a tourist photographer about to climb into the mini van with the rest of his family and head to some place warmer than the windy October East Point Lighthouse parking lot, which perfectly suited me as I enjoyed taking pictures with only one subject in them, Caroline.


East Point Lighthouse
This lighthouse was moved twice after it's completion in 1867. Once closer to the point after the HMS Phoenix wrecked off that coast, whose charts showed the lighthouse much closer to the point than the actual location, a 1/2 mile back from the point itself. Later on it was moved back away from the cliffs to make way for expansion of the foghorn house, and away from future erosion. I wonder if that is why there is a concrete pad out there on the old site?








Sorry about the wind, as it was hard enough to make me shake the camera slightly in the following  video.









It was cold, and I could only agree when Caroline lamented the fact that her orange toque was sitting at home instead of on her head where it would have been entirely welcome.

North Lake Harbour PE




Fishful Thinking



Priest Pond PE







Priest Pond Creek PE




Naufrage Harbour PE
The view from Fort Augustus road.



Glenfinnan River PE as seen from Fort Augustus Road.

Those homesick Scots hard at work in the New World:
Glenfinnan is a hamlet in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. In 1745 the Jacobite rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel. 






Glenfinnan River looking East



And finally what do you do with two well ridden dirty bikes before putting them away for the weekend? You take pictures of them in all their dirty gory. Ummm. Glory. That should have read glory, that last bit.
At the foot of Queen Street
Looking out over the Hillsborough Heritage River
Charlottetown PE



Cheers!