Day 4 – Hunter River to Charlottetown – 32 km (20 miles)

Today was a light day as we made our way back to Charlottetown, our home base. We had arranged to leave our car parked at the inn in Charlottetown and ride out from there. After exploring the north end of the island, we’ll be in town for three nights, being shuttled to and from the Cavendish area tomorrow to explore the national park there, then we will have a rest day to explore off the bikes. The rest day will include all things Anne with an “e”! After the rest day, we will start our 6 day exploration of the other side of the island.

We are using a guide service to transport our luggage for us each day. When we arrive at our B & B each night, our bag is in our room waiting. When we leave for the next destination, we leave our bag and the guide service picks it up and takes it to the next night’s lodging.

After a continental breakfast at the Inn, we placed a new pin in their visitor map marking the state of Kentucky for the first time.

It was a beautiful day with no wind! A miracle! The rain and cloudy skies from yesterday yielded bright blue skies and sunshine today. It was gorgeous and the trail from Hunter River to Charlottetown was some of the prettiest yet! As we left town, I took a few photos of beautiful Hunter River. The water is so clear you can see to the bottom of the river.

We had a bit of a climb from Hunter River to get to the trail, but once on the trail it was an easy ride. Because the trail runs on the old Canadian rail line, it is fairly level with not more than a 2% grade. We did have two climbs, but they were so gradual it didn’t bother us at all, and we had 2 very easy stretches of pedaling following the climbs.

We’ve noticed in a few places along the trail the presence of old culverts with dates ranging from the 1920’s-30’s. When the railroad originally came to Prince Edward Island in the 1870’s, it was a narrow-gauge railway (42″ from rail to rail), because it was less expensive to build, and there was never the thought that it would be necessary to connect to any other line on the mainland. They were an island after all, with the mainland at least 8 miles away with no bridge. But in 1917, a rail-car carrying ferry went into service from PEI to New Brunswick. The railways on the mainland were standard gauge (56.5″ between rails). Initially they addressed the issue of converting the narrow gauge to standard by adding a third rail! But in the 1920’s work began in earnest to switch the whole island to standard-gauge, which involved installing these culverts. When the railway was converted once again to a bike trail, these were removed, but they stand alongside the trail as a little piece of history.

We continued on, taking our time soaking in all the beauty of God’s creation in this part of the world. We had plenty of time since we knew we couldn’t check in until around 3:00 pm.

As we drew closer to Charlottetown, the scenery changed from rural farmland to quiet neighborhoods as the trail took us through the backyards of the suburbs. I think it’s fun to get to ride through a neighborhood and check out the back yards!

We found a great lunch right off the trail at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market. Inside were vendors offering every type of food imaginable. We couldn’t resist authentic shrimp tacos.

Tomorrow, on to Cavendish!