I had a chill morning for my final day in PEI. Gaspereaux, where I stayed with Alanna and Jim, is a bit closer to the ferry terminal than Brudenell, so I had more time than I had expected to. I was planning on going to the beach by the ferry terminal and hanging out there before taking the ferry, but it was kind of overcast and windy, so didn’t really seem like a great day for the beach. Instead, I figured I’d just meander my way down to south point of the island.
I stopped in Murray River, which was super pretty, and had a really cute coffee shop. I hung out there for a bit, using their wifi and reading the news on their porch. From there I could’ve cut straight down to the south coast of the island and then west to the terminal, but instead I decided to take a detour going east around the point before heading back west the ferry. At the point I went around, there was a nice beach and then a lighthouse which had been turned into a museum.
The lighthouse, the Cape Bear Marconi Station, had actually been the first Canadian station to hear the SOS call from the Titanic before it sank. They had a bunch of newspaper articles from 1912 about the Titanic crash on display, and you could go up to where the light turns in the lighthouse which was kinda cool. I spent a bit too much time dawdling at this museum though, because as I was leaving, I looked at the time and checked the ferry schedule, and saw that it was leaving in an hour and a half, and I was still about 25 km from the terminal!
So I jumped on my bike and started booking it; of course I had headwinds that I was battling against. The ferry only goes every 90 minutes or so, and I really didn’t want to have to wait for the next one. I was pushing through the headwinds strongly, and I was only about 8 km from the ferry terminal, when suddenly I heard a super loud POP that sounded like a gunshot, and my bike tire deflated. Just my luck—for the second time I’d gotten a flat while racing to catch a ferry. Although, I should’ve expected this to happen, as I hadn’t had any other flats in PEI before this, so I guess I was due.
There were some people chatting outside the farm by where this happened, and they heard the pop. They came over to see what happened, and then offered to give me a ride to the ferry so I wouldn’t miss it! Everyone I have encountered has been so kind and helpful. So I made it to the ferry at the eleventh hour, and found a little corner where I could start working on my bike. I put in my last tube, and started pumping it up. As it was getting close to the proper pressure, this tube also popped super loudly, this time right in my ear! I inspected the actual tire a bit more closely at this point and saw that my tire had literally worn right through, so when I pumped up the innertube, it was popping out where the tire was worn through. I didn’t really know what my options were at that point, but I had about another hour to kill on the ferry, so I took a few of my broken innertubes upto the passenger level and patched them. At least this way I’d have a few spare tubes once I reached Nova Scotia, I figured.
The crew was all really friendly, asking if they could help me with anything. I asked one them if he knew of any bikeshops on the other side, and he told me that the closest one was in New Glasgow (NS). Once we arrived in Nova Scotia I looked this bike shop up and saw that they were 18 km away. It was 4 PM and they closed at 6, so I had a bit of time, but still no way to ride my bike there. I called the bike shop and asked the guy if he had any suggestions for a temporary solution. He told me to try putting an energy bar wrapper where the tire was worn out to create a bit of a patch, and not to pump up my tire to the full pressure. I did this, and I got about 4 km before the innertube popper yet again. At this point it was starting to rain, and I didn’t want to waste 20 more minutes swapping out the tube again and putting another wrapper there just to get another 4 km, so I figured I’d try to hitch a ride into New Glasgow. The only problem was all the vehicles from the ferry had already departed, and the highway I was on pretty much only led to the ferry. So there was no traffic coming in the direction I was going. I could see an intersection a couple kilometres up, so I figured I’d have to walk upto there to have a chance of catching a ride.
As I was walking up a couple cars passed me, but they were sedans and wouldn’t have been able to fit my bike, so I didn’t even try hitching them. Then a minivan came by that I stuck out my thumb for, but they didn’t stop. A pickup came by after that but didn’t stop either. But then the minivan that had passed me by at first circled back around to get me. It was a father, his daughter, and her boyfriend. The dad, Richard, said that he wouldn’t have wanted his daughter out there on the side of the highway in the rain, so that’s why they came back.
We loaded up my bike and he asked where I was headed. I told him New Glasgow, and he said he’d take me right to the bike shop. They had been on the highway as they were coming from the campground I was planning on staying at into Pictou to have dinner that evening. Richard had come up with Genevieve and Justin to bring up the RV that they were camping in (for the long weekend), and was then going to head back to where he lived near Truro that evening after dinner.
Once we got to the bike shop, he asked the guys how long it would take, and when they said it’d only be 20 minutes, Richard said he’d wait and take me back to the campground. Once the bike mechanic had finished replacing my tire (with a gatorskin!), Richard then invited me to join them for dinner in Pictou. We headed into Pictou and went to a diner that they knew and I had delicious fish and chips. After dinner, Richard drove us all back to the campground, where I was able to register and set up. So pretty much my awful introduction to Nova Scotia turned into an amazing experience once Richard, Genevieve, and Justin stopped for me!
Also, when I entered into the campground and was looking for my site, this older couple came upto me and introduced themselves as the campground hosts. I guess this is a program in all the provincial parks where they have volunteers who camp out there and just walk around to help the other campers. They were super friendly and even gave me a Nova Scotia flag pin. So it seems as though the rumours are true—all maritimers are just friendly people!
Total distance: 53 km
Total elevation: 301 m
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