Summerside

After three days in the saddle, I think we’re starting to get our mojo back. And the wind has finally shifted to the west!

Today we rode into Summerside, the second-largest city on PEI. The first time I remember hearing of this community was many years ago, when the legendary host of the CBC program Morningside, Peter Gzowski, decided to spend the summer here and, for that period, called the show Summerside.

Initially, we had intended to ride down to the southern coast and the island’s Evangeline Region (otherwise known by the astonishingly romantic name of Lot 15), the only area of PEI with a French-speaking majority. Unfortunately, I had developed a kink in my front tire late Saturday and, having endured it all day yesterday, was eager to get it fixed. So after breakfast at Chez Yvette, we rode straight into Summerside, a short jaunt of about 22 kilometres.

The sea once more – or to be more precise, Northumberland Strait

There, at Summerside Bike Works, the owner basically dropped what he was doing to install a new front tire and tube on my bike. We were in an out in 15 minutes! Amazing service. I had almost forgotten what a smooth ride was like. I regret not taking a picture of the tire though. It was pretty gnarly!

On the ride into town, we cycled through potato field after blooming potato field, and I finally realized what it is that I find so delightful about this aroma: when I was studying trombone at McGill (over 30 years ago!), my teacher, Ted Griffith, used to smoke a pipe with very fragrant tobacco, and there is something of the same spicy sweetness in the smell of potato blossoms.

Another gratuitous picture of a potato field

Once my bike had been fixed, we stopped for coffee and a doughnut and then headed up to the local Canadian Tire to pick up a bag to sit atop Sonia's bike rack to give us a little more space for lunch items and the like. Then, though It was still before noon, we took a chance and called the B&B (Warn House) to see if we could drop off our panniers. Lucky for us, our room was actually ready, so we were able to drop them off and get acquainted with the hosts, Gerry and Alice (pronounced the French way, she being a Franco-Manitoban). They gave us a lovely welcome, and we were soon on our way – light as a couple of feathers in the wind sans panniers – to hang out at the local provincial park (Linkletter). After a few hours there, we rode back into town, picked up some provisions for tomorrow’s lunch, and headed back for a shower – and laundry! The final tally in the saddle was 50 km, a “light” day since 20 km of it was without panniers.

My third meal of fish in four nights on PEI

For a change of pace, we walked from the B&B into downtown Summerside and had dinner at the FiveEleven West restaurant, which had good reviews. When we saw that it was actually in the local arena, we were skeptical, but since there was nothing else around, we went in anyway, and were rewarded with quite a good meal. We wandered back to the B&B through town, which has some lovely and well-maintained old homes, and I noted with curiosity that there is only ever one sidewalk on any street. There’s a play on words with sidewalk and Summerside there somewhere, but I’m too tired right now to find it.

Shadow photographers capturing evening light and low tide on the Summerside waterfront