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#31 Lake Verde to #32 Charlottetown

Well this was it our last day of The Island Walk and our 32nd day in a row, no breaks for us ladies. ***So my first pro tip for those doing the walk in the future *** Book a couple of rest days throughout the walk. We really could have used a couple days in between to do a little recuperating. 🙃

Now about today, the weather could not have been more perfect, a bit over cast and a little breezy. We used the newest Island Walk route into Charlottetown and it worked out really well. For those that are doing the walk I recommend not trying to follow the printed directions just follow the Island Walk signs they were very clear.

The walk today was mostly uneventful but they were some nice spots on this part of the trail, and it led to a really nice park along the way where we had a little fun (as usual)

Some nice scenery along the way, and a cruise ship in Port.

We came to our end ing way point expecting a band, ticker tape parade, and balloons 🎈 but what we got was a landscaping crew cutting the grass. (It was a little anticlimactic 🤤)

We were DONE!

Oh but actually we were not, we had to go to the Island Walk office to get our photos taken, and receive our certificate of completion.

This is what Petra and Meadow think of me for bringing them on this journey with me.

Needless to another walk will not be in their future, but maybe I can find some other people if I decide to do another long trek.

I want to thank Petra and Meadow for helping me check this off my bucket list, I could not have done it without them. They were great partners in crime.

And again we have met so many amazing people on this journey and I have to really acknowledge everything that Michele Potter has done for us, saving our butts on more than one occasion and just taking for granted that we were not serial killers before she blindly picked us up.

The other person who was amazing to our group was the unstoppable Jean McCardle, another person who assisted us so much and with whom we had the pleasure of walking with a couple of days.

There are many more people we are greatful to along the way Ruby and Laurie it was so great to get to know them, have dinner a few times, share tips and tricks, and help us celebrate Petras birthday, Kyle and Connie, and definitely Bryson for all his helpful hints as well as weather warnings.

I will do a big wrap up summary in a couple days once I am home and had a few days to process, but until then THANK YOU PEI, we have had a great and very memorable time!

#30 Surrey to #31 Lake Verde

This morning we said goodbye to Ruby and Laurie who we followed around for most of the trip. Originally they were 4 days ahead of us, but due to rest days (yes some walkers actually take them 🤷‍♂️ who knew)they ended up 1 day ahead of us and finished their walk today.

The day was sunny and warm all day, and poor Meadow once again was dealing with a foot issue, and me my knee was not cooperating so we started strong, but finished a little slower. The day was all Confederation Trail walking.

So not a lot to see, although we all have noticed people really stock pile their wood here.

And although there was not much to see, once again we could not see Petra??

We also found a spot where we could all try our Karate Kid impressions due to the release of the new movie Karate Kid – Legends

All the silliness aside we reached our waypoint.

We are all looking forward to completing our journey tomorrow, and also getting back home to our spouses, animals, and our own beds although not necessarily in that order. 🤔

Can’t wait to share with everyone our pictures from tomorrow, and then in a few days time a full wrap up of the journey.

#29 Murray River to #30 Surrey

Well considering this day was all Confederation Trail and 26kms long we had a pretty good day.

Today I started out about an hour before Petra and Meadow as my knee has been acting up and I am definitely slowing them down, but it also gave me some time to capture some of the colours of the Confederation Trail.

Petra as usual was up to no good.

The usual Confederation Trail pictures

And of course our end of day waypoint

Once again our fun did not stop when we reached the waypoint. It was Petras birthday so of course we had to celebrate and we invited our friends Ruby and Laurie of course 😄 and Michele our trail angel, and her husband Mark (yeah we know enough people in PEI to have a party!!)

And Petra received the gift we all wanted. Ruby has crocheted the cutest figures of a Potato 🥔 and a Lobster 🦞 and she has been dangling them from her pack to tease us all. Well lucky Petra received the Potato!!

After today it is hard to believe but we only have two days left.😲

#28 Gasperaux to #29 Murray River

Our starting picture is hilarious because Meadow looks mad, but she really was not. Good timing Petra 🤣

It was a full day of road walking but this route was not a heavy traffic area so it was not terrible. Not too much exciting to see along the route though, and absolutely no where to get any snacks or drinks so for this section you definitely want to pack a lunch. Not even a gas station to pick up a terrible gas station sandwich. 😔

We did see a few nice sights. A lone tree in a field.

Lots of potato fields just starting to show their foliage.

And Meadow and I both being Girl guides, retook our pledge on Girl Guide camp road.

We also saw a hybrid fox. I believe this is a Silver fox, crossed with a red fox. Not the best photo as he was quick.

And we wandered down a street that said Wharf street, and managed to find a wharf (imagine that) where we could stop for a lunch break.

We also found an Iris amoung Lupins.

And as always we found a way to have some fun.

And we made it to our waypoint.

Once again we managed to stay et the same B&B as Ruby and Laurie, so another great dinner sharing more trail stories ended our evening off.

#27 Montague -#28 Gasperaux

Well being Friday the 13th was ominous and the morning started a little chilly

Within the first 20 minutes of the walk we passed a black cat 🐈‍⬛️, and some crows 😬 but luckily it was not a sign of things to come. Today was all road walking but the roads were not overly busy, and some of it was very scenic.

There are a crazy amount of Lupine here and they are flowering everywhere.

We always (well mostly Petra) find some crazy sculpture, or carving to have a little fun.

Once in a while there may be a little trespassing involved??

We met the friendliest cat 🐈 and were very worried when it started following us down the highway. But eventually it stopped, hoping this kitty has a good home. 🙄

We were so lucky to have connected with Michele Potter who lives on this section of the walk, so she invited us to stop by for a drink while passing by, and her husband Mark came home with fresh doughnuts, still warm from the bakery. They were delicious 😋.

We reached our waypoint but once again the day did not end there.

Michele once again picked us up instead of us having to pay for a shuttle, and we were very close to one of her favorite light houses so she took us down the road for a look.

I did also mention that she is an extraordinary amateur photographer and she took this fabulous shot for us.

Now if you have been following the blog you will know there were 3 things I wanted to see on this trip. The last one had been eluding me, finding the PEI ladyslipper in the wild. Well apparently there is a locals Facebook page that Michele follows and there were some sightings, so we went to check it out for ourselves.

and yes we found them!

So I think today was really lucky 13 for us. We capped the day off with another visit to the Tiki Bar and dinner at the Boghouse for some BBQ.

It was a very memorable Friday the 13th.

Only 4 more days to complete our journey, it is going by so fast.

#26 Cardigan – #27 Montague

Today’s walk was the shortest leg, being just over 13kms, the day was sunny for the most part, and all Confederation Trail walking. This section on the trail was probably the most used section we have been on and we saw many walkers, joggers, and bikers on this section. We ran into Lois who was wearing an Island walk tee shirt so we stopped and briefly chatted she is from Ontario, now living in PEI and another person doing a section here and there but not near completing.

As we were able to take our time I captured some of the colors of the trail.

There were also a couple of nice scenic shots.

And as always some shenanigans 😜

And when we got to our way point…….

What did we find a Tiki Bar of course.

We did some shopping and errands around town and of course we saw Ruby and Laurie who are one day ahead of us. We got together for a nice dinner

and had a great chat about our transportation challenges on this stretch of the walk. I will provide some additional details when I post my wrap up 😒

It was a very nice evening, and then of course I had to stay up to watch Edmonton win in overtime to tie the Stanley Cup series 2-2 before I could write the blog. So now it is very late and I really have to get some 😴 💤 🛏 There may be spelling errors 😅 I will double check tomorrow, which is actually today. 😅

#25 Howe Bay – #26 Cardigan

We started out today a little chilly today, but it warmed up and the day was sunny warm and luckily a little windy. Lots and lots of road walking today, but with quite a bit of variety which was nice.

we had gravel road,

Red dirt road

And some regular highway walking.

We managed to find one Island Walk bench, but for this section it definitely needs moreas there are not many places to rest and relax.

We did find a nice little dock to have lunch.

We found some Llama

And of course found somewhere to be silly.

We made it to our way point, Meadow and Petra had a great day, but for me the heat really affected my knee and it was acting up most of the afternoon making me slow and grumpy 😠.

When we arrived at our way point we were very happy to see a restaurant, that we did not have to take any steps to get to, and as my day was not so great I decided to celebrate by having my first fresh lobster and crab, actually I had a whole seafood platter 😋

And Petra had another lobster roll.

One other thing happened today, we were contacted by the pick up service and unfortunately they had an emergency so they could not shuttle us back to the hotel, we’ll once again Islanders did not disappoint as we met two ladies having dinner at the same restaurant and they offered to take us back to our hotel. YEAH US !!! We are definitely winning.Only 6 days left it is hard to believe our journey is almost complete.

#24 Souris to #25 Howe Bay

I am not sure what happened to our start picture today??? But I can tell you it started out very cold and windy, we had on all of our layers and gloved. The first 7 plus kilometers were hwy walking so not our favorite for sure but when we reached Toby’s Takeout the recommended lunch spot we took a break. It is really not that far into the day and we actually arrived before it opened so one of my ****pro tips for day 25***** sleep in a bit and leave later. The spot where Toby’s Takeout is there is also a farmers market, garden centre, beer garden (in season) lavender farm, and fun center. So while waiting for Toby’s to open we had a little fun.

Once Toby’s opened we ordered, and I had the absolutely best burger I have ever tasted in my life!! So it was definitely worth the wait. You have got to eat here!!!

While Meadow was in line waiting to order a very lovely lady Linda Campbell stopped her car and chatted and asked her if we were doing the Island Walk, a conversation insued, and Linda very kindly took our packs for us and dropped them at our next destination Rod Brudenell so we could enjoy the rest of our day just carrying our day packs. Linda Campbell was just one of our trail angels of the day.

With our load much lighter we carried on with the days walk, although the day was road walking as soon as we turned onto the secondary road there was much less traffic and many more sights to enjoy. The wild flowers are just starting to bloom every where.

I found my car parked and waiting for me.

And Petra found hers

we met some other Island Walkers

And enjoyed some beautiful scenery.

Todays trip was shorter than expected just less than 20 kms so we reached the way point more than an hour earlier than we planned even though we dilly dallied. So that is why I suggest leaving later and definitely stopping for lunch at Toby’s 😁

We reached our way point and that is definitely not where are day ended

Michele Potter, who is a frequent visitor to this Facebook page and contacted me after reading some of my posts. She first offered to meet us on the trail and bring us treats and drinks, this connection turned into her meeting us at our way point today and transporting us to our hotel. When she picked us up, although we have never met, she gave us each a very special gift of her photography. She has I think 10 jobs and a million hobbies (I might be exaggerating) but she dabbles in photography- well I think she should do it as a full time gig as she really has the eye for it. I cannot say enough good things about the friendly people we have met so far in PEI!!I

The next photo is the photo cads that Michele gifted us.

She also produces journals and sells them at some outlets in PEI and she gave us each one of those as well.

She is also involved in a new, not for profit artists co-op in Montague at #1 Station Street please check it out if you have time!!

My last photo of the day is team BPM enjoying a beverage with the incredible Michele

We thank her and all of the people who made today’s walk very special.

#.23 Bothwell to #24 Souris, If you look at our map today we definitely did not go the traditional route. We made 3 wrong turns, the first one was my fault, the other two were just bad luck.

I will start at the beginning 😌. We started the day once again with the fabulous Jean McCardle.

Sadly she did walk the whole day with us and we parted ways when we got to Red Point Beach.

How did we get to Red Point Beach you ask. Well we paved our own path. We wanted to do the Beach walk instead of the road walk, but I completely missed the first direction that said walk down Mossey Rd and just saw the Basin head road so unfortunately we turned down Basin Head and totally missed the beach walk, so instead we went back on to route 16 and took it to Red Point Rd down to Red Point Beach and we did the Beach walk to Little Harbour Beach. It was an incredible detour and goes by a bird sanctuary as well. The Beach was fabulous and the only people we ran into were two conservation officers who were looking for migrating Sandpipers.

This was an excellent detour and we are really happy we tried it although it did add a bit of extra distance to the walk. Once we left the beach we headed up Little Harbour Beach drive and back to hwy 16. It was a long walk along hwy 16 straight into Souris and just as we finished walking up a very long slow hill we were called over by this charming gentleman.

Francis and his dog Mojo 🐕. He said he saw us earlier and when he got home he called us over and offered us a cold drink and place to have a rest, which we gratefully accepted before carrying on to Souris.

We arrived in Souris and found the tourism office and the lovely Joanne and Valerie.

They were very friendly and also recommended Lola’s Canadian food truck. “Sorry it’s so good” was there motto 🤣 and it was excellent .

We found the way point sign after doing a tiny back track.

The we actually had an additional 4 kms to get to our lodging for the night.

****Today’s pro tip**** the boardwalk in Souris is really nice but if you are nearing the end of the day it is a dead end and you have to back track your steps to get to the hwy so if you want to save yourself 1.7kms don’t go down it. 🤣🤣🤣

A few extra shots of the shenanigans we got up to.

And if you have the time do the second beach detour too it was well worth it.

Only 8 more days to go it seems unbelievable, team BPM is feeling great.

Back at it tomorrow 🤪

#22 Elmira to #23 Bothwell

Well today started out very rainy, and after last night’s thunder and lightning storm we were not sure how good the weather would be, but the rain only lasted about 1/2 an hour, and it turned into an almost the perfect walk day weather wise. It was cloudy, so not too hot, windy, so no pesky mosquitoes, it could have been a few degrees warmer but what the heck, you can’t have everything. 😅

We had a great time, and a lot of laughs as we were once again accompanied by the incredible Jean McCardle, she is training for Hadrian’s wall but I can tell you she is ready!!

We saw some beautiful scenery on this stretch today.

And of course the East Point Lighthouse

We did not pay to go up to the lookout as the day was thick with fog when we were there unfortunately. We did get our Tip to Tip certificate verified, our second ribbon, and a lovely stamp for our passports.

And a great piece of history. One of the very nice young ladies working in the gift shop is the granddaughter of the last lighthouse keeper.

We spotted and stopped at not one, but two Island Walk benches, very strategically place.

And met some very friendly and photogenic cows, that came when they were called. Petras new vocation Cow whisperer 🤣

And we made it to way point #23

Petra and Meadow topped the day off with their new favorite beer and we called it a day.

We get one more day with Jean tomorrow, and she is going to need to get her Island Walk passport so she can start ticking off all of the sections she has done. (Don’t worry Jean, we will voich for you) 😉

We cannot believe we have only 9 days remaining and have done approx 530kms.