A Bit of Rain and a lot of Wind

Today, as promised, the wind showed up with meaning! Sustained speeds of 30 to 35 kph with gusts over 45. Along with all that winds came a bit rain to add to the mix. I think I'm going to chicken out of the bike ride today.

As we had planned, we headed out to witch the parasailing and wind surfing. It was even a bit windy for them but the heartier (crazier) of them still showed up. They put on quite a show.

After a couple of hours watch this show, you could taste the salt on your lips. Time to head for the museum. We found that this little museum was very well done. It explained how people came to live on this out of the way place. They also had an impressive skeleton of a sperm wail hanging from the ceiling of one of the rooms.

While we were driving out on one of the long thin fingers of the south island we came upon this spot where there were several trebuchets all set up pointing out to sea. I have no idea what that was all about but wouldn't that be fun to play with!

Time to head back and pick up some ingredients at the local fish market for a good seafood chowder and get ready for our next move. We have a cottage by the beach on the northern island.

First Full Day on the Islands

Well our first day on the islands is coming to a close. It was a nicely paced pleasant day full of touristy things. We visited a couple of the small towns and saw the sights on two of the islands. At one of these small towns we came across two, two person bikes that were loaded for travel! I could see the adventure in traveling this way but I don't think it would be, now or in the past, anything I would consider as a vacation.

We also came across this quirky little kite shop filled some some of the most beautiful kites I have ever seen. I couldn't resist buying one of the bigger kites. The idea just brought back so many wonderful childhood memories that I couldn't resist it. But just my luck, on an island where the wind never stops, the afternoon became quite calm and quiet. Oh well. Might as well go for a bike ride. And that was a real treat in itself.

Well tomorrow is suppose to be far to windy for my big kite so we are going out to watch the parasailing in one of the nearby lagoons. Then off to a couple of the museums. After that, there is is very high looking hill with a lookout on top we are going to climb just for the fun of it. With any luck, I hope to fit in another bike ride. What a great way to explore these island!

Last full day on PEI

Well have had a very full visit on PEI. We visited Orwell Historical Village.

We also spent a little more time on the Great Trail. (formerly the Trans Canada Trail). Then spent some time seeing the sights in Montague. It is quite the pleasant little place.

Now it's time to pack and get ready for the main event of this trip. Tomorrow morning we head out to the ferry. So Long PEI! It's been fun.

PEI

Our first full day in PIE is winding down. When we came over the bridge yesterday, we immediately went looking for the island experience. We went to an oyster feed at a place called The Inn at Bay Fortune. This is an in run by one of Sara's favorite chiefs. We had quite a bit of fun and I had oysters for the first time. I loved them!

Today We went for a bike ride along the Great Trail. Beautiful conditions! The trail was in such good shape. Sara did her longest ride yet of 16K! I went on for a little longer so I could put in some hard riding. Ended up back after 30K.

After a short rest we headed out to do a bit of hiking in Greenwich National Park. It was just 5K out and back but it was truly beautiful. After all of that and the afternoon cooling off, we ended it with a bowl of some truly fine local seafood chowder. Now, time to rest and get ready for our last full day here in PEI.

Last full day in New Brunswick

I was feeling a bit guilty for not riding today but I think we did pretty good anyway. We headed back to Fredricton first thing this morning to do a bit of sight seeing in the city centre. According to my Garmin watch, we covered 12K walking and the equivalent of ascending 11 floors. So I don't feel that bad.

We started out at the City Hall and did a guided walking tour of the city centre. The tour was quite well done and very enjoyable.

We then did a tour of the legislature and had the most knowledgeable young tour guide. Because we were by ourselves on the tour, we got an extended tour and quite a lot of information. She knew all kinds of obscure historical facts.

From there it was off to the park to watch the changing of the guards. It was quite the ceremony. They put on a very impressive show.

After a rest and a beer from one on the local brewing asatblishments, we walked a little bit of the Great Trail. All in all, it was a good day with beautiful weather. Tomorrow we pack the car back up and head for PEI.

Getting Into It

Well it's been 4 days now into our vacation and I think I'm finally able to slow down a bit and feel like I am on vacation!

Today was a pretty lazy day. I slept in to almost 9:30. Considering I'm use to getting up a 4:45 am, that's pretty relaxed. It felt good.

We spent the day at a place called Kings Landing in Fredricton. It
was a beautiful day to just stroll around and see the sights. The old town that has been reconstructed and staffed with VERY friendly people dressed in period clothing and acting their parts of the times was quite entertaining and educational. Check out the link: Kings Landing

So the day went along and felt like a vacation should. The only thing I missed was getting out for a ride. Way to late by the time we got back. Well, tomorrow is another day....OF VACATION!

Check out my Flickr page for todays photos.

Moving On

Well it’s been a long time since I did any blogging and a lot has changed for me.

I am fast approaching 61 and have had  a few of those times when I felt my age. I had to quite running because of an injury to my failing knees during a cross country run. I had hopped to be able to make it to ultra trail runner but didn’t quite make it. I have missed running. I have had some minor surgery on one knee now and things have gotten much better. My running now doesn’t consist of more than a 1K warmup run but things still work and nothing hurts.

Because of my knee issue I have also decided to leave karate. All of the twisting, turning and kicking was just to much for my knees. I make it as far as brown belt. Again, I enjoyed it but it just became to big of a risk for me.

I went for almost a year feeling a bit lost without something really physical to do. I took up hiking and was hiking back into back country campsites for a few days at a time but that quickly caught up with my knee issue so I had to call it quits on that. What now?

Time passed, I got more and more out of shape and frustrated. Then, I noticed that there were quite a few people around on bikes. More and more all the time. There must be something to this I thought. I bought my first bike in almost 50 years. Nothing fancy, just a Canadian Tire mountain bike. And guess what? It was fun!

I talked with my surgeon about it and he told me to go ahead and try it. After about 9 months, I was back for a checkup and he told everything looked very good and to keep going. He then added that I should push it a bit as well. Shortly after that I had purchased a reasonably good road bike and completed my first 100K ride.

Now I have 3 bikes. My original mountain bike, my road bike and a bike permanently set up in a trainer in front of a big screen TV.

So, things are turning around. So far this year with a combined total from indoor training and outdoor riding, I have logged just over 3,050 kilometres along with an elevation gain of  23,500 meters. Not bad for an old fat guy!!

So today we are on vacation traveling out to the Magdalen Islands with stops along the way out and back. And of course, we have the bikes with us. Can’t wait to get to the islands!

I have included a link to my Flickr page where I will be uploading my photos from our trip as it goes along. 

Magdalen Island Trip