Day Five - Percé to Charlottetown PEI – 445 miles
We got up extra early on Monday to get a few pictures of the monolith we had come to see and we didn’t have much chance before sunset the previous evening. By 5:30 we were on our bikes and to the viewing area snapping pictures.
We got some good pictures as the sun was already fairly high in the sky for so early in the morning. We jumped on C132 and headed down the coast. The ride on the south side of the peninsula is not nearly as good as on the north side. The hills had given way to a flat coastline with a road that was not very challenging. We stopped in Maria for breakfast and continued on (KMZ). After about an hour we reached the turn off to Route 11 in New Brunswick. We had to cross the Restigouche River which is the border between Quebec and New Brunswick. Crossing the bridge we noticed an old railroad bridge a little upstream and we decided to explore it. We continued on Route 11 and stopped along the coast where we could see the Gaspé coast across the narrow bay. As C11 began to move away from the coast we decided to move a little closer to the coast and decided to take C134. We rode that along the coast, but when we reached Bathurst we decided to take the faster route which was C8 down to Miramichi. Once in Miramichi it was only 2:00 so we stopped along the waterfront, before continuing on to PEI. We stopped at Cocagne to fill up on gas and take a quick break at an old wooden bridge (KMZ). It had taken us almost an hour and a half to make Cocagne which is just north of Shediac where we picked up C15. Once on C15 we rode 28 miles and picked up C16 which is the Trans Canada Highway taking us to the Confederation Bridge and on to PEI. We stopped before crossing over to take some pictures and to tell our families at home to watch our crossing on the bridge web cam. The bridge opened in 1997 and is still the longest bridge over ice covered waters at 8 miles long. It reaches a height of 196 feet in the navigation span allowing large vessels to pass underneath. We began the crossing closely following the posted speed limits. We waved to all of the cameras as we crossed not know for sure which one was the web cam. We reached the other side and stopped at the waterfront park in Port Borden. It was after 5:00 and we still had another 34 miles and about an hour’s worth of time. We booked it to Charlottetown and found our cabin and checked in. The cabin wasn’t in the best location but it was a prime place (KMZ). The cabin was nice and clean and the grounds were very well kept. We went down the road to pick up some dinner and listened to the Reds game on XM Radio the rest of the night.
