September 8 - 13, 2025
6 Riding Days
215 miles riding
Sherri and I were joined by Sherri's sister Carol for this beautiful, pleasant ride across PEI. We used Crossroads Bike Tours for the room reservations and route maps. All three of us carried our own great start to finish. This was Carol's first multi-day bike tour and she did great!
PEI is a bit of well kept secret for bicycle touring. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was just about perfect, except for one cold day. There were great bike trails, and when on the road the traffic was very light to non-existent at times, and all the drivers were very polite - as all Canadians are of course.
- September 6 - 7 Charlottetown - The Great George Hotel
We arrived late on the 6th, driving from northeast US. We met up with Carol and got settle into Charlottetown. Took the next day off to both recover for our long drive and prep our gear and the bikes for the tour start the next day.
- Day 1 - September 8, Shuttle to North Cape Lighthouse, Ride North Cap to Mill River Resort, 32 miles
On the shuttle ride from Charlottetown to North Cape the driver proved a great diversion with much information on PEI. Two interesting facts we learned on the shuttle ride. First, we asked about the donkeys we saw mixed in with the cattle in the open fields. Our driver told us that there are coyotes on the island and the donkeys are aggressive and will protect the cattle. The second interesting fact, which is closely related to the first, is that the Northumberland Strait between PEI and mainland froze over in the early 1980s and the coyotes cross over to the island for the first time in history.
The ride from North Cape was mostly on isolated roads with some miles of beautiful shoreline. A wonderful sunny day with cool temps. We had a nice tailwind most of the way. We stayed at the Mill River Resort, which is a Golf Resort. Exceptional rooms and food. This was a great start to our trip.
Carol and Sherri at the North Cape getting ready to ride.
- Day 2 - Mill River Resort to Summerside, 45 miles
Todays ride was along a mix of backcountry roads and quite crushed stone bike trails. The terrain was gently rolling and again the wind was mostly in our favor. We stayed at the Microtel in Summerside close to the harbor. After laundry was done, we found a great restaurant across from the hotel where Sherri started her week long course of seafood soup. When in Rome … After dinner we walked to the harbors edge seeking an ice cream store. But the ice cream place was close for the season! So we had to enjoy sunset at the waters edge.
- Day 3 - Summerside to Cavendish, 32 miles
With more great sunny weather it was another great day of riding. Today's route brought the only real hills on the route. We had some solid "rollers" over the last 10 miles with one 100ft 10% climb. This kept the riding interesting. The route took us along many small bays and inlets and beautiful country side. There were many large homes in this area of PEI.
We stayed a Shaw's Hotel immediately adjacent to the Green Gable Heritage site. Unfortunately the site was closed for the season.
- Day 4 - Cavendish to Brackley Beach, 27 miles
The route took us from our B&B directly to the beach where we had fantastic ocean views for the early part of the ride. After leaving the beach front there were a number gentle rolling hills. And the only busy traffic road on the whole tour was on highway 6 from Cymbria to our turn onto Portage Road. It was a short day to Shaw's Hotel at Brackley, so we road on out to Prince Edward Island National Park at the beach.
- Day 5 - Brackley Beach to Rodd Crowbush Resort, 29 miles
Wow were we ever spoiled by the near perfect weather we had enjoyed so far. Today was cold and windy! With windchill down to 40F we got out all that cold weather gear we were wondering why we bothered to carry, and put every bit on! Still there was a number of beautiful sites to see. The route took us past Savage Harbour where we saw large floating oyster farms (as we learned later exactly what we were seeing). Apparently Savage Harbour is renowned for its oysters, most famous are its Savage Blonde oysters.
Another golf resort for our stay, and we were very happy to get out of the cold and into our warm rooms and hot showers! Once again great accommodations and dining.
Sherri and Carol with "everything on" for the cold - but still smiling!
- Day 6 - Rodd Crowbush Resort to East Point Lighthouse, 47 miles
The morning was still chilly but the sun was out and promising to warm us up. The first twelve miles, part on roads and then paved bike path along the bay, took us to St. Peters Bay where we stopped to warm up with a cup of coffee. From St Peters Bay the trail turned to crushed stone. The trail run in the forest for 30+ miles with a few cross roads but no services for the full 30 miles. In fact, there were no services for the last 35 miles until we reached the East Point Lighthouse where there were bathrooms and refreshments.
From the lighthouse a shuttle took back to Charlottetown and our van. Our car trip back home would continue from Charlottetown, but our bike tour of PEI was over. We would definitely ride PEI again if it were not so far from home.
Carol, Mark, Sherri at the Finish
Resort to St Peters Bay
St Peters Bay to East Point Lighthouse
