As veterans of the Spanish Caminos, we were looking for something closer to home. As residents of the hot, dry, brown New Mexican desert, we were looking for something cool and green. We found everything we were looking for—and more—in the Island Walk.
We started walking on May 4 and returned to Charlottetown June 3 (2022!)
Here’s the Roamer’s Digest condensed version:
- We walked 350 miles, not always on the trail, not always in the order intended, and we took a few days off.
- We rode different conveyances 17 times: 2 taxis, 5 buses, 7 accommodation transports, 1 kind couple at the coffee shop when we were too tired to get to our cottage, 1 man who recognized us “as strange” to him who gave us a lift back from the liquor store, and one amazing woman who insisted we take her car while she was at work and visit the North Cape.
- We slept in Air B&Bs 6 nights, inns or motels 14 nights, cottages 2 nights, and Bed and Breakfasts 10 nights. We tried to book at least 3 nights ahead using Google maps, AirB&B, Trip Advisor and Booking.com. It was tricky: if the reviews stopped 2 years ago, if there was no phone number or no answering machine at the end of the phone number, chances are they were no longer in business. Or maybe just not open yet. Sometimes we had to reroute to reach accommodations.
- We ate. B&Bs that served both dinner and breakfast were the best because we got to visit with the owners and other guests (and the food was always plentiful and delicious…and not French fries). Tim Horton became our best friend. We bought groceries for lunches, snacks, and meals at the cottages; we ate bad sandwiches from convenience stores when that’s all there was.
- We learned new things (thank you to the people who took the time to answer all our questions!): the farmer who got off his tractor and told us all about planting potatoes, from cutting the seed to dumping potatoes they couldn’t sell because of perceived disease (who knew you could dispose of a million pounds of potatoes by running them through a snow blower to spread back into the field!); the B&B host who tracked us down on a day off to take us to see the tulip fields; the women who saw us on the porch of the general store and invited us to cross the street and check out their rug hooking workshop. We saw wild blueberry barrens, lobster traps, scallop rakes, and mussel posts. We saw a barge unloading its gravel into truck after truck after truck because there is no gravel naturally on the island. We learned the difference between a marsh and a bog. PEI is definitely not New Mexico.
My advice to anyone considering it? Go in the fall. Make your reservations before you go. Be open to the kindness of strangers. Pack your rain gear and your deet. Walk. Ride. Just go.
– Robyn Harrison
