Exploring PEI: Montague, breweries and rambles

Monday

After breakfast at the Boat House, I packed up and met Sandy from Siren’s Beach Motel, who drove me to Souris (pronounced soor-ee). Sidenote: yes, that’s French for mouse. Apparently, it was founded by French-speaking Acadians in the early 1700s as a fishing settlement and they experienced several plagues of field mice, hence the name. And yes, I googled it after realizing I was pronouncing it wrong.

I had time to kill before the bus to Montague so I wandered around Souris a bit before heading to the beach to chill and read a little. It was a nice, mostly sunny day for October so it was nice to relax. I then headed to a Timmies for a tea – a super-sweet-for-one-sugar tea. Every time I get a tea at Tim Hortons, I tell myself never again but the café I wanted to visit was closed… so it was my only option and I really wanted a tea.

Then I was off on the bus to Montague (and yes, I kept thinking about Romeo & Juliet everytime I said the town name in my head). I was alone on the bus until Georgetown when a crew of about 12 got on, which was the most people I saw in one place in a while as solo walking in rural areas doesn’t lend itself to crowds. After being dropped off at the Sobeys in Montague (one of the bus stops there), it was a short walk to Lanes Riverhouse Inn, where I was staying for the next few days. I checked in before walking back to Sobeys to pick up a few groceries as I was craving fruit and yogurt.

Then I was off to Bogside Brewing, which was a half block away from Lanes, for dinner and a flight of beer. I love visiting small breweries and brew pubs that do flights of beer, as it’s such a great way of exploring what they do. Bogside has an interesting set up with tons of seating. You order the food and beer separately. For the beer, you go to the bar and order and then take it back to your table. For the food, you go to the counter and order, and are given a buzzer which goes off when your food is ready and then you go to the counter and pick it up. Which is a bit tricky when solo as it means you have to leave either your food or beer alone on the table… never a good idea when a solo woman. Thankfully it wasn’t busy so I was able to safely do so but if it was busy, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable ordering both and I wonder if anyone’s pointed out the possible issues for solo visitors? Perhaps I’ll leave them a review and do so. I got a pulled chicken sandwich with fries and a flight of beer. The fries were great and a huge helping, but the pulled chicken could have used a bit more sauce but it wasn’t bad, just a bit dry. My flight was five beers, all of which I liked to various degrees and two I loved. They were the Tailgate IPA and Bon Voyage Champagne IPA. Yes, I’m partial to IPAs.

Then I did laundry at $3 per wash and $3 per dry at Lanes and a random lady who was also doing laundry gave me a super-sized dryer sheet which was really nice. And that was my Monday.

Tuesday

Turns out, that despite nothing on their website about it, Lanes does serve a basic continental breakfast which is included in your room price but unless I totally missed it, there was no hot water even though there was a variety of teabags. I swear, PEI must not have a lot of tea drinkers. Nothing hot, just cereal, toast, muffins… the standard continental breakfast. After a quick bowl of cereal, I headed up to my room to relax and read for a bit before seeing how far the Confederation Trail was cleared from Montague. Lanes sits right on it and I could see locals walking on it so it was worth exploring, especially as I was quite looking forward to the portion from Cardigan to Montague. But it was only cleared from Montague to Route 319, about 2.5 kilometers. So I looked for something interesting to walk to tomorrow so that even if I couldn’t walk the Trail, I could still explore a bit more of PEI. I decided to walk to the Roma historic site and back which would be that small section of the Trail I’d walked today plus some side roads. Google thought it would be about 17 kilometers in total so I would finish my PEI walking trip with a decent, if not super long, walk.

Since my walk was rather short at 5km, I also wandered around Montague, exploring what was open and checking out the riverfront. It’s a nice small town and I’ll bet it’s more fun in the summer when there’s more to do and see. I would have loved to have visited the museum there but it was closed. While I’ve enjoyed my trip in October despite the trail closure, it should be noted for anyone planning on visiting PEI in October, than many if not most of the attractions, as well as some restaurants and cafes are closed. Sure, tropical storm Fiona definitely made it much worse but I had noted in my research beforehand that a lot would be closed as many places end their season at the end of September.

Then Bryson from the Island Walk contacted me as a reporter from the CBC is doing a story on walking the Island Walk after Fiona. I gave him permission to share my contact information and the reporter text me to set a meet up time and place for tomorrow. The rest of the evening was quiet. I decided not to go out for dinner since there was limited options (that were open) other than the chain restaurants within easy walking distance. Instead, I had a quiet night in with cheese, crackers, carrot sticks and an apple instead of the fried restaurant food I’ve been eating. I love fish and chips but even I have my limits…

Wednesday

Today was an eventful day! Since Keurig machines seem to be ubiquitous here, and I didn’t want to go down for breakfast, I started my morning with a mocha in my room. One of the items I’d bought earlier in the trip was a box of hot chocolate packages because while I’m not a coffee drinker and I wouldn’t use any type of coffee maker to make hot water for tea, using one to make hot water for hot chocolate (or a mocha) works. Add in some instant oatmeal and a fruit salad from Sobeys and I was set for breakfast in my room.

After breakfast, I set out to walk to the Roma at Three Rivers National Historic Site, Unfortunately, it was closed like so much else. I suspect it would be more interesting when open. But it was a gorgeous day, mostly sunny and about 18 degrees, so I wandered around reading the limited outdoor signage at the site to get my history on. While exploring the site, I accidentally flushed a grouse/pheasant (not sure which PEI has) which was neat but unfortunately it flew away too quickly for a photo. After an apple and protein bar, I started back to meet up with the CBC folks. It was a nice walk if unfortunately all paved roads (no red dirt roads today).

I met up with the CBC folks at the Route 319 and Confederation Trail crossing and that was interesting. Nancy, the reporter, interviewed me about walking the Island Walk post Fiona and then Shane, the camera guy, filmed me walking. First, with a regular TV camera and then with a drone. While I have been filmed before, never with a drone. I haven’t to admit that it was a bit surreal and hard to walk without smiling or looking at the drone. It was supposed to air the next week but I never saw anything. One of the questions she asked, paraphrased was “would I recommend the Island Walk despite the Fiona damage and the changes I had to make“, and my answer then and now is YES. My walk may not have been the walk I planned and it may not have followed the Island Walk route exactly but I had a fabulous time and I loved walking the beaches and red dirt roads. Do I wish I could have walked the Confederation Trail? Of course. But I’ll be back and walk it another time. Regardless of the challenges and changes and closures, I would recommend visiting PEI to anyone (great food, friendly people, lovely landscapes and beaches) and the Island Walk to any walker. I can’t wait to come back and do the Confederation Trail portions I missed.

But I digress… it’s always interesting being interviewed. And while it doesn’t appear that the filming led to a video, or if it did, I missed it. However, there’s an article in which I’m quoted in.

And back to my recap, after the interview, I finished my walk and returned to the Inn before heading out to Copper Bottom Brewing for a flight of beer. I wish I had gotten there earlier as I never thought to check their closing time and they closed at 7:00 pm. Unfortunately, I got there at 6:00 pm so I was a bit rushed. Totally my fault. It wasn’t very busy and I liked the vibe there. I quite enjoyed four of the five beers in my flight, but especially the Parkman Ave, a DIPA. Would love to come back.