July 21 – Biking Brackley Dalvay

Whereas yesterday the high was around 31C, today it was 22C. Even though the wind was still very strong, it was mostly a cross wind so it was a good day for a bike ride.

We drove over to the Brackley Dalvay section of PEI National Park and parked at Brackley Beach. The road goes 5 km out to the Brackley Point to the west and 10 km to the east on a paved bake path beside the road to Dalvay By The Sea.

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It was a day of wide open flat spaces and the road going off to infinity.

When we got to the end of the road you had to take a trail to get to the very tip.

Another deserted beach.

Lots of crashing waves and the town of North Rustico across the gap, with the beach and lighthouse we saw yesterday.

We watched the waves for a while and then some other people dared to invade our private beach.

The wind was from the north so even though we were behind the dunes and couldn’t see the ocean, we were sheltered from the direct blast.

On the way back we discovered we had a problem. We both wear shoes that clip into our pedals. Somewhere on our trek to the beach one of the screws, holding the bracket to the bottom of her shoes, came loose. When she tried to get out of the clip her shoe just pivoted around the remaining screw. The springs on the clips are pretty strong and I had nothing on the bike big enough to pry the shoe off. To get off the bike she had to remove the shoe.

Once we got back to Brackley Beach and the car I used a screw driver to pry the shoe off. We then discovered that the second screw was not just loose but gone. I have a tool kit in the car with a bunch of random things in it but not a lot of screws or bolts. Jennie just happened to find a hex head bolt that was exactly the right length and had the correct thread. Problem solved.

The road out to the point was a bit rough with some jarring cracks. Once we got back to Brackley Beach we were on the bike path which was nice and smooth.

There were not a lot of ocean views but it peeked through occasionally.

We stopped at a beach mainly because of the little lighthouse.

At the end of the trails we stopped in at the Dalvay By The Sea resort.

Will and Kate had stayed here during their visit.

The interior was covered in beautiful wood everywhere.

We had seen the lunch menu outside and even though it was expensive it seemed like a thing we had to do. We cleaned ourselves up as much as possible and went in.

Jennie had a lobster sandwich and I had seafood chowder, which were both excellent.

The highlight was dessert. “Dalvay’s Sticky Date Pudding Served with Warm Toffee Sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream”. It also had strawberries and blueberries. It looked so good we dug in before we remembered to take a picture. Simply amazing.

Jennie even liked the washrooms.

Heading back.

We stopped at Stanhope Beach. It was pretty cool in the temperature sense. Everyone was huddled up against the hill to escape the wind.

Even the lifeguard was all bundled up.

Moving on. Even though now we were sort of going into the wind the dunes again protected us enough that it didn’t seem too bad.

Back at Brackley Beach it was quite a bit busier.

Everyone in the lot was heading out in bathing suits and maybe light shirts. We knew better.

People were either lying flat or with their backs to the wind. There were a surprising number in swimming though.

We people watched from the boardwalk for a while and then went down and sat on the beach. I was soon falling asleep so we headed home.