Saturday, August 31, 2004, 44.1 miles: After a great night’s sleep, and a hearty Dalton breakfast (we didn’t plunge this time, but Dalton did), we headed off to the Summerside area for our last full day in PEI.

Dalton suggested we check out the indoor Farmer’s Market in Summerside and we did so, but didn’t find much we needed or could keep without refrigeration. We did, though, get approached by a couple of guys “selling” the “Love Summerside Community BBQ” at a local park. It was put on by area churches and open to everyone. As it was on the way to the campground we were considering, we headed that way. Free BBQ (for me, anyway) and ice cream and other food and treats and we imbibed.

After filling up on the Love, we rode along the seaside trail and eventually made our way to Linkletter Provincial Park where we found a spot in the windy seaside plain that was the campground there. For all the wind we had encountered in the last week, this was the pinnacle of wind speeds. Sustained at 20+ with gusts at 30+, we struggled to get the tent up and had to chase down various items while that endeavor was going on. Dana made a bud with a fellow camper and got some advice on what to do in Summerside and how to get there.

We headed in to Spinnakers’ Landing, enjoyed a band playing on the central stage, tooled around the many craft shops, and scoped out a place for dinner. We weren’t overly impressed by the food and beverage options in the Landing, so saddled up again and headed to the Knot Beach Bar & Rentals and “rented” a couple of a Adirondack chairs and enjoyed a couple of beers and the beautiful view of the Northumberland Straights.

As late afternoon turned into early evening, we started looking for place to eat. We tried the Breakwater Bar & Grill and ended up only noting it as having potential, and on our way to the next place, found the JMK Fishmart where we ended up have very fresh seafood dinners (they were still bringing the seafood into the attached warehouse as we were eating). After dinner, we did end up back at the Breakwater for windy after dinner drinks and a view of the marina/harbour. We made our way back to the campground and settled in a real windblown night’s sleep.

Our windy night at the campground