Day 93 - Murray Harbour to Montague - Two Far 2022 Reunion Bound (the long way around)

July 11, 2022

Day 93 - Murray Harbour to Montague

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On our second day on PEI, we took the scenic route from Murray Harbour to Montague.

This is the harbour at Murray Harbour. Lobster traps are all stacked up ready for the next season. Someone told Kerry that lobster season starts August 8.

It looks like someone is making a Christmas tree from the buoys

Just a few miles from Murray Harbour is Murray River.

There are lobster traps stacked up at homes and boat yards everywhere.

This boat appears to be undergoing some maintenance

While riding down the road, we saw a sign for Cahoon's Wharf and decided to take a short detour to see it. We found one fishing boat docked there and a beautiful view.

Shortly after visiting Cahoon's Wharf, we came across this cemetery. At first it seemed nothing out of the ordinary, but suddenly Kerry slowed down and did a U-turn to go back to it.

Kerry here... Directly across the road from this cemetery was another cemetery with a sign saying "Murray Harbour North and Peters Road NEW CEMETERY", but my photographer failed to get a photo. It tickled my funny bone because the new cemetery was incorporated in 1928.

We had a variety of road surfaces today. Most of it was pretty good, but there were a few rough stretches. This was one of the good ones.

An idea of how heavy the traffic was on our route today :-)

It is haying season on PEI. We passed several other fields where they were either mowing or baling hay.

On our way to see the Panmure Island Lighthouse, we rode through Panmure Island Provincial Park. It is a very nice small park with a campground and public beaches. It appears to be a popular park because the campground was full, as was the parking lot at the beach. The thing we will remember most however, it the headwind we faced returning from the lighthouse. On our way to the lighthouse, Kerry made a comment about how returning was not going to be easy, so at least I was forewarned.

Our lighthouse for the day - the Panmure Island Lighthouse

A view from the top, with Cape Breton, NS on the horizon

Another view, looking back along the beach. The narrow strip of land with the beaches is part of the Panmure Island Provincial Park

After some route changes, we have ended up with five nights here at the Riverhouse Inn in Montague. We have a few loop rides planned from here.

We have a really nice room and a great view of the river from our second-floor balcony. The bike is in a convenient storage room adjacent to the motel. It's going to be a perfect place for a longer stay and it's going to be really fun to ride unloaded for a few days!

Comfy king bed that lets us wake up with a view of the river.

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 2,996 miles (4,822 km)

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Alain AbbateSince you have 5 leisurely days to kill, I'll share my meager findings on the red Nova Scotia roads...
I googled "why are Nova Scotia roads red" and got a link to the Mining Association of Nova Scotia Facebook page. They said the road color is determined by the aggregate used to build them. Rock from quarries like the one in Kempton Nova Scotia are red.
I believe the red rocks in question are sandstone. https://archives.novascotia.ca/meninmines/history/quarries/.
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1 year ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Alain AbbateThat's what we found, but the question we wanted to answer was what makes the rocks red? Is sandstone always red? Are the red sand beaches from the red sandstone? I would say yes to that one, but is it iron content which makes the rocks, and therefore the sand, red? That seems to be the prevailing understanding among our commenters.
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1 year ago

Alain AbbateYes, sandstone can be various colors, but red sandstone is due to iron oxide. https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-database/sandstone
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1 year ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Alain AbbateThat's the final, definitive answer. Thanks!
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1 year ago