Explore P.E.I. on the Confederation Trail
Did you know that you can cycle the entire province of P.E.I. on 435 km of trails and never exceed more than a three per cent gradient up or down? This kind of epic cycling trip makes exploring one of Canada’s best tourist spots accessible to cyclers of all skill levels — and can turn your summer vacation into a journey you will never forget.
The Confederation Trail starts in Tignish on the western tip of the island and extends across the province to the eastern tip of Elmira.the trail hits all the main stops along the way through, including Charlottetown, Summer side, sour is, cavendish and Montague.the trails were originally railways and have been maintained for hikers and bikers since 1989, when the railway was abandoned.
Some travellers choose to explore parts of the province in short day trips close to their accommodations. Others trek across the P.E.I. and stay in different accommodations along the way, continuing the journey after each stop. campgrounds, motels, hotels, historic sites, parks and eateries are all found just off the trails. Some locations require travellers to cycle onto roadways in order to reach their destination, but most pit stops are nearby and there are many places right along the trail to stop and have a picnic.
The trails range from easy to moderate in difficulty. there are a variety of lengths as well, so you can decide what loops to take, depending on how far you want to travel. trail branch options are anywhere from an easy eightkilometre trip, all the way to a longer ride of 80 km.
The views along the trail are stunning vistas of what travellers love best about P.E.I.: seaside shorelines, beaches, pictures que farmsteads and the famous red-hued soil along the edges of the coast.the trail system is welltravelled and loved by both visitors and locals, so you will pass other bikers and hikers as you go. In fact, the trail is so popular for cyclers that Tourism P.e.i. provides a guide with maps and amenity locations for each section of the trail and can be downloaded at www.tourismpei.com/pei-cycling.