Well PEI Island Walk...let’s give it a GO!

Third time...please 🙏 let’s get this done! Bryson Guptill the 2019 creator of the PEI Island Walk estimates that 75 people have walked the entire route. Completing it would put me in pretty select company...along with Ron whom I met in 2023.

Ron...a legend has walked the US Triple Crown of Hiking...Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail totalling 12,674 kms...bailed out of the PEI Island Walk due to blister issues. Subsequently Ron returned to complete the PEI Island Walk...something he swore he NEVER would do (sounds familiar 🤔). Well there is personal motivation...I want to let Ron know “I can do it too”.

Ron

Ron has to be the first person to walk both the Triple Crown and the PEI Island Walk...hmmm there must be some combination of my walks where I could say the same. Likely the first to become a Dual Pilgrim (~6,000 people have walked the last 100 kms of a Camino de Santiago de Compostela route and the Kumano Kodo) and complete the PEI Island Walk. If not some other combination will deliver “I am the first"...If you slice and dice something small enough eventually anyone becomes the “first” ☺️

In 2023 I set out to walk this 703 km walk mapped in 32 daily walking sections or 22 kms per day.  My plan had 24 daily sections or 29 kms per day.

PEI Island Walk - orange line

I was cruising very nicely until Day 16 stopping for the day at New Zealand WP #21 + 13kms. Unfortunately I got very sick requiring a 4 day rest...not the first time a long walk halt was required ie. Camino Portuguese 4 day bed rest…Via Jacobi emergency flight home.  

A few days earlier I had accepted a kind host invitation for a traditional Island raw Oyster shucking feast. Unfortunately I contracted vibrosis...US FDA estimates 1 out of every 2,270 servings of raw oysters. I have never regretted accepting the invitation as the meal and chat was one of two Island eating highlight experiences on my PEI walk...the other a similar kind invitation from a friend’s sister in Charlottetown for a delicious lobster feast.   

Raw Oyster Feast

Lobster Feast - Charlottetown pre-walk

Prior to the vibrosis issue I walked 488 kms over 20 days or 30.5 kms per day. 

Once recuperated I reworked my plan walking 4 days or 94 kms from Gaspereaux WP #28 to Charlottetown WP #32.  Note there is NO orange line between Red bubble (far right) and lower Green bubble (far right). That represents the missing 128 kms...

2023 PEI Island Walk - Part 1

2023 Walk ended between WP # 21 New Zealand + 13 kms at Route 302 at the purple arrow. Starting at that point the 128 kms ends at WP # 28 or Gaspereaux at the red arrow. That’s all that is needed ☺️!!! Note: I am thrilled to have learned who to draw shapes on a photo…YouTube is awesome…a new world has opened up. 😉

Mid June 2024...Dawn and I booked accommodation...ready to enjoy a week in PEI...while I completed the Island Walk. Then ‘He who shall not be named” reared his ugly head...no need to go into details fully covered in previous blogposts. 

Surgery recovery...with the exception of the issue mentioned in my Aug 6th 2024 blogpost has been good. Yes sartorial changes are necessary however I am motivated to complete the PEI Island Walk as it’s unfinished business!

September 2024 New Plan - modified June 2024 plan 

Accommodation - Very pleasant stays are anticipated at both accommodations booked.

Johnson Shore Inn - Sep 26 - Oct 1 (Eastern PEI)

This will be our home base for my 6 walking days...the Inn hosts (Mellanie and Dave) are very welcoming as is the Inn layout. Breakfast and supper at the Inn...both something to look forward to with the Sunset Room booked ☺️.  The Inn’s location is incredible...with lawn chairs near the edge of the cliffs and ways to wander down to the sandy shores. I expect to spend considerable time in those lawn chairs reading or just observing the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

A short 2 minute professional promo YouTube created by Johnson Shore Inn is shown below...perhaps of interest to someone considering a future Island visit. Hopefully I get to try “cooked” oysters and YES I will partake ☺️.

Elmwood Heritage Inn - Oct 2 (Charlottetown)

After our stay at Johnson Shore Inn and the completion of the walk we have one night in Charlottetown which will be enough to get a fish and chips dinner or lobster roll and buy small gifts for the grandchildren..without gifts we are in deep doodoo.  Charlotte's Rose Inn our accommodation for a week in 2019 was fully booked so went with #2 choice which was awarded the #5 Bed & Breakfast in Canada by B&B.com.

Here the available room was “The Premier’s Suite” described below...description seems a bit over the top...should be nice 😀

"Described by a Provincial Tourism official as, “The most beautiful room in the Province,” the Premier’s Suite is a luxurious eight-sided sitting room with king bed.”

Walking Plan

I can’t just eat and sleep...128 kms await...however major changes from the 2023 Original Plan have been made to get this DONE!.   

2023 Original Plan 

Day 1 -  30 kms , 2 shuttle rides. Start Route 302 intersection with Confederation Trail near Baltic; End  WP #23 Bothwell

Day 2 -  41 kms , 2 shuttle rides. Start  WP # 23 Bothwell ; End  WP #25 Howe Bay

Day 3 -  24 kms , 2 shuttle rides. Start  WP # 25 Howe Bay ; End  WP #26 Cardigan

Day 4 -  33 kms , 2 shuttle rides. Start  WP # 26 Cardigan ; End  WP #28 Gaspereaux

4 walking days, 8 shuttle rides, 128 kms or 32 kms per day

2024 Revised Plan 

6 walking days, 12 shuttle rides, 128 kms or 21.3 kms per day

Shuttle Rides tell a compelling story about how crazy this walk has been...😳 Insane!!! 

Dawn and I will be sharing required shuttle duties to start/end points…I am very thankful that Dawn is willing to do this otherwise I would have no chance of completing the PEI Island Walk.

Day 1 @ 8 kms is by far the shortest walking day ever...will start super slowly and then spend the rest of the day exploring around the Johnson Shore Inn.

Paulo do not worry…when walking the Via Francigena from either Lucca or San Miniato to Rome in 2025 the average kms per day will be higher than 21.3 kms ☺️ let’s say 25+ kms per day.

Fun Fact 🤣 Bothwell WP #23, Howe Bay WP #25 and Gaspereaux WP #28 don’t actually exist...something one get's used to on the PEI Island Walk. There will be a post beside the road similar to the one shown below...that’s the meeting place for drop-off/pickup. 

Ok that could be tricky however Bryson Guptill sent me the following link which shows the intersection of two roads where the WP signs for Bothwell, Howe Bay and Gaspereaux are placed. 

https://theislandwalk.info/

I will find these intersections in Google Maps...that and iPhone Find my Friend should allow a successful shuttle pickup. If not I will have something to write about in a blogpost after spending a night...alone... in a ditch! 😳

World Masters Athletics - Gothenburg Sweden (PB = Personal Best)

Shout out to Greg...ye of walking fame on the 2023 UK Coast to Coast Walk where “What happened on the UK C2C trails stays on the UK C2C 🤣 Oie some of the shenanigans we pulled to cross wild rushing mountain streams...never ever to be repeated...unless I forget and get overenthusiastic about another “unique” long walk! 😳

Congrats to Greg! Note PB’s for both 800m and 400m!

800m - Total runners 72. Qualified for the Finals placing 5th (top 4 younger than Greg). Greg PB 2:14.77 

400m - Total runners 50. Qualified for the Finals placing 8th (6 of top 7 younger than Greg). Greg PB 58.95 

4X400m Team Relay - 12 teams. Canadian team anchored by Greg (4th runner) placed 7th in time of 4:13.90. Greg’s split 57.69  German team crushed everyone setting a World Record of 3:51.19. 

BUT here is the thing...had either 1) all Canadian runners matched Greg’s lap time or 2) Greg had run all 4 laps equal to his split...both very logical assumptions in my world ☺️😉...Canada would have finished 1st in a World Record Time of 3:50.76!!!

Statistics - Yes I can hear the moaning and groaning...but

Everyone deserves to have fun and I enjoyed updating stats on my blogposts each day. Truthfully not much happened on the PEI Island Walk Part 1 and I had to go way way way beyond my normal blogpost stretching 🤣 just to have something/anything to say 🤔

So here is a subset of the stats...Original Plan (Red), 2023 Walk (Blue), 2024 Projected (Green)

Walking Days: Original Planned 24, 2023 Actual 20, 2024 Projected 26 

Total Kms Walked:  Original Planned 703, 2023 Actual 582, 2024 Projected 710 

Shuttle Rides: Original Planned 17, 2023 Actual 18, 2024 Projected 29

% Come on get a Wiggle on Days (>40 km): Original Planned 7, 2023 Actual 4, 2024 Projected 4

Graphs - Same comments as Statistics 🤣...one particular Blogpost reader will greatly appreciate this I am sure!

Once again I am breaking new ground with these two graphs...trying to place this particular walk PEI Island Walk Part 2 - 2024 in context with past long walks. 

First graph - A self described impressive creation as it pulls together so much in a very SIMPLE manner. 😊 For each long walk the bar graph in light blue shows the Kms walked per day. The dark blue bar graph component shows the additional “feels like” Kms per day for elevation gains/losses which of course slow you down. 

An important consideration is the Number of walking days. Walking 30 days on the Camino Frances and Camino Finisterre at a combined “feel like” 34.1 kms per day is vastly more challenging than the upcoming 6 day PEI 2024 Island walk at “feel like” 21.8 kms per day.

Graph 2 - Shows the % increase in “feels like” kms per day from actual kms walked. Of interest the 2022 Camino Primitivo and San Salvador and the UK Wainwrights Coast to Coast ranking second are basically identical at 21%+ however the UK C2C walk was by far tougher due to weather, river fords etc.  The upcoming PEI Island Walk 2024 Part 2  is not even a factor using this metric.

Shoes

Type of shoe is the most critical choice in a long walk with colour being a very very close second criteria. Since the debacle (new shoes with incorrect width as I never checked the box AND old socks) on the Camino Portuguese I now start ALL long walks with new shoes (no break-in period required wearing HOKA’s) and new socks. For this walk the two previously purchased shoe choices are:

HOKA Speedgoat V6 - 3rd pair

HOKA Bondi’s V8 - 10th pair

There is no need for the HOKA Speedgoat Vibram grip on the PEI Island Walk so the super comfortable HOKA Bondi’s are the choice. Also the HOKA Speedgoat’s V6 are the snazziest shoe I have ever bought. I want to keep them for the 2025 walk with Paulo...proving to him that Canadians can also be colourful and hopefully embarrass him a bit ☺️.

 

The 10th pair HOKA Bondi’s are not my most colourful however they were 20% off so good enough. I was intrigued though by the apparent popularity of black HOKA’s...my hypothesis "black is more versatile and goes well with everything." To my knowledge 6 blogpost readers have purchased HOKA Bondi’s...perhaps influenced by my HOKA babbling...2  chose colours...4 chose black. 

Curious  I contacted HOKA Canada asking whether they had stats on black HOKA’s vs other HOKA’s. I knew this was a long shot ….apparently contacting HOKA for this reason was a little “out of the ordinary” 🤣. I initially received a typical canned bot response to which I replied “Unfortunately this does not answer my question”.

To my great surprise I was then contacted by a HOKA agent...who quickly offered the following explanation...confirming my hypothesis.

“Good afternoon! I wanted to inform you that the color black is very popular because it is a neutral color and people are drawn to it since it can be worn in professional settings if needed.”

HOKA % Black sales were not available so I created my own stats...ok maybe sample size is a touch small...who cares it’s a story! On a person level the % who choose black HOKA’s is 4/7 (I am a person) = 57%. On a % of shoes bought the % choosing black drops significantly 4/20 (one HOKA colour person has bought 2 shoes, I have bought 13) = 20% 😉

And then...OMG while out walking Running Free (my HOKA store) sent the following sale email...I laughed so hard…how did they know this would be great for my story? 🤔 

I totally understand why Black HOKA’s are popular but they are not for me... caution to the wind... as luck would have it I no longer participate in any professional settings, have no need for neutral considering my absolute lack of clothing sense and no one...has EVER considered me Cool! 🤣. 

A small concession…had to replace my beloved UnderArmour baseball hat…only hat that fit was…black with black NIKE swoosh!!! With my coloured shirts and HOKA’s I may well be inching towards Cool  😎 

Weather

Always a wild card on any long walk.... On my 2023 PEI Island Walk Part 1 I met Bill who provided 4 shuttle rides.  A very interesting amiable fellow who was previously a meteorologist...I had many questions...we had great chats.

Bill in his “retirement years” continues his passion for with the weather by publishing a daily blog on PEI Weather. 

https://peistormchaser.wordpress.com/

I subscribed in 2023 finding his reports really useful...so I wrote to Bill recently. I am very confident that I have skillfully mitigated the weather risk quite nicely 😀. All will be good!

"Thanks Bill…I subscribed. I am assuming that you not only analyze weather trends but also have the ability to influence the weather. 😉

As such I am requesting no hurricanes 🌀 or tropical storms for PEI in 2024 (or ever!) and superb Fall weather between Sep 26th and Oct 3rd.😊 Cheers Guy"

Am I ready?

The Island Walk is not a difficult walk...long yes...but no elevation gains/losses...so the 6 day walking plan is doable. However given my recent health experience I am approaching the completion of this walk with respect.

FitBit has been bugging me to move to the Google platform ...I guess I should be doing this sometime 😒 as I understand past FitBit data will soon no longer be available.  So I set to work and downloaded data...painstakingly month by month back to Jan 2019...massaged the downloads into what else...an Excel spreadsheet.

Then I realized there MUST be a graph somewhere in all this mess of numbers. Some magic and voila a new graph of the Kms walked per month dating back to Jan 2019. 

 The graph ends with the August 2024 (to 26th)...notable key info

- Red line with yellow markers - Average Kms per day since Jan 2019 - 16.8 kms 

- Purple line with yellow markers - Average Kms per day required for 2024 walk - 21.3 kms

August 2024 (to Aug 26th) has been a good walking month at 20.6 kms per day. Ok stuff can happen however in the end this is how I feel about my chances.

I anticipate a very enjoyable week in PEI with Dawn...superb accommodations, great food...time to relax...explore the sandy beaches below the Inn and an uplifting relaxing 6 day walk! 😀.