Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province, has always punched above its weight. It is famously full of spectacular scenery and friendly, funny folks. The Island Walk, a new path knitted together from existing roads and trails, circumnavigates the island and showcases its views in full splendor.
The island is small, about 1.4 million acres, but 42.5 percent of that is farmland. That, combined with more than 680 miles of shoreline, means you’re never far from breathtaking scenery, and the Island Walk is designed to take maximum advantage of that.
Bryson Guptil is the creator and motivating force behind the 435-mile Island Walk. In 2016, he and his partner walked the nearly 500-mile Camino de Santiago from France to Spain in about five weeks. In 2019, they walked the Rota Vicentina in Portugal. Inspired, he began mapping The Island Walk, which is made up of boardwalks, paths, former railroad tracks, and quiet secondary roads.
The walk is free to use. But it isn’t free to maintain signage, the website, etc. The government does provide some grants, but Guptil said he also relies on volunteers and donations.
“A woman from Ottawa did the walk this June and now she’s raising funds for benches along the route,” he said. “She’s fund-raised for 16 benches so far, mostly from her friends in Ottawa. In PEI we’ve found more than a dozen people who have agreed to place the benches on their property along the route. It’s very heart-warming and typical of PEI.”
David Mitchell, 39, started vacationing on PEI as a small child and moved there at the age of 14, in 2001. He’d never heard of The Island Walk before his retired parents began exploring it in 2023. Inspired by the positive impact it had on their vitality and fitness, he decided to run one section of the 32 sections of the trail — about 13.5 miles on average — every day in July 2024 to raise money for The Island Walk and PEI food banks.
It turned out to be a lot more than he’d bargained for, in a good way.
“I’ve seen a lot of PEI,” he said, “but nothing like on these trails. The number of different communities you touch, the number of different views that you see, and the people that you meet along the route, there’s really no experience like it. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what we have to offer as an island. But my expectations were just blown away. The people you meet have really interesting stories and everyone is so kind, just really happy to be there moving their bodies, and they’re happy to see you being there, too.”
Mitchell, a Cardigan, PEI, resident who spent his career in the military and traveled extensively, said the views of farmers’ fields, the landscapes, and seascapes, were among the most beautiful he has seen anywhere.
I cycled a few sections of the trail with friends and family in August. The first was in Central PEI, from Kensington to Summerside and back. The route is concurrent with the Confederation Trail, a former railroad track converted to a packed stone dust dedicated recreational trail, perfect terrain for an easy walk or ride.
Kensington is an ideal starting point and ending point for an Island stroll, ride, or run. There’s the fantastic bagel sandwiches and coffee at the C&B Corner Cafe across from the rail station to fuel up before setting out and the very popular Island Stone Pub for a burger and cool beverage to refuel after a day on the trail.
We met at the Kensington Station, the former site of a train station on the long-defunct PEI railroad and rode southwest toward Summerside, 8 miles away. A moment after hitting the trail, we passed several trailside picnic tables directly behind the Frosty Treat Dairy Bar and made a mental note of it for the return trip.
From there, we rolled out past potato fields and other farmland on the flat trail. There are several road crossings in and around Kensington, but after that, there are long stretches between them. Even though it gets a bit busier on the weekends, the trail was never crowded.
This mostly tree-lined section of trail offers great views of farmers’ fields and significant protection from the ever-present PEI winds and strong, summer sun. The grade is largely flat with long sight lines. Often, we’d go 15-20 minutes cycling at an easy pace without passing another person in either direction. Where the trails cross auto roads, traffic is generally light, making crossing fairly easy.
If you pass through Summerside on a Saturday morning, the farmers’ market offers great local food, coffee, and crafts. Its vendors are an impressive array of talented, local characters. One of those characters is Ranald MacFarlane, owner of Pleasant Pork in Fernwood, PEI, a self-described “small farmer with a big mouth.” Friendly tourists are sometimes invited to his Saturday night bonfire/cookout at the farm.
“I’ll feed ya for free, but you’ve gotta bring your own booze,” he told me.
I recommend the hot dogs.
When we got back to Kensington, I continued solo on the trail up Irishtown Road through sweeping views of pastureland and oceans of potato fields, leaving the trail at Spring Valley toward our cottage, never tiring of the red dirt, green fields, blue ocean, and wide open skies.
Our second ride on the eastern tip of the Island was more challenging. We cycled the road from Souris (waypoint 24) east through waypoint 23 in Elmira to the East Point Lighthouse and came back on the Confederation Trail. It was about 37 miles or so.
We parked in the public lot on the Souris boardwalk, where there are shops, a restaurant, and even public bathrooms. From there, we cycled northeast, up and down long rolling hills to the East Point Lighthouse, stopping occasionally to snack or watch the ferry embarking on the 5-hour journey into the North Atlantic to Quebec’s Magdalen Islands.
Leaving Souris, there were very few cars on the road, making the ride even more enjoyable. The lighthouse is a popular tourist attraction, because it’s the easternmost point on the island and the place where the Northumberland Strait meets the Atlantic Ocean. Locals say it’s where the sun rises and the tides meet.
It was a great place to hop off the bikes and give our legs a rest. We browsed the craft shop and marveled at the well-preserved, 157-year-old, 64-foot-tall lighthouse. It’s also a popular spot for bird-watchers.
To get back to Souris, we opted for the less challenging Island Walk/rail trail, which we picked up outside the PEI train museum in Elmira. The views were serene, less grand than those from the road, but we’d had enough of the hills by then. We occasionally pedaled by fellow cyclists or travelers sitting on trailside benches, but we more or less had the trail to ourselves.
Every mile was a delight. This winter, I’ll warm myself with memories and chart next summer’s rides.