Biking trip to Magdalen Islands, Quebec

When it comes to travelling, I don't prefer to follow traditional ways of guided touring books. I like to visit remote places and I decide them by searching around Google Maps. In Aug 2015, after 2 years of planning I finally managed to visit Magdalen Islands in Quebec. The islands are remotely located in the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by Canadian provinces namely PEI, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Transportation/Ferry: The only ferry for Magdalen islands in the Maritimes leaves from Souris, PEI which takes around 6 hours to reach the islands. After driving from Fredericton, New Brunswick, I and my awesome friend Jaime decided to leave our car in the nearby parking lot in Souris. We took our bag packs, tent, sleeping bags and bikes (bicycles). It was also my first experience in a ferry which was fully equipped and was pretty amazing. It was 2AM in the morning when the ferry departed from the Souris terminal. We found a cozy corner in the ferry and turned it into our shelter. We needed a good sleep for a big day ahead.

When sun sneaks out of the water: I always wondered how it would look like when sun rises above the ocean and Aug 15, 2015 was the day. I timed my alarm before falling asleep the previous night and made sure that Jaime is awake in the morning as well. It was a little cloudy and misty, other than that the sunrise was breathtaking.

Strong Winds: When all you see is water around you, it looks very calm but in reality it is not. Because of the pressure difference and other natural activities, winds are very strong on the surface of the ocean. Sometime it is so strong that ferry crew has to tie up the chairs with chains and you are blown away if you try to walk in an open hallway.

Arrival in Magdalen Islands: As soon as the ferry was about to dock into the terminal, view of the islands was magnificent. The air was fresh, view was calm and the wind was steady.

Biking Route: Even after 6 hours when we got off the ferry in the morning around 8AM, we both were lucky that we were free from sea sickness. Before we left Fredericton, we already figured out our biking route. Plan was to bike around 60km one-way starting from Cap-aux-Meules to north-east end of the islands. With all the stuff that we carried, it was very difficult to bike around 120km when we had no carriers in our bikes. Our campsite was located in the opposite direction of the biking route and check-in time was 3:00PM. We enquired at the terminal help-desk about storage/locker space but nothing was available. May be we weren't well prepared and hoped to find a storage space. Fortunately, the person working at the front desk agreed to keep our bag packs and other stuff in their office. We were very thankful to them. There were many solo hitch-hickers and they were fully prepared. Hitch-hickers who also carried a sign saying something like "ride needed" optimized their load in a way that they could walk without stopping if they didn't get a ride.

Small Town (Cap-aux-Meules): For a small island, even a small town of approximately 2000 people can look pretty big. We crossed by the town in a couple of mins on bikes. There weren't many people visible either as it was a weekend or it probably because it was too early in the morning. But we both were excited to explore the islands and headed on to our way.

Along the Route: We biked but we also stopped at places to just enjoy the view around the islands. We also took turn in leading the biking route. In some areas it was quite hilly and in some other places cross winds were pushing us off the road. Beaches everywhere. There was also a salt making factory along the route.

Old Harry: It was another small town along the route with a bank ATM :). It had a gorgeous rest area. We explored the place for a while and moved on. Old Harry was around 40km from the point where we started off in the morning. We carried enough water and protein bars which kept us hydrated and energized.

End of the road (Grande-Entrée): Around 60km from Cap-aux-Meules, Grande-Entrée was the last town on the north-east end of the islands. There were few restaurants and the major business for local communities was fishing. Some sea-food processing plants were also there. We both decided to have some rest and explore one of the restaurants. We got the opportunity to visit a family run restaurant and try their freshly caught and cooked seafood.

Camping: Even though it was the same distance going back, but due to the wind blowing in the same direction as ours we managed to made it to the information centre at the terminal sooner than expected. After taking all our stuff, we headed to the camp site. After biking for 120km, our butts were sore and we were dying to take a relaxing shower. The campsite was strategically located right at the end of the cliff. Water hitting the cliff was very loud. Seagulls and other birds were diving down the cliff to hunt their food. After setting up our camp in the designated area, we chatted with fellow campers while enjoying the sunset.

Return: Even though we were exhausted, we managed to reset our clocks and woke up early in the morning. We dissembled our tent and packed our stuff. While heading towards the terminal we saw our ferry arriving and later unloading passengers. Because we were on bikes, we managed to board the ferry before any car. The return ride was amazing. There were moments when all we could see was water around us. As water is fluid, it adjusts to the spherical shape of the earth and therefore the horizon is visible at a shorter distance on the ocean than on land.