Nice shoulders on Quebec roads.

The one disadvantage to riding along the Quebec side was that the roads were not flat. At times the hills were just as bad at the hills around Lake Superior. They made the ride more interesting, often providing pretty glimpses of the Lake, but also slowed us down and ensured that we were tired by the end of the day. Our first day after Barrie’s place we had hoped to ride 120 km, but only made 98 km. With the shorter distances and decreasing daylight hours, we soon realized that our goal of arriving home on September 15 was no longer realistic. We officially re-forecast our arrival home for September 16th.

Beautiful views of Lake Temiskaming. In the north, there were farms along the shore, but further south the landscape was wooded, similar to Gatineau Park across the river from Ottawa.

We spent one night in Quebec at the beautiful Bannik Campground in Ville-Marie near Fort Temiskaming ($26). The campsites were set in a nice treed area, the showers were clean and warm, and they had laundry facilities.

The continued ride along Lake Temiskaming reminded us very much of riding the along the Gatineau Parkway just across the Ottawa River from home. The hills certainly reminded us of Gatineau, and reinforced that we would not be getting home on Monday as originally planned.

By 5:30 pm, we pulled into the town of Temiskaming at the southern tip of the lake and did a final re-supply – fresh bread and fruit. Our plan for the next day was to take the shortcut along highway 533 directly to Mattawa, saving us 80 km and avoiding North Bay. We first heard warning about the “back-roadness” of this highway from Isabelle at Barrie’s place. In Temiskaming a cottager also warned about the road. Both commented on the narrow road, limited sight-lines and crazy drivers, so we were a bit concerned what we were getting ourselves into.

With the warning of the road, and no campground nearby, we decided to ride out to the rest area near the intersection of highway 101 and 533. This would allow us to tackle highway 533 on Sunday morning and hopefully avoid the worst of the traffic. The rest area turned out to have a nice creek/river flowing next to it and a treed area behind it, allowing us to rinse the sweat and road grunge off our bodies and set up camp with a little bit of privacy. Other than being a bit too close to the road, it was a perfect free camping spot.

Becky went for a quick dip along the shore of the river without incident, but when Scott went for his dip, he was surprised by a car pulling in, and driving toward him. At this point he was standing completely naked in the river, balancing on one foot and attempting to dry off. Fortunately, it was after dark, and the river bank was high enough he could duck below it. The car parked well away, and he was able to finish drying off without further issues.

Making breakfast at the rest area near the intersection of highways 101 and 533.

Our strategy of riding highway 533 on a Sunday morning worked out perfectly. It was indeed a “back-road” in that the quality of the tarmac was a significant downgrade from highway 101. In most places there was no yellow line, and the shoulders were made of loose sand and big rocks. On the plus side, there was very little traffic, and the route was very pretty, giving us many glimpses of small lakes through the mature forest. It had lots of ups and downs, only letting us average 15 km/hr, so by the time we arrived in Mattawa, we were ready for lunch, and to be back on a better road.

At Mattawa we rejoined highway 17, and would remain on highway 17 until Pembroke, where we could get off of it for good. The traffic was quite a bit lighter and more polite than we feared, making for a pleasant ride. Our map showed several towns on highway 17 that turned out to just be a few houses or resorts and had no services (Deux Rivieres and Bissett Creek). We unfortunately passed these as Becky was craving her afternoon ice cream break. Just as we had given up hope, a gas station / convenience store appeared in Stonecliffe and ensured Becky did not miss her day’s dose of ice cream.

We stayed at the Morning Mist Resort ($21) in Stonecliffe. They were definitely more accustomed to RVs than tents, but were very friendly and welcoming. Their sites were huge and they had a nice covered picnic shelter where we could plug in our laptops and check email while cooking breakfast .

As Becky was taking down the tent, she lifted the tent by the poles and shook out the dirt from the bottom of the tent. This was our normal routine, but just as she was about to put  the tent down, she heard a CRACK! The tent was now looking quite lopsided. After further investigation, she discovered that one of the poles had snapped at the join. Quickly she removed the tent releasing any pressure on the rest of the poles. Fortunately, Scott was able to make a temporary repair using one of the hose-clamps he has been carrying. It is nice that we weren’t carrying the hose clamps the entire trip for nothing! We don’t recommend this as a permanent fix as the clamp has rough edges that could cause a rip in the fly – but it was good enough for our one remaining night of camping.

 
Broken and temporarily repaired tent pole.

We had an easy day riding into Pembroke. From here, we would be riding the back-roads home – no more highways. Pembroke was also our last night camping. We stayed at the municipal Riverside Campground ($21) which had adequate facilities – it felt more like camping in a sports fields than a campground. We were glad for access to a table in the laundry room, as it started to rain just as Becky was preparing dinner. After dinner, as Becky was sitting in the tent with lightening and rain all around, she was reminded of our journey around Lake Ontario last June. It was appropriate that our last night in the tent would be so similar to our first!

113 km, 7h 20 min, Bannik Campground, Quebec to rest area

125 km, 8h, Ouest-Duhamel rest area to Stonecliffe

84 km, 4h 30 min, Stonecliffe to Pembroke

We saw these crosses all along the Quebec shore of Lake Temiskaming. We’ve never seen crosses like this before, but we assume that the ladder, hammer and pliers are a reference to the tools used to crucify Jesus. Can anyone confirm?

Lunch by a small lake East of Lake Temiskaming along highway 101 in Quebec.

Welcome back to Ontario!

Our first sight of the Ottawa River. Almost home!

Railway bridge across the Ottawa River.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Typical Thai street, with frequent small storefronts

We were slow to get organized in the morning, and did a short ride to Phang-nga. Becky is having some stomach issues – likely related to the change in diet rather than anything specific. It will definitely slow us down a little, so we decided a short day was in order.

A Wat in Phang Nga (and some impressive hills behind)

When we set out, we were expecting the ride to only be 39 km, but soon discovered that the town was not exactly where we expected it to be. With a little exploration, we found the town and stumbled upon a temple and a fellow Canadian Tourist. We had a brief conversation with Stephen and he pointed us in the correct direction for the Phang-nga Inn.

We have decided to spend two nights in Phang-nga. The Phang-nga Inn is a nice house-based inn. Our room is clean although a little small, and the bed is comfortable. We will also use the extra day to do some much needed bike maintenance. Our shifters are not working as well as we would like, and Becky’s front brake cable needs replacing. Our chains were last cleaned in Turkey, so perhaps we should do something about that as well!

The maps for Thailand are still posing a challenge for us. We are finding that the towns are not where they say they are, and the roads are often labeled different than our map. Google and Yahoo disagree on where some of the roads are! Scott has found a different GPS map which will hopefully prove to be more accurate than the previous one.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Fancy domed ceiling in the Hamam.

We began our tour with the Harem in an attempt to avoid any crowds. The Harem is the part of the palace where the Sultan, his family, and concubines, lived. The Harem had many incredible domed ceilings with amazing tile work that the pictures do not show well. When the sun shone just right, the gold in the designs shone.

Other than many groups of school children, the palace grounds were quite empty. We even had a few rooms in the Harem to ourselves – quite the contrast with what the guidebook told us to expect. A definite benefit to visiting on a cold day in late November!

We were very glad we had rented the audio guides (20 YTL for two). Scott felt a bit silly walking around with headphones on, but we found the explanations added a lot to our understanding, and the occasional music provided extra ambience.

Scott wearing goofy audio guide headphones.

After viewing the harem and walking around a bit, Becky was in need of a rest and we were both a little hungry. We did not really expect there to be so much to see, so we had not planned on being in the palace over lunch. Our visit to the palace kitchens and the explanation of the meals cooked for 10000 or 15000 people whetted our appetites even more.

We headed to the cafeteria to find a cup of tea and a snack. We were shocked by the prices (14 Lira for a donair which is usually 2-4 Lira on the street, and 4 Lira for tea which is usually 50 cents). Added to the horrible prices, the food was also pretty bad. We recommend that anyone planning a trip to the Topkapi Palace to bring along a picnic.

Huge pots in the palace kitchen.

Our guidebook says that the treasury is an additional fee, but when we approached it was free. We were glad to be seeing the treasury with so few other people, as it is the habit here for people to stand as close as possible to the glass windows to view the items. This means that only one or two people can view them at a time. If you step back to allow more people to see them, someone inevitably just steps in front of you, blocking your view. Becky tried to be a polite Canadian, but found this to be rather frustrating! Scott quickly gave up and crowded up to the glass with everyone else.

Our vote for the most amazing thing we saw in the treasury were candle sticks made to sit outside the tomb of Mohammed. These did spent some time in Medina (Saudi Arabia) but were transported back to Turkey for protection during the first world war. They are about five feet tall and one foot in diameter and made of solid gold. If these items were in the Smithsonian in Washington DC, you would see armed guards very near. The security here seemed to be rather subdued given the value of the items on display.

Our second to last stop was the Sultan’s Palace containing holy relics of the Islamic faith. These include the turban of the prophet Joseph (Old Testament, Joseph and the coat of many colours – made famous in pop culture in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), the staff that Moses used to part the Red Sea, various vials of Prophet Mohammed’s hair, and an imprint of Mohammed’s foot. Adding to the ambiance of the holy relics, the Koran was being read and piped through this section of the museum. When read aloud in Arabic, the Koran sounds very poetic. We aren’t quite sure what to think of many of the relics – many seem to Scott like all the fragments of the “True Cross” which are found in Christian churches around the world. Prophet Mohammed’s relics seem most likely to be authentic, since Islam was a well-established religion by the time he died. Then again – what is real and authentic in this context? It was surprising to us to find all of these here, but Turkey is the successor to the Ottoman Empire, which was for many years the center of Islamic faith in the world. Perhaps it shouldn’t have surprised us.

Becky standing in front of some fancy tiles in the Summer Pavillion.

Our final stop was the Summer Pavillion, built in 1640 by Sultan Ibrahim and used for circumcision ceremonies for the crown princes. Becky took great delight in calling it the Circumcision Room, and watching Scott cross his legs. The whole area is decorated with beautiful tile works and we took lots of photos.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

The fog is thick and making the outside of the tent any everything that comes in direct contact with the outside damp. The beach smells of dead fish. We are less than a km from the ferry docks, so we can hear the boat unloading cargo. The boat will leave Blanc-Sablon at midnight, so after that things will get quieter.

There is a theory that the ferry leaves at 10:30; however, the latest information is that it is 10:30 in the Newfoundland timezone, not Quebec timezone — even though it is leaving from Quebec. So, we will need to be back at the ferry docks for 8:00 am to buy tickets for the 9:00 am departure. We’ll try to pack up immediately in the morning and go directly to the ferry docks. If we have a wait there, we can make breakfast up there (and there is likely to be fresh water somewhere up there, which will make it easier).

In the afternoon at one of the stops we were able to visit the bridge of the ship. This was only because we had done the captain a favour by pumping up his bicycle tires . We managed to bring Thomas and Isabel It was neat to see the bridge, and get an idea of the equipment used to maneuver the ferry through some of the narrow channels. They rely fairly extensively on radar and the gyrocompass, but still take fixes to validate the radar and gyrocompass are still sane. The GPS-enabled electronic charts are not accurate enough to keep them in the centre of the channel in some places, so they are used mainly as a backup and for general reference.

One other area that was particularly interesting was around the discussion of the new boat. This discussion occurred in French so we missed most of it, but were briefed by Thomas afterwards. The new boat will be twice as big and have a separate VIP section, with a bar. It sounds like this may lead to segregation between the tourist passengers and the locals – especially the natives.

There seems to be significant segregation in the coastal villages we visited over the last few days. There are “white” villages and “native” villages, and they each have their own schools. A lady we met from the village of St. Augustine said that the kids in the white school learn English and French, such that by the time they are in Grade 6, they are fluent in both. In the native school they learn 3 languages (English, French, and the native language). Neither of us understand enough of the situation to have an informed opinion, but our gut reaction is anti-segregation. One question seems to be how do you provide a common curriculum with two such different cultures and different languages. Is part of this a reaction to the Residential Schools and their attempts to re-culture the native children?

The influx of people has been an interesting experience. There are a number of native Canadian’s, as well as people from Newfoundland, and people from Quebec. There is a greater mix of languages being spoken and interesting accents.

We reduced our footprint on C deck from two tables to one table, and the second table was grabbed by Thomas and Isabel, from Quebec City who are hitchhiking from Sept Iles around through the Maritimes. They’re interesting people, and have been fun to get to know. Isabelle is a music teacher, and will be starting in her first school in the fall. Thomas is taking Creative Writing at University, and it wouldn’t surprise us to hear his name again as a playwright in a few years.

Our first stop was at Natashquan from 5:30 to 7:45am. Becky got up for long enough to take a quick look around and noticed that the landscape had changed dramatically from last night. The trees are much shorter, the landscape much flatter. It is reminiscent of Newfoundland, but the colours are different.

At 10:45 we stopped at Kegaska for a quick hour and half stop. We had enough time to walk around the shoreline and make our way up to the general store (Epicere CJ’s). We were surprised to hear the lady running the store speaking English. Her name is Cheryl (likely the C in CJ’s) and The community appeared to have more English speakers than French speakers.

After lunch the boat stopped in La Romaine. Since we were stopping for 3 hours, we took our bikes off and went for a ride. We rode through town and up to the airport. This was the first of the towns we saw that segregated the white community from the native community. Most of where we rode was through the native community. We waved and everyone waved back and smiled. Several of the children tried to ask us questions, but unfortunately they spoke French so we were unable to communicate with them . It was kind of sad riding through town – the people smiled at us but otherwise did not appear to be happy. We also observed significant obesity, and saw only junk food in the depanneur – a significant contrast to other depanneurs we have visited.

We stopped at a depanneur to get a snack. As we ate our snacks every dog in town appeared hoping to get a treat too. One of the puppies decided to take a nap on Becky’s back tire. We saw on cute little girl riding a tricycle carrying a little puppy dog. Becky asked if she could take a picture and the girl posed and smiled. Unfortunately for the puppy, the girl soon dropped it and rode over it . When we left the puppy was doing OK, but not happy about the prospect of another bicycle ride.

There was some spontaneous Quebecois folk singing on the upper deck shortly after dark, which was fun to observe (and try to sing along with). Someone had a guitar, another person had an accordion, and Isabel led some of the singing. It was neat music

At midnight we got into Harrington Harbour, and they had a big lantern-light tour of the town, highlighting its history. This was part of CoastFest 2008, which is celebrated by all of the lower north shore communities, but this was the only piece we will be around for. All the streets in town are boardwalks or granite, and the transport is ATV or snowmobile. (And a couple of forklifts on the wharf). We had a chance to meet Jacques Cartier (who spoke French with a bit of a Newfoundland accent) and Margeuritte – a French noblewoman who was marooned here by her Uncle with the sailor who had become her lover. Good fun, and well worth staying up for (and not just for the molasses cookies and bakeapple tarts at the end).

Harrington Harbour was the site used to film La Grande Seduction, which seems to be quite an interesting film. They have a co-op fish processing plant, but not much else in the way of industry. The forests nearby were infested with spruce budworm a few years back, and there’s little left. The community has had a stable population (280) for over 50 years, which they are very proud of. When asked about real-estate, the mayor said that there were no houses for sale and that there was no land, so there wasn’t any room (or necessarily any desire) for growth.

Our first stop today was at Port Menier on Anticosti Island. The boat stopped for 2 hours, so we had an hour and half to ride around and check out the sites. The village is rather small. I did not expect to see modern and rather large houses. Scott pointed out that a house that large at home would have multiple garages, but here it only made sense to have one.

We rode our bikes out to the site of the Chateau Menier. We expected to see a large building of some kind. The Chateau turned out to be an archeological site, where a large building once was. From what we were able to understand, this was the site of the home of a French multi-millionaire, who bought L’Isle d’Anticosti with profits from the Nicaraguan Cacao trade. We took photos of the various explanatory
plaques, but haven’t had time to translate them yet.

At dinner last night, Roselyne mentioned that the deer on Anticosti were so tame that you could feed them from your hand in the town site. While we were riding, we saw a small child (maybe 4 years old) feeding a deer. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop, since neither of us verbalized the desire to take a picture, so we don’t have a picture. I did manage to get a few good photos of a deer walking in the woods near the Chateau site.

Scott says:

Our cabin was on A-deck, in the bowels of the ship, and at the rear of the passenger cabin, so we were pretty insulated from the outside world. I put in ear plugs to block some of the engine noise, so I completely missed our docking at midnight and our 6 am departure.

I slept from 11pm until 8am when Becky finally woke me up, after going in and out of the cabin several times. For me, a cabin on a ship with no windows appears to be a good cure for any sleep deprivation!

We have continued to chat with Dave, Paula, Irene and Owen. Dave has become something of a solar power expert at home, since he wrote a couple of successful grant proposals, and has overseen installation of 5 (soon to be 12) panels on the roof of their local food co-op. In Michigan, as with Ottawa, local conditions don’t make solar economical given current equipment and installation costs, but I think it’s good to spread the expertise around as panel costs decrease. He loaned me a solar magazine, and I’m looking forward to chatting more with him about
it.

Anticosti Island looks like a neat place to explore. It really is a huge island, with over 300 km of roads, although not much in the way of services. Lots of opportunities for hiking, wildlife and exploration, without much human presence.

It’s nearing sunset now, and we’re passing the Mingan Archipelago, a National Wildlife Preserve. It looks like a very neat place to kayak or hike.

We got off the boat at Havre-Saint-Pierre for a short walk to the Depanneur. On the way back, Paula invited us to join her for a beer – which we gladly accepted. We enjoyed some Quebec micro-brews and watched the boat crew unloading and re-loading containers. It was a pleasant way to end the evening.

The boat is relatively small as far as passengers are concerned. There are two small decks of cabins (about 10 cabins on one deck and 2 on the other) and two decks with seating areas. The total capacity of the boat is 283 people. From Rimouski to Sept-Iles there are only 39 people on board, so the boat feels pretty roomy. By the time we get to Natashquan the boat will be much fuller (all the cabins are sold out for the last night).

Upon departure, we participated in the weekly safety drill and debriefing. The crew actually did a drill that involved putting on life jackets. It was unclear what all they were doing, as we were all gathered in the front upper seating area for a debriefing. The debriefing involved a fair bit of laughing; however, we didn?t understand enough of what was being said to really appreciate the humour. The purser did repeat the key points in English, so we didn’t miss that much. We did however find the experience interesting and we figured out what we needed to know to make the trip more enjoyable.

Purser giving the safety briefing.

We decided to try out the ?dinner service? rather than the canteen for supper. The cost was pretty high ($21 each) which made it the most expensive meal we have had so far on this trip. The meal was OK. It provided us an opportunity to meet Roselyne and Manuel – a couple who were on their way to Anticosti Island to visit their daughter and grandchildren. They did not speak much English, so we had a very interesting conversation involving their limited English and our limited French. I think we managed to get most of the concepts across successfully. Roselyne even drew us a map of Port Menier (the village on Anticosti Island) to let us know where we go and what we should see when we arrive on the Island. It was one of the more meaningful interactions we have had with people since we entered Quebec.

On the boat, we have also met the only other English speakers: Dave and Paula, Irene and Owen. They are a family from Michigan (near Detroit) who are doing a circle route involving trains, boats, and rental cars. They are also going to Blanc-Sablon and St. Anthony. ?They have been so nice to us, and have lent us their English magazines to read while onboard. I was not successful in finding English magazines in Rimouski, so it is nice to be able to borrow a couple!

Today does not involve any stops. The boat crosses the Gulf of St. Laurence and takes 11 hours to go to Sept-Iles, where it spends the night and departs early in the morning for Port Menier on Anticosti island. To make the adjustment to the boat easier, we booked a cabin for the first night. They had the extra space, so it was nice to have the room to ourselves. I’m a little nervous about sleeping so low down on the boat. There is a part of me that is still a little frazzled about the Queen of the North sinking a couple years ago. I think being higher up may involve more distractions but
I’ll feel safer. We’ll see.

Scott says:

Dave is reading Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire to Irene and Owen, which Becky managed to identify almost instantly. I still haven’t read the series, but it’s fun listening in. Chatting with them is a huge contrast to our stilted interactions in French, and I’m very much enjoying getting to know them. I suspect this is part of the reason for the “backpacker culture” in so many countries. It’s far easier to bond with other travelers (where you share a language and/or culture) than to interact
with the locals. It will be an interesting challenge for us as we get to Europe and the Middle East to meet and communicate with locals. I hope that being on our bikes, and our Servas connections will help.

Also, a number of people have been asking to see a wider assortment of our photos. If you want to see our complete photo album, you can view it on Smug Mug here. They all have GPS locations in the photo metadata, but the SmugMug map doesn’t seem to work quite right for us.

This morning we begin the next phase of our journey. We get on a ferry (Relais Nordik) that takes us from Rimouski up to Blanc-Sablon (the Quebec – Labrador border). We’ll be on the boat for 4 days and 3 nights and stop at many small towns along the north shore of Quebec that are only serviced by this once a week ferry.

We do not anticipate having Interent for a while (definitely not on the ferry). We might be able to find it in St. Barbe, but I expect that by then we will be eager to be riding. We will continue to write, and will update when we can.

The ride from the campsite to downtown was quite nice once we discovered the shoreline trail. There are beautiful bike and walking paths around Rimouski. One of the paths goes along the shoreline of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It became very clear by the smell and the lack of water that this area was tidal. With every deep breath I was reminded of my childhood and the smell of the sea.

I do wonder if I am beginning to feel the first pangs of homesickness. It is not unexpected as we have been travelling through a province where we don’t speak the language well and the culture is different than what we are accustomed to. I am looking forward to Newfoundland and being able to communicate with people more easily again. Physically however, I’m feeling quite well. Given we’ve been riding for 7 days I’m very happy how well my body is adjusting!

Scott says:
Communication continues to be our biggest challenge. Although we are comfortable enough with French for activities of daily living, it’s a challenge to learn anything about the person we’re talking to. I had a brief chat with some Boy Scouts from Quebec City who were interested in our bikes. It appears that Quetzel (s.p.?) is a synonym for recumbent in at least some parts of Quebec. We’ve seen a couple of them on the road – a long wheelbase recumbent similar to a Longbike. The most common question we get is “do you have a motor on that?”, to which our usual response is “seulment mes jambes” (only my legs). Fortunately the bike questions are fairly consistent, so we have a chance to think about our answers in advance of the next questioner.

Today is our last ride day on the south shore, and it is a relatively short 60 km. We need to make it to Rimouski today so we can do a bunch of chores tomorrow before we get on the boat. Once we get on the boat we will only see small towns until we get to Lewisport or St. John’s which is at least 3 weeks away. It will be a completely different riding experience in the wilds of Labrador and Newfoundland.

This morning, I awoke with the same headache that plagued me during the ride yesterday. The rash on my thighs does appear much better. I suspect that the Vitamin D supplement is the source of my issues. Last time I took it, I also got a rash, and cut all vitamins until it cleared. When we skipped the D the day before yesterday I was OK. So, I hope that is the source of the problem and both the headache and rash will go away in the next day or two. For today, a couple of Tylenol should allow me to ride without the unpleasantness of a headache.

Since we don’t have a long ride, this will be a lazy morning, which we both need. Neither of us like getting up and rushing in the morning. We would rather lounge around reading or writing and slowly make our way. We each get our own space in the morning. I sit out at the picnic table drinking coffee and writing or reading. Scott lies in the tent reading or meditating. In some ways, this is an individual spiritual practice that we each need to stay sane. Since we missed it the last couple of days in the rush to get to Rimouski on time.

As I type this I’m chuckling at the campers two sites down. They have a young child of 2 or 3 who is making screaming sounds to match the cackling crows. It seems the crows are playing along, so the two of them are making a gawd-awful racked! I’m just amazed at how well the child can imitate the crow. If you were still asleep before, you certainly aren’t now.

================

We followed the 132 to Rimouski, which wasn’t that interesting, but very quick and relatively flat. We stopped briefly after 15 km for a hotdog, which turned into over an hour break. It took them more than 45 minutes to prepare 2 hotdogs! If we had any clue how long it was going to take, we would have continued along and stopped later in the day!

We at now in Rimouski and happily settled in our campsite for the night. It is nice to have Internet again, so we’ll try and get everything updated before we get on the boat Tuesday morning.

Every little Quebec town on the Saint Laurence has a beautiful church. This is the one in the town with the 45 minute hot dogs!

Since we didn’t take the Route Verte, we got to avoid climbing and decending these hills.

We did get to go down (and then up) some fun hills as we approached Rimouski.

The ride to Riviere-du-Loup seemed more painful than it should have been. We were eager to get moving, but I was in need of frequent stops. Just before entering Riviere-du-Loup, Scott says “let’s make this a quick stop”. I was starving, so I wanted to stop for lunch, but I didn’t say anything. It felt too soon to stop as we wanted to get within a short ride (50 km ish) of Rimouski today. We also needed a grocery store stop, as we were out of fruit and had nothing for supper.

As we entered town, things got confusing quickly. There were no signs indicating which way we should go, and the roads got big (multi-lanes in each direction). We didn’t want to end up on an expressway. We ended up on the 132 for a short distance, then turned and headed to a grocery store. At the grocery store, I sent Scott in (rather than me), as he wanted to the stop to be quick and I am not that quick at groceries. I also felt like he wasn’t really listening to me today, so rather than deal with him thinking we needed to move faster, I figured I’d do the waiting and let him to the shopping. He came out of the grocery store with a desire to have lunch there
(he was tempted by the rotisserie chicken). So, we moved to a bench and some shade and I sent Scott back into the grocery store to get lunch. After what seemed like forever, he came back with lunch for him and nothing for me! We clearly did not communicate that one well. I ended up going in and getting pretty much the same thing he had. Not exactly an efficient stop!

Shortly after lunch, we were back on the road. I started to get a really bad headache. I was hoping we would come across a picnic table in the shade somewhere, and I could take a couple of Tylenol and nap for 20 minutes before continuing. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen .. there was no shade to found and no picnic tables either.

We followed the 132 for a while rather than the Route Verte to avoid hills. There was more traffic after Riviere-du-Loup because Highway 20 ends; however, with more traffic came better roads and wider shoulders. So although it wasn’t as interesting riding, it was definitely comfortable and efficient.

After arriving in Trois Pistoles, I noticed my thighs were red and sore. I had put sunscreen on, so I didn’t think it was a burn. Scott said it looked more like a rash. I figure that something I ate has caused an allergic reaction of some kind (or sensitivity). I was quite unhappy with that, had a headache still, and was feeling uncomfortable. We looked into a hotel rather than camping, but couldn’t find anything that looked reasonable, and the weather was nice. In the end, we ended up camping at the municipal campground which was quite beautiful (another nice wooded campsite).

Pulling into the campsite, Scott made a comment that made me realize that he was under an incorrect assumption. He thought the boat was leaving on Monday, and so we needed to get to Rimouski early in the day Sunday to get some of our chores done. Actually, the boat leaves on Tuesday, so by getting to Rimouski on Sunday, we have all day Monday to do chores and relax.

Scott says:

After Riviere du Loup, the Route Verte takes all kinds of back roads and gravel pathways, but after the first bit we stuck to the highway. The wide shoulders were great – very comfortable riding despite cars and truck passing at 100+ kph. We’re definitely stronger on hills now…

The only gravel section we did was in L’estuaire – a combination of foot paths and gravel roads. It was quite a neat area, and would be fun to ride further. On one section, grass had overgrown the wheel ruts to the point where riding was getting dicey, then we ran into some serious birders on the path. That was a good hint to turn around and strike back for the highway.

As we rode today, the terrain changed. It is definitely getting hillier. We avoided the Route Verte in several places and stuck to the much flatter 132. Hills that have a grade over 10% can be a really challenge on our bikes, so we much prefer to avoid them if we can. The 132 is rather quiet in this area, so it is a nice more direct route.

The St. Laurence is tidal here, and you can smell the ocean. Between the ocean smells, the every green trees, and the hills in the background, it reminds me of home (northern BC), only at home the hills are mountains with snow on top.

The campground is on a knoll between the highway and the St. Laurence. Fortunately, our campsite is on the highway side of the hill, and not down or up too much of a hill! It is a beautiful walk through the woods to get to the washrooms and showers.

I realized today that if we hang out our cotton stuff (which is mostly my pajamas) and our sleeping bag liners they smell much better and need to be laundered less frequently. Since they don’t really get dirty, this is convenient as we can’t go laundry that often. We will start hanging them out in the morning while we have breakfast and in the evening while we have dinner.

A corollary to this is that when we setup the line, we also have a place to hang our food. Hanging the food rather than keeping it in the vestibule of the tent allows us both to sleep better at night. I’ve also taken the precaution of ensure that all food is in at least one zip lock bag, so there should be few if any smells from the bags. This seems to be enough to keep away raccoons, skunks, and squirrels, so far anyways.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.048 km	40m 13s	14.99 km/h	10.048 km	40m 13s	14.99 km/h
	10.002 km	45m 55s	13.07 km/h	20.049 km	1h 26m 08s	13.97 km/h
	9.958 km	2h 22m 18s	4.20 km/h	30.008 km	3h 48m 26s	7.88 km/h
	10.005 km	50m 30s	11.89 km/h	40.012 km	4h 38m 56s	8.61 km/h
	9.992 km	48m 06s	12.46 km/h	50.005 km	5h 27m 02s	9.17 km/h
	10.045 km	53m 53s	11.18 km/h	60.049 km	6h 20m 55s	9.46 km/h
	9.984 km	47m 50s	12.52 km/h	70.034 km	7h 08m 45s	9.80 km/h
	6.820 km	32m 32s	12.58 km/h	76.853 km	7h 41m 17s	10.00 km/h

It was a delightful day to ride and we are feeling strong. We started off slowly, making our way through the cycle paths of Quebec City to the old city, where we stopped for a wonderful exotic lunch (Scott ordered the Tilapia, I ordered the duo of sausages with couscous). Both were delicious.

My appetite kicked into high gear yesterday and hasn’t stopped. I seem to be eating like someone who is cycling for 5+ hours a day! I also took iron this morning, realizing that the last few days I’ve had a slight sore throat and for me that is a sign that I need to be taking an iron supplement. I just need to learn to remember on the initial onset of the sore throat rather than 2 days later, d’oh!

We took the ferry across from Quebec City to Levis. It was neat, in that 50% of the car deck was allocated to bicycle racks. The boat had maybe 6 cars on it, but at least 40 bicycles! It certain was a more pleasant way to cross than riding over a large bridge.

After crossing the climb out of Levis was also quite nice. The path had a grade of about 2-3% most of the time, so it was a pleasant ride.
We are staying at an RV park again tonight. It is a nice municipal camp ground, and they had a special price for touring cyclists. It is only $16 a night – our cheapest pay-camping so far. We set up right in the middle of the field (near the cooking shelter), so we felt like all eyes were on us throughout the evening. Once it got dark we realized we’d set the tent up right underneath the light .. Oops .. I slid it back a bit to be in the shade of a tree.

Scott says:

The bike path along Blvd Champlain was surprisingly busy for a weekday morning – it was crowded enough that we had trouble passing people at times, which was great to see! Lots of cyclists, inline skaters and pedestrians. Our lunch was on Rue du Petit-Champlain, below the old city. It’s a lovely little pedestrian street with lots of touristy shops (and tourists), and had a good lunch as well as got to people-watch. Lots of people intrigued with our bikes, which were parked across the street, but in view. I didn’t get any pictures of the people taking pictures of our loaded touring bikes, but there were a few. I did get a chance to play with light and colour in some of my pictures during lunch, which was amusing. Some of the pictures don’t look half bad – at least by my standards.

Our break for lunch was after only about 10km, so I was worried we wouldn’t get anywhere today, but I tried not to worry about it, and after lunch we made good time to Montagny. The bike path in Levis was nice, and since it was on an old rail line, quite flat – the tailwind helped too.

We made it to Quebec City, or at least to the suburbs after a relaxing morning in the campsite. Becky spent some time writing, and I read and relaxed. This meant we didn’t get a very early start, we began riding shortly after 11 am.

As we approached Quebec the hills increased. We had noticed the introduction of a few hills yesterday about 10km outside of Portneuf. Totally was mostly hilly with a couple pretty brutal hills. One was at least a 15% grade (shortly after it hit 15% Becky started walking her bike and was no longer moving fast enough for her GPS to register the grade). This made for some beautiful vistas across the St. Lawrence. The light wasn’t great, so I didn’t stop to take pictures, which I now regret. I need to remember the saying “the best pictures are the ones you actually take”.

We only stopped briefly for lunch (hummus and pita for Scott, bagel and almond butter for Becky), but it started to rain (mostly just spitting). It is unpleasant to sit in the rain, so we got back on our bikes and rode. It didn’t rain for long, and only spat a couple more times during the day. Not enough to worry about getting wet or putting on wet weather gear.

By the time we reached the Quebec City suburbs, we were both beat, although Becky admitted it more readily than I did. We stopped in Cap Rouge below the long rail trestle for a second lunch and rest, before tackling the monster climb up Chemin Ste. Foy.

More French is coming back to us, and we are able to function most of the time in broken French, although we do need to regress to English now and then. By the time we reached the Info Centre at the Pont Pierre Laporte (across the St. Lawrence), we were tired enough that our French was pretty limited, but Becky managed to get us a lovely (and inexpensive) room in a nearby B&B with a combination of French and English. Our bikes are settled in the garage for the night, and we have a large, quiet room.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.032 km	40m 08s	15.00 km/h	10.032 km	40m 08s	15.00 km/h
	9.994 km	48m 54s	12.26 km/h	20.026 km	1h 29m 02s	13.50 km/h
	9.983 km	1h 09m 55s	8.57 km/h	30.009 km	2h 38m 57s	11.33 km/h
	10.002 km	47m 19s	12.68 km/h	40.011 km	3h 26m 16s	11.64 km/h
	10.004 km	1h 01m 56s	9.69 km/h	50.015 km	4h 28m 12s	11.19 km/h
	9.383 km	2h 32m 53s	3.68 km/h	59.398 km	7h 01m 05s	8.46 km/h

It is a beautiful day. Our ride today takes us along the St. Laurence river coastline.

It seem to take forever to get out of Trois-Rivieres / Cap-de-la-Madeleine this morning. The campsite wasn’t that close to the Route Verte and the Route Verte takes you through many twists and turns as you navigate across the city. At one point, it brought us to a beautiful Basilica. We took a brief break there, and Scott took many pictures. I was intrigued by the kiosk outside that had 1/2 information booth and the other 1/2 for blessings (with a priest sitting inside watching the world go by). I thought about asking for a blessing, but wasn’t sure it was appropriate, given that I am not catholic. Personally, I think we could never have too many blessing.

We tried to stop at the library in Champlain to do an Internet update; however, it was only open on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

By lunch time, it looked like we had caught up to some nasty rain / storm clouds. We had been watching them all morning. At 1 pm, I decided we need to eat and take cover, in case the storm clouds let loose. We had a lovely lunch and break at Bastican. The rain clouds blew right over us. We are getting much better at ordering our meals in French. I was even able to specify that I did not want lettuce or mustard on my hamburger!

In Sainte-Anne-del-la-Perade, I decided it was too early to stop at the grocery store, figuring that we could wait and their would be one closer to our nights stop. We did stop at the Subway to do an Internet update. We discovered that “Access Quebec” wifi is not free; however, the fee was not unreasonable and we needed to order some shorts and get a few emails sent. We are finding it difficult to get wifi or any type of Internet access in Quebec.

After our stop to do Internet stuff, it was already 4pm and we had over 35 km to cover before reaching Portneuf, where we intended to stay the night. We still needed to do a grocery store stop, as our food supplies were pretty sparse (although, we had enough food, such that we would not be stuck with nothing).

I had expected their to be a grocery store of some kind in Donnacona, as it is listed in larger print on our CAA map. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Donnacona appeared mostly abandoned (it was eerie at first, as we entered a well-kept town at 5:30pm with not a single person to be seen). Eventually, we did pass people and several restaurants, but no grocery store.

In the end, there was no grocery store in Deschambault* or in Portneuf. With a little bit of searching, and Becky asking someone about 50m before a sign, we found the Depanneur (corner store). It had enough of what we needed for a lovely dinner and breakfast .

All is well in Portneuf, Quebec.

* I realized on Wednesay that I had been confusing Portneuf and Neuville. Donnaconna did indeed have a grocery store; however, it was 15 km East of Portneuf! Oops.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.053 km	51m 24s	11.73 km/h	10.053 km	51m 24s	11.73 km/h
	9.994 km	57m 50s	10.37 km/h	20.047 km	1h 49m 14s	11.01 km/h
	10.028 km	33m 38s	17.89 km/h	30.075 km	2h 22m 52s	12.63 km/h
	9.958 km	1h 47m 57s	5.53 km/h	40.033 km	4h 10m 49s	9.58 km/h
	10.032 km	2h 02m 34s	4.91 km/h	50.064 km	6h 13m 23s	8.04 km/h
	9.963 km	27m 34s	21.68 km/h	60.027 km	6h 40m 57s	8.98 km/h
	10.009 km	31m 03s	19.34 km/h	70.036 km	7h 12m 00s	9.73 km/h
	10.000 km	56m 46s	10.57 km/h	80.036 km	8h 08m 46s	9.83 km/h
	2.107 km	16m 05s	7.86 km/h	82.144 km	8h 24m 51s	9.76 km/h

Today was an excellent day for riding, and we took full advantage of it. Well-rested, we were up shortly before 6am, and on the road by 8 – beating our previous “record” by almost two hours. The terrain was mostly flat, and we had a tailwind, so were moving along well. When we stopped for a snack, a couple on a tandem pulled up shortly afterward. They were Bob and Linda up from Iowa for a two-week tour around the Route Verte between Montreal and Quebec City. They were only going a bit faster than we were, so we joined them, and spent the rest of the day chatting and laughing.

Linda is the Executive Director for a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Iowa, and Bob is active in bicycle advocacy and has written a guide on bicycle touring in Iowa, so they had lots of stories. I hope when we’re in our 60s we’re as active as they are! They are doing more mileage per day than we are, and manage to carry about half as much – perhaps something we can learn from… Their daughter Jess is a Unitarian-Universalist minister’s wife in New Mexico, which is a neat connection too.

Just after we finished shopping for dinner at the IGA in Trois Rivieres we had the shock of our lives. A VW van, plastered with stickers and towing a big trailer pulled up beside us, and a woman was hanging out the passenger window shrieking! After we got over our shock, we realized it was the Flatt family, friends from New Brunswick. Sharon recognized our bikes, and was screaming in surprise and shock. They had just pulled off Highway 40 to get gas and fill up their water jug so a few minutes earlier or later and we would have missed them. We weren’t expecting to see them until we got to Fredericton in September!

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.079 km	28m 55s	20.91 km/h	10.079 km	28m 55s	20.91 km/h
	10.001 km	44m 12s	13.58 km/h	20.079 km	1h 13m 07s	16.48 km/h
	9.925 km	26m 18s	22.64 km/h	30.005 km	1h 39m 25s	18.11 km/h
	10.027 km	35m 22s	17.01 km/h	40.032 km	2h 14m 47s	17.82 km/h
	9.993 km	41m 31s	14.44 km/h	50.025 km	2h 56m 18s	17.02 km/h
	10.034 km	1h 43m 55s	5.79 km/h	60.059 km	4h 40m 13s	12.86 km/h
	9.987 km	27m 04s	22.14 km/h	70.046 km	5h 07m 17s	13.68 km/h
	9.982 km	31m 48s	18.83 km/h	80.028 km	5h 39m 05s	14.16 km/h
	10.068 km	57m 03s	10.59 km/h	90.096 km	6h 36m 08s	13.65 km/h
	9.908 km	42m 18s	14.05 km/h	100.004 km	7h 18m 26s	13.69 km/h
	10.015 km	49m 57s	12.03 km/h	110.019 km	8h 08m 23s	13.52 km/h
	9.989 km	1h 12m 08s	8.31 km/h	120.008 km	9h 20m 31s	12.85 km/h
	4.310 km	29m 47s	8.68 km/h	124.318 km	9h 50m 18s	12.64 km/h

Despite the fact we stayed in Repentigny today, we probably got as wet or wetter than we would have riding.

We went out shortly before noon to check out the bike shops and get some more groceries, and ended up riding through some of the heaviest rainfall all day. According to the radar, both of the big nasty cloud formations missed us, one to the north and one to the south, but we definitely got hit with a small one!

The bike shop trip was necessary because we’ve changed our 44-tooth front chain rings for 36-tooth chain rings to allow us to spin faster when climbing hills. (And hopefully not get off and walk as often on the really steep ones). This takes our granny gear down to 17.2 gear-inches from 21.3, which is nice. If you don’t know what gear-inches are, you probably don’t care, but if you’re curious there’s a good explanation by the late Sheldon Brown, as well as a calculator for both Rohloff hubs and normal gearing.

Unfortunately, changing the it required some additional spacers between the chain-ring and the pant-protector rings. This meant at least one of the bolts holding the rings to the crank was marginal (only two or three threads of contact between the bolt and the nut), and I stripped it yesterday while tightening things. I don’t have a spare, and neither of the bike shops had a replacement, so my fallback will be to remove one of the pant-protector rings.

(This would be much clearer with pictures, but it’s time for bed).

Otherwise it has been a day of cooking good meals, relaxing, bike maintenance and geotagging of photos. Now it’s just a matter of organizing and uploading the photos. (We do have a few more than just the ones posted so far).

Tomorrow, we’ll try to for a century (100 km) to Trois Rivieres.

The room was far enough from the road that we didn’t hear any road noise. We didn’t even hear the kids from the baseball team in the adjoining rooms! It was a great location for a rest day, and we had a lovely dinner at a picnic table overlooking the river.

View from our window.

Becky trying to call mom and dad using Skype.

Becky has recalculated how far we need to go and the amount of time we have. It looks like we’ll try and adjust our reservation again to pick up the boat in Rimouski rather than Sept-Iles. It means another 11 hours on the boat, but that should be fun too. It would allow us 3 days of down time, where we are limited to 1 hour walks or bike rides when the boat is at dock. Getting to Sept-Iles was going to be a real stretch, since it’s another 350 km, on top of the 550 km to Quebec City. Our original plan had us covering a lot of ground to get to the ferry on July 24. After leaving three days later than planned, it is definitely too much.

Becky says:

The weather is perfect for riding, and we aren’t. We really badly needed a rest day, to recover our mental health more so than our bodies. We haven’t been pushing, but that is partially because we haven’t been feeling physically up to it (at least I have not been). I’m really hoping that a day off to relax and re-organize a few things will help my mental health as well as my physical health.

I need to get over the idea of spending money on a hotel for a rest day. It does seem kind of wrong, but then again, it is necessary. When we are not feeling 100%, we need to splurge a little on comfortable accommodations.

In the early evening, I went for a swim in the pool (while the kids from the baseball team were out for supper). I was reminded that an important part of this adventure is about learning how to slow down. We need to learn how to relax and escape the “go-go-go” world that we have been in for the last 20+ years. Part of what I am seeking is an ability to live life at a slower pace. I just need to remind myself of that occasionally!

We made our way to the bike path and followed it into downtown Montreal. Again, the drivers were very nice, keeping well back and passing slowly as we made our way down to the Lachine Canal path.

Throughout the day, my GPS started to randomly turn off. I’m not sure why this is happening. I did a firmware upgrade before we left with the theory that the new firmware draws less on the battery. I haven’t noticed a significant difference. I’m going to have to email Garmin to see what’s up (I have a Garmin Edge 305).

It seem to take forever to ride across the Island of Montreal. The path was nice, but I wasn’t feeling great. Shortly after we started riding, I began to feel queasy. I didn’t have any appetite. When we stopped for lunch, it was very difficult to find something appetizing. Eventually I settled for a couple of croissants, an orange, and a V8. Scott had a Big Mac meal for lunch, and wasn’t feeling much better.

At one point, we lost the path and ended up riding on Notre-Dame, which was a little busy. It wasn’t difficult, but also wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as following a path. At one point a girl fell (she was looking back at us) and her chain fell off. Scott stopped to see if she was OK. We then asked her where the trail was. She didn’t speak much English, so the request was made in a combination of broken French and English. She fixed her chain and guided us to the pathway .. I’m so glad she had to stop or we would likely have not found the pathway for quite some time.

Neither of us were feeling great, so perhaps it was something we ate. In any case, we knew we were not going to be riding for too much longer. We decided to call a motel in Repentigny, just off the Island of Montreal, and make a reservation. It being a Friday, we were concerned we would find anything. We wanted a room for 2 nights; however, they were booked on Saturday, so we reserved the room they had available for the one night.

When we arrived at the motel, they had had a cancellation, and so had a room for two night; however, it was a suite. For an extra $10 per night we got a large room with a kitchen. I took a look and was delighted. We found a nice place to stay for two nights … It had laundry and Internet although we need to go to the patio to check it.

I’ll be happy for the break …

Scott says:

It was neat to ride through some areas of Montreal I’ve never seen before. The Lachine Canal path was particularly nice, and had some impressive-looking loft conversions on the North side. They looked quite new, and were among many nice looking condos. I would have liked to spend a bit more time in Montreal as a tourist, but we can always do that when we get back.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.042 km	46m 17s	13.02 km/h	10.042 km	46m 17s	13.02 km/h
	9.982 km	1h 14m 44s	8.01 km/h	20.024 km	2h 01m 01s	9.93 km/h
	10.016 km	1h 55m 30s	5.20 km/h	30.041 km	3h 56m 31s	7.62 km/h
	10.008 km	47m 55s	12.53 km/h	40.049 km	4h 44m 26s	8.45 km/h
	10.003 km	36m 35s	16.41 km/h	50.051 km	5h 21m 01s	9.35 km/h
	2.975 km	9m 40s	18.47 km/h	53.026 km	5h 30m 41s	9.62 km/h

It rained last night, sometimes heavily. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a steady rain, rather it rained in bouts on and off. Every time the rain picked up, it woke me up. Adding to the rain, Scott seemed to be paranoid about animals getting into our gear. He kept hearing them and shouting “Hey” or “Who’s there?”, which kept waking me up. Eventually, I dug out some earplugs and that helped with sleep.

Scott says:

In my own defense, I’m sure I was hearing snuffling outside the tent at various points during the night, and all our panniers were in the vestibule.

The morning was beautiful and reminded me why I like camping. I made Scott get up and help with moving the fly to a line so that it could dry out before we needed to leave. He then climbed back into the tent to read the paper we had bought yesterday, while I enjoyed a cup of tea and did some writing. It is the peaceful mornings sitting at a picnic table with my tea/coffee and either a book or some writing that I enjoy the most. I hope we find more opportunities for that restful time.

Drying out

I missed the pathway on the way to the bathroom, which meant I had to walk the long way along the roadway. I was rewarded with a nice view of a pileated woodpecker munching away at a dead tree. I only wish I had a camera with me!

Since we were not anticipating a long day, we had a lazy morning and allowed the time necessary for our tent and tarp to dry out.

We followed the Route Verte from Oka into Montreal. It was very well signed in most places. In some spots they had both painting on the road and signs indicating where to go. The Route Verte was very reminiscent of the Waterfront trail through the Toronto area, except with much better signage! The path was quite relaxing and enjoyable until we entered Laval.

Excellent signs

Becky crossing the bridge to Laval.

In Laval the path alternated between dedicated bike path and a dedicated lane on the road. The issue with the dedicated lane on the road was that cars did not necessary look before they entered it. There were several times when people drove up from a side street and did not even look before they entered the main road. There were also times when people went to pull around someone making a left. They would pull into the bike lane without checking for oncoming bikes. It meant that we had to be riding defensively even though we were on dedicated bike paths.

The north-south bike path on Laval was great though – it mostly went along the Metro line, so there were very few cross-streets, and had been very recently paved. (From the Route Verte mapbook we were expecting gravel)

When we reached the Island of Montreal the path was again partly on-road, but more comfortable. When the dedicated bike path was part of a road, they put up barriers that prevented cars from driving into the path. That certainly made it less stressful.

We stayed at our friend Kirstin’s place in Outremont, and we had a fair ride from the bike path to get there. This was during rush-hour, so we were both stressed about it. We were shocked at how easy and pleasant it was. Drivers gave us a wide berth, and the traffic wasn’t too heavy, even on Jean-Talon and Cote de Neige.

We found the drivers in Laval to be much worse than those in Montreal proper. I think it helped that there were a lot of lights, so cars were never able to move fast.

Kirsten had a late-afternoon appointment, so we didn’t want to arrive too early, but we drastically underestimated the distance we were taking on the bike path – it was almost 30 km further than going by road. This meant we got to Kirstin’s much later than anticipated. At 7pm, we reach Kirstin’s place , which is a flat on the third floor – lots of gear to haul up four flights of stairs! Scott hauled the bikes up and Kirstin and I lugged the gear. We had a lovely visit and slept well. Thanks Kirstin!

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.010 km	47m 01s	12.77 km/h	10.010 km	47m 01s	12.77 km/h
	9.992 km	1h 29m 59s	6.66 km/h	20.002 km	2h 17m 00s	8.76 km/h
	10.032 km	43m 26s	13.86 km/h	30.034 km	3h 00m 26s	9.99 km/h
	9.968 km	1h 16m 16s	7.84 km/h	40.002 km	4h 16m 42s	9.35 km/h
	10.029 km	37m 37s	16.00 km/h	50.031 km	4h 54m 19s	10.20 km/h
	10.036 km	1h 03m 27s	9.49 km/h	60.067 km	5h 57m 46s	10.07 km/h
	5.919 km	32m 44s	10.85 km/h	65.986 km	6h 30m 30s	10.14 km/h

Today didn’t start out as hot today as yesterday, but it was still pretty muggy. It threatened to rain a few times – a few drops trying to cool us down without much success.

We started off by riding along the Prescott-Russell rail trail. At first the bugs were horrible. We had experienced a few spots yesterday where they were bad on the side roads, but the trail was much worse. You needed to be going more than 18 km/hr in order to be rid of them. I’m not sure what kind they were, possibly deer flies. However, once the trail left wooded areas and was surrounded by farm fields the flies were gone. I do wonder if this is related to the lack or forest or the amount of pesticides sprayed on the fields!

We jumped off the trail just before Vankleek Hill. Of course, this meant we ended up climbing Vankleek Hill! We stopped for a delightful lunch at Mary’s Country Kitchen on main street. The chicken pot pie was excellent.

We made our way on familiar roads to Hudson, were we caught the ferry to Oka. The Oka ferry was interesting. It was a barge towed by a power boat rather than a ferry. They broke all the rules I had learned regarding towing safety! Scott and I were stuck standing at the front of the barge right behind the tow lines. If anything were to go wrong, we would be in serious trouble. Apparently, the government has decided that this ferry no longer meets safety standards and they are in the process of upgrading it to a shiny new boat that is self-propelled. We saw the new boat, but it appears that the Oka side does not yet have a dock, so it isn’t in operation yet.

Here are some photos of the Oka Ferry:

We are staying the night at Oka Provincial Park. It is a beautiful park with nice wilderness camp grounds and a fairly long sand beach. The only negative is that the showers cost 25 cents. We decided to go for a swim rather than pay for showers! The water was nice and refreshing and warmer than Ron and Wendy’s pool!

Just as I got back to the tent after brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, the rain began. It is really quite amazing how we manage to be inside the tent just as the rain starts! It will be another wet tent morning. I think it has rained every single night we’ve stayed in the tent. So far we’ve managed to stay dry.

So far, so good.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.035 km	45m 10s	13.33 km/h	10.035 km	45m 10s	13.33 km/h
	9.969 km	56m 53s	10.52 km/h	20.004 km	1h 42m 03s	11.76 km/h
	10.024 km	49m 11s	12.23 km/h	30.028 km	2h 31m 14s	11.91 km/h
	10.039 km	2h 10m 02s	4.63 km/h	40.068 km	4h 41m 16s	8.55 km/h
	9.949 km	34m 22s	17.37 km/h	50.017 km	5h 15m 38s	9.51 km/h
	9.986 km	32m 55s	18.20 km/h	60.003 km	5h 48m 33s	10.33 km/h
	10.042 km	1h 01m 02s	9.87 km/h	70.045 km	6h 49m 35s	10.26 km/h
	9.979 km	42m 38s	14.04 km/h	80.024 km	7h 32m 13s	10.62 km/h
	7.751 km	1h 00m 31s	7.69 km/h	87.775 km	8h 32m 44s	10.27 km/h