7/11 perce

Explored the region by foot, bike and car today. Four people went hiking in forillon national park (and bruce went swimming!), spotting whales, while 3 rode over killer hills to perce, a cute town made famous by a big rock. It's a pretty cool rock and we walked out there at low tide.  Went to the same restaurant as prior night to see if service time would be faster (it had to be!) And watched the gaspe history movie, projected onto the sails near the harbor. 43 miles. Tomorrow is the digest version of the trip as we drive 10+ hours to montreal.

7/10 gaspe

When Ted Williams hit a homerun in his last ever at bat,  the official attendance was just over 10,000.  Today,  3 of us rode into gaspe.  Those numbers will both be exaggerated for time eternal, but that's ok.   Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Left Grande vallee with our hotel bill of $64 US (including breakfast - but why can't hotels get decent croissants??) up and down rolling hills a bit inland from the coast under cloudy skies.  By lunch time, we got rained on - first time on the trip.  Also for the first time, we headed south cutting over the gaspe peninsula to the somewhat cute town of gaspe around 3pm in time to catch the end of the france-belgium world cup game.   A great trip with good friends.   Already thinking about next year. 39 miles (drove sag a third of day).

7/9 grand vallee

 

Biking days tend to blur into each other - today however will stand out.  Left st Anne and did 55 miles with the beach directly on the left, and mountains, waterfalls and cliffs to our right.  Perfect pavement for the most part,  a tailwind, light traffic and cool temps because the ocean is all of 39 degrees.  Had a couple of smallish hills, where the temps would rise about 20 degrees, and a few small towns/inlets but mostly just looking at the water and mountains.  Trying to recall a place like this -  California, but hills are brown and don't drop right to the road as much.   Nova Scotia , but you're riding on top more.  Hawaii but there are no roads.   Unique stunning riding.  After another picnic lunch, we had a few more miles until everything changed.  An absolute killer 13% climb, followed by a little 7% hill and then another 11% up to about 1000'.  But that wasn't the "top" as we dropped down a few times and then right back up.  1500+ ft of climbing in around 6 miles. Was actually very doable, which is good cause tomorrow will be much more of the same.  Arrived just before the rain - still has not rained on us, although it has rained 3 times at night.  Nice hotel in grand vallee, with lumber loading dock nearby.  71 miles.
Also heard from DCs - their last day of riding as they climbed out of rose du norde (5am wakeup!) To jonquiere and the train back.

7/8 st Anne des monts

Back to "normal" today - river (now the ocean) on the left, wind at our backs.  Left quality inn, after free mediocre (but better than expected) breakfast and after a quick spin through matane,  back cruising on 132.  Fast riding with the ocean right alongside most of the morning.  We had expected the hills to start today, but even the 8-10% climbs breezed by.   We beat the sag crew to Les  machins so got a decent 2nd breakfast at a small diner.  Except for 2 short stretches, nice shoulder on the road today and spectacular views as we did the occasional climb.  2pm arrival at modern cie hotel, with the prospect of a long day with real hills tomorrow.  Everyone clambering to drive in the afternoon. Nice dinner at micro brasserie, where the boys drank 4 beers, while the girls got the premium patio table. 57 miles.

7/7 matane

The geography today defined the great white north.  Cool temp, miles of sweet smelling pine and birch forest with absolutely nothing around but rivers flowing into the st Lawrence.  Set out mostly east towards baie comeau, which my grandmother would call the alta-ruchus.  Good road, with nice shoulder and the trucks and wind mostly gone.  Stopped in small Inuit town of pessamit for chocolate milk and munchos.   Kept on trucking to chutes aux outardes (despite our first flat tire, other than the car) for another picnic lunch - this has become our go to lunch.  15 more miles to  baie comeau, a small cute town in the shadows of some hydro dams.  Caught a really nice ferry, and saw a whale spouting,  back to the south side, and the town of matane.  Heard from the DCs who rested for Shabbat - hiking, leading about whales and massages.  68 miles for us.

7/6 forestville/tadoussac

Written by jon and shira

Ideally,  every day of a bike trip is better than the last.  This was not one of those days.  It started out cool (finally!) With a nice included breakfast, and a late start as we were taking the ferry over to the cote-nord.  The downhill slide was slow - a little queasiness on the crossing (25 miles, 2 hours) and no whale sightings.  After another nice picnic lunch by a waterfall in les escoumins, the chods sadly turned south and the rest of us north.  You know the expression "man plans and God laughs" - well we had planned on a tail wind, which whipped all around mostly as a cross wind.  And as the real highway had ended, the trucks we hadn't been seeing proved that they still had goods to deliver. 

Heading north, it was a windy ride with a few hills, and a few "route des baleines" cutouts along the seashore.  Arrival in forestville, least attractive town by far, by 5pm.

Heading south, the DCs had to get religious -benching Gomel and gratitude for the Canadian lamed vavnik that found them.  They redefined the words  headwinds and hills as " the absolute worst conditions we just endured for the last 4.5 hours"  We left you guys and made s right up 138 happily riding on a sizeable shoulder, even found a familiar alt route verte road parallel to highway for a few miles...until the skies continued to darken, the hills became treacherous and infinite and the shoulder completely disappeared. With 18 wheelers zipping by us and crosswinds pulling us towards the highway, we chose safety over machismo and unclipped and walked our bikes for roughly 3-4 miles up HUGE hills only to find no shoulder in site. David's raynaud's (assuming even the non-doctors know what that is) and Shira's terror brought us to a level of discourse that was to say the least nonproductive.  Hence David did what every good hubby would do- he stuck out his thumb! Within seconds we met the Canadian lamed vavnik! A lovely middle aged man driving a pick up truck threw our bikes in the back, and brought us (out of his way) to tadussac. With language barrier (where were you Jon and Becky??) we conveyed our gratitude with many "Mercis" and biked our way to hotel tadussac where David's currently warming up in a hot bath and I'm debating a hot stone massage at the spa.

21 miles for Jon (drove sag), 36 for northern route,  'refuse to answer' for southern.

7/5 riviere-du-loup

When you're cycling, a turn of the corner often leads to big changes. That happened 3 times today.   The first wasn't so good.  We're cruising along out of la pocatiere (after an amazing Timmys breakfast!) When we come to a tangle of limbs and titanium by the side of the road.  When you come upon a bike crash, it's often hard to ascertain how many people are involved or the extent of the injuries.  This was our two doctors - Dave hit a bump and crashed into bruce.  They took a bit to get up, Jason mostly fixed up the bikes and we set off for a bike shop to ensure the new seven wasnt too wounded.   And that the boys were ok of course. The second 'round the bend' was a view of the sea in st Denis.  Stunning.  Then after a quick iced espresso,  the third turn was into the park des chutes in riviere-du-loupe where the bike shop folks has set up an amazing picnic by the waterfall.  Which got devoured.   Then 25 miles, flying along route 132 - literally.  Average speed from mile 60-65 was over 20mph, mostly because of the wind.  At one point, I stopped pedaling and went 0.75 miles before my speed dropped too much. Arrived in trois pistoles,  which is actually really nice, to further nurse our wounded doctors. 76 miles, and hopefully the end of the heat.

7/4 La Pocatiere

Longest day of the trip - fortunately with a cloudy morning and strong tailwind in the afternoon.   Traded the Sinclairs for the glasgows in Quebec city,  and after croissants and coffee,  set off on the 8am ferry across the river to levis, Quebec's poor cousin.  Nice ride along a shady bike trail, before getting back on 132 - river is back on the left after a short hiatus on the right in Quebec.  Like the day before, it's mostly visible from the bluff. Tried to find a place to swim, but river looks muddy and uninviting.  Signs are starting to refer to it as "the sea" and at some point it started have blue patches - perhaps from the tides?  Another mystery to wonder about, and ponder.  Mountains also starting to appear, especially across the river - we know what's coming.  Nice stop at lunch for crepes in montmagny and the clouds dissipated and the temps rose.  Found a really nice bike shop in l'islet, across from Le Massif.  Then back on the road and the wind picked up.  I don't think we'd have made it if the wind reversed.   A couple of stops for drinks, then the last 5 miles on dirt path along the water.   La Pocatois  much larger than expected, but a big hill into town means we picked the attached Mike's restaurant for dinner.  Jason ate lettuce.  76 miles.

7/3 Quebec city

The bus left at 6am this morning, and everyone was aboard!  With more hot weather predicted and tonight's destination being the big city, we set off at oh-six-hundred sharp.  We jammed along the bluff overlooking the river on route 132, doing a quick driver swap and not really stopping until mile 48 at the fromagerie for an early lunch.   Road was flat, great surface and low traffic and we were often moving along at 17-20+ mph.  For real. Paula back on the bike too!    Went over the scary bridge (last one on the river) before noon, and after a quick beer along the river, cruised along the last 5 miles into Quebec.  This is really a magical city.  Great food, history,  architecture,  shopping and vistas.  And tourists.  We all split up to explore.  Stayed at nice hotel in the old city. 70 miles, and halfway from Kingston to gaspe.

7/2 gentilly

Things to do when Quebec is having a record breaking heat wave:
Set the bike alarm for 7.30am departure (yeah, sure, that happened)
Find a shaded path to ride on (well, for 5 miles)
Thank God for a decent tailwind most of the day (check)
Stop for milkshakes and smoothies (this did happen)
Water breaks, shade breaks, a/c store breaks,
Put ice is water bottles (works for 10 minutes)
Be grateful for a totally flat ride (check)
Break your arm, skip riding, and walk around (check - see Lisa entry below)
Skip riding and Sleep off your dehydration/heat poisoning (check for paula)
Visit pierreville who's claim to fame was building a pope-mobile. (Really)

Devour a huge meal at 5pm and go to sleep early.
63 miles (plus a little extra if you ride by the hotel) through the farmlands of central Quebec.

After the bikers left and abandoned the invalids (Paula and Lisa) and their driver (John) in Sorel-Tracy, Lisa took a walk to explore the city with the half-assed excuse of trying to get postage.

Heading along the river road where the Hotel de la Rive is situated, I then turned on to a residential street. Lots of cute small, low homes. Pretty basic. Lots of bikers, many in their 60s and 70s. I ended up following signs to the Parc and Marina. Turns out there’s a beautiful park alongside the water. A little museum/historical societe that talks about Pierre Saurel. Sculpture garden, climbing structure. A split pedestrian and bike bath along the water, shaded by trees, where lots of older folk were gather at concrete/stone tables and benches playing games, many of the men shirtless. Lots of people out for walks. It was only 8:30AM. Not huge, but a decent sized park. A nice refuge from the oncoming heat.

The streets were fairly deserted – some cars, just a few people.  I found the post office a couple of blocks down from the library.  It was closed; the Monday after Canada Day is a holiday.

A couple of blocks down from the PO was the town square. A big gazebo, and nice-sized green common in the middle, with, of course, bike paths criss-crossing the green. Most stores were closed. Most looked like they hadn’t been updated in a while, really a while, like a something straight out of The Last Picture Show. It’s as if commercialization has not made it to Sorel – no chain stores, no ubiquitous shopping, not the huge focus on acquiring lots of stuff. People (and houses) didn’t seem to have lots of stuff. Looking at the people, it didn’t seem as if they were poor – more like lower-middle to middle class. There were some Victorian-type houses interspersed between the modest, lower structures. Many seemed to be inns or places of business. But not all. A lot of services – A big court house, lots of mental health centers, a day care center, and the big hospital that Paula had the pleasure of visiting. Those all looked new, newer than the homes, generally.  Maybe vacationers have been upgrading the place, people with 2nd homes revitalizing (or invading) the small town?

Many who passed me said “bon jour”. Maybe my cuff-and-collar sling-like thing makes me look pathetic. Or maybe they’re just nice people.

I walked 4 miles in total.

John is on a business call.

Paula is sleeping.

Maybe we’ll leave someday, or maybe we’re staying.

And that’s the report from Sorel-Tracy

Now some typing rest for the purple and yellow appendage.

Lisa, 7/2/18

Canada day - Sorel

Every bike trip has some unplanned (i.e. troublesome) events.   But never have I seen three of them all happen in the space of about 30 minutes.  But before we get to that....after a nice day off in Montreal (jazz fest!), departedy (on time!) early cause it was gonna be HOT.  20 miles along the islands south shore through parts of the city I had never been to.  All on well signed bike trail, and then afyer crossing 2 bridges, along the river on the north side.  Stopped in saint sulpice where we had brunch and did a driver swap.  After, the road got really nice - good shoulder, mostly right along river until the ferry over to sorel. We did have one little extra loop when we mistakenly followed the path in lavaltrie, but overall a straight shot up route 138.  Was hot but not terrible, with a slight headwind.  Arrival at our hotel (in unremarkable sorel) with plenty of time to swim.


And then the trouble began.  Donna's bag was nowhere to be found, until we called the alt hotel in Montreal.  So while Jon drove back to get it, and noticed a nail in the cars tire, Paula started puking and our 2 doctors brought her to the hospital.   Boy, things went south in a hurry.  Paula got some fluids while the rest of us had dinner on nice patio on the river (sorry Paula - hungry after riding all day.  But look at chodirker-deeners unhappiness in photo).  58 miles, including the 1 mile ferry ride.