Wednesday August 8th
I want to thank Jean-Claude and Marie Tracy again for their hospitality. I was up early and Marie joined me for some toast and tea. She also slipped me $40 for the cause. I packed up as people slowly made their way out of their slumbers. After a couple of parting shots I was on my way heading North toward Quebec city before heading East again along beautiful farm country. Imagine the rolling hay and wheat fields of Saskatchewan with small tree covered mountains and valleys with small rivers. This is the beauty of the Quebec countryside and I stopped many times to take it all in. Today was going to be a long one so I couldn’t stop too often but I wanted to remember this unique countryside.
There are a few routes east but they end up either the 132 highway which is designated to bikes or the freeway #40. Riding the 132 was very nice and overall the highway designated for bicycles in Quebec has been some fantastic scenic road. There are more and more cyclists every day, some loaded down for a long haul but many just on a day trip or riding around their town. Hands down Quebec is the most bike friendly province and it is a real pleasure to experience the country this way. I mentioned scenic right? Well this road winds along the South banks of the St. Lawrence which are very low and seem to be almost only a few meters above the river level in some places. Between the river and the road is a farm with various different crops and the houses are well maintained and colourful.
Around 40 kilometers out of Rivire-du-loop the land is flat as a pancake except large Goliath rock formations bumping up through the yellow fields of wheat like the pineapple slices on a pizza. Each one would have several homes which is the only high ground and protection from flooding. The road sometimes went around them but on the bigger ones cut over them to one side.
The last bit of road climbed into hills as the flat land disappeared and the air became a little more salty as the gap between the St. Lawrence shorelines increased to the point the North side was starting to merge in with the clouds and haze. There is no need to mention that I am tired, wait I just did! I found a very accommodating RV (Camping-Du-Quai) park where they gave me a $10 discount. It was only $20 a night for tenters already this was quite affordable plus they had showers and a pool.
