A month goes so fast

We're back in Quebec tonight after riding 57 miles from Baie St. Paul.  More hills -- we only covered 12 miles in the first two hours, as that distance included eight miles of climbing, taking us from sea level to the high point of 750 meters, about 2300 feet.  Fortunately, the remainder of the ride was gentle, our last day of admiring old farms.  Now I'm back to the starting point, getting ready to drive to Ottawa tomorrow to visit friends before returning home, grudgingly entering the real world again.

We were almost at the top of the second climb when we stopped to refuel with power bars and enjoy the view.

We always encounter at least one construction site we have to wade through.

This mural was on the wall of a small church.

We visited the huge pilgrimage church of St. Anne de Beaupre.  The current church was started in the 1920s at an historic pilgrimage site and features many contemporary touches in a Romanesque basilica.  I liked the lumberman in stained glass.

More images from the basilica.  Why is there a mosaic of a typewriter and telephone?

I always hated the arrival of the last day of camp.  I still feel that way.

Two ways to climb hills

On Saturday we woke up to cold, foggy, windy rain.  The bikes were all packed in the vehicle for the ferry ride, and since the weather didn't look any better on the other side of the St. Lawrence, we decided to put on civilian clothes (Nancy's term) and bag biking the 22 miles from St. Simeon to La Malbaie.  It was an excellent decision, not that the weather was so bad, but the hills were steep, the shoulder narrow, and the weekend traffic heavy.  And when we arrived in La Malbaie, the clouds lifted.

Today we set off for a 30 mile ride to Baie St. Paul and did a lot of climbing for the first 18 miles, followed by some great downhill runs.  The town has a history as an art colony and is full of galleries, so we enjoyed strolling through town.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow we will be back in Quebec.  It's just a matter of a few more hills between here and there.

On the ferry.  Three years ago we saw several Beluga whales from the ferry.  No luck this time.

John G. in the back of the truck.  He and I rode together across country last summer.

Street art in La Malbaie.

Did I mention hills on today's route?

We stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand.  No raspberries, but great signs.  

Translations:

Life is beautiful.

Eating vegetables is like making love, it's good often!

The gang, back in civilian clothes, checking out Baie St. Paul.

More easy riding

We were back on the Rail Trail to ride 47 miles into Riviere de Loup, back on the St. Lawrence River.  Rain seemed imminent but once again didn't materialize, but it did keep us from exploring small towns just off the trail.

Ken and Nancy had a small kitchen with their room, so we gathered for breakfast the last two mornings in Cabano.  Ken surprised us yesterday with more Acadian ployes, having purchased the mix in Madawaska, and I made real oatmeal this morning.

Lots of nice rest stops along the trail.  

There were more signs, maps, etc., along the trail, than on most highways.

We are seeing quite a different roadside bouquets now, looking more like the end of summer and approaching autumn.

Our motel looks down on the the St. Lawrence and the ferry dock.  We will cross to the other shore tomorrow to ride back to Quebec.  The hills seem a bit ominous.

I didn't read this sign until I was playing around with the photo.  What a lovely welcome to bikers.

Rest day

I didn't see my bike all day today.  It was a sunny, clear, calm day, and I was at a lake.  Another biker and I rented a kayak for a couple of hours and paddled across the lake and back, enjoying the loons out fishing and using a few different muscles.  The rest of the day really was a rest.

Good thing it was calm, as this rudderless kayak would have been a challenge with much of a breeze.

This colorful fish display was created by school children in 2014, when the World Congress of Acadiens was held in the area.

Riding the Rail Trail

We rode 40 miles today from Madawaska to Cabano, Quebec, mostly along the Petit Temis rail trail, which means no steep hills.  For about 15 miles, the trail was right along the bank of Lake Temiscouata.  Although the temperature was just 50 degrees when we rode out in the morning, it was in the 70's by afternoon, and rain threatened but only fell while I was in a shop enjoying a pastry.

All in all, a fine day.

Breakfast featured ployes, an Acadian specialty, filled buckwheat crepes.  I preferred the peach to the strawberry, of course trying both to be sure.

We rode across this elaborate bridge in Edmundston, only noticing the no biking sign when we stopped to take pictures.

This topiary figure of an Acadian farmer sowing buckwheat was in a large botanicl garden we passed.

Back in Quebec on our old friend Route Verte, the great system of numbered bike routes all through the province.

Interesting way to carry a bike.

Coming down the trail.

One of many fine spots to relax along the way.

Twilight view just down the hill from our motel.

I made a mistake

Today's ride was 64 miles from St. Quentin to Madawaska, Maine.  We crossed the St. John River into the US just for the night because Nancy found better accommodations at a better price here.  Riding through Madawaska, we noticed the flag I described yesterday hanging from lampposts on Main Street.  When we asked, we were told that it is the flag of the Acadiens, a dominant minority in New Brunswick, parts of Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, Northern Maine, and Louisiana (Cajuns).  One of our group has Cajun heritage, and we found his family name on an Acadian Tree of Life in a store window.  In 2014, the World Congress of Acadiens was right here in Madawaska. I love learning things like this.

Two more examples of flag-based ornamentation.

We were stopped for a map check when a couple of cars came along and asked if we were waiting to meet the bikers.  When we straightened out the confusion about what bikers they meant, along came the bikers in question.  They are both from this part of Canada, had flown to Vancouver and spent the last two months biking across Canada.  They don't have a support vehicle and had camped most of the way, somewhat more challenging than my cross-country ride.  Of course, they are youngsters, only 62.  They took pictures of us, and we took pictures of them!

Hills and wind

We had hoped to take a trail today for a change of pace from highways, but the trail in question seemed better designed for ATVS and mountain bikes than our road bikes, so we were back on highways for 63 miles from Campbellton to St. Quentin.  3000 plus feet of climbing with 15 mph headwinds made for a long day.

Someone told me New Brunswick wasn't hilly!

As I stopped to investigate this dog sled, a sled dog came out to investigate me.  He didn't seem interested in posing for a photo.

Always something along the road.  Note tractor seat, and I think the wheels are old carriage wheels.

Sign for a campaign against herbicides.

We've seen various takes on the New Brunswick flag, including stripes and a star on a telephone pole and red, white and blue lawn chairs with a star on the blue chair.

Atlantic Daylight Time

We rode 37 miles to Campbellton, New Brunswick today, my first time in the Atlantic time zone.  We even woke up this morning in Atlantic time, an hour earlier than intended, as my phone picked up a signal from across the bay.  Today was our first rainy day of the trip, but we only rode in rain for about 20 minutes.  No complaints about the weather so far!  We stopped enroute to explore the Miguasha National Park, a small park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Significant fish fossils have been found there proving the evolution from fish to tetrapod.  The things you learn along the way.  

Setting out, hoping we wouldn't need rain jackets.

This is a 3D fossil, as the fish was buried in sediment and preserved looking like it was swimming.

We could only look at the beach and bank where fossils have been found.

Inter-provincial bridge from Quebec to New Brunswick.

Along the Baie des Chaleurs

We rode an easy 50 miles from Bonaventure to Carleton-sur-Mer.  Since we crossed the St. Lawrence on the first day of the trip, we've been riding with water on our left, the St. Lawrence River, then a stretch open enough to be called the sea, the Bay of Gaspe, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and now the Baie des Chaleurs, or Hot Bay, where Jaques Carrier first landed on his voyage searching for the Northwest Passage.  We are still in Quebec, but the French influence is less intense.  We see more Protestant churches, see English/Irish/Scottish names, hear more English spoken.  Carleton-sur-Mer seems to have been unable to make up its mind!

More nice road art.

The cafe where we stopped for a mid-morning treat was well decorated.  So was my café au lait, although a more modest portion than the previous day.

Almost every town has one or two parks just off the highway, generally with restrooms, water, and picnic tables.  If you squint, you can see my bike leaning against a tree.

We had a detour today because a major bridge on the highway was damaged in a storm.  Cars and bikes shared the first section of the detour, but then bikes got their own route on country roads with little traffic.

Our next ride may be wet.  That's New Brunswick in the distance.