We decided to get an early start to the day, in part to avoid any
awkward encounter with the campground management, whom we didn’t feel like
paying, as they hadn’t really provided us with anything but a wet piece of
ground (not exactly a commodity in these parts). We were met with a
not-so-awkward encounter with a kindly older French lady in a camper nearby,
who offered us coffee (which we politely refused), brought us orange juice
(which we happily drank), and lent us her keys to the main building washrooms
(which we eagerly used). She was lovely.
The rain was on and off when we got back on the road, and we made good
time to the Trois-Rivieres sprawl that has brought the city closer to the
highway (and traveler’s dollars). Here, we picked up some groceries, and had a
quick breakfast – practicing our French with some of the store workers.
Somewhere near the big bridge across the St. Laurence, we ran into a Korean cyclist
who was on his way to Newfoundland all the way from Prince George, and looked
extremely ill-prepared for the weather we were currently enduring, much less
Newfoundland weather in October.
We started feeling a strong tailwind around this time, which pushed us
swiftly to St. Anne-de-Perade, where we had a picnic lunch on the water,
beneath heavenly skies.
Made goodtime through Portneuf (which was supposed to have
been our destination for the day) and kept on rocking to Donnacona. Here we had
a donut at Timmy’s and saw a beautiful rainbow over the River – both of which
lifted our spirits and re-energized us as our odometer clicked ever higher.
It was getting quite late,
so not far from Donnaconna, we turned off the Chemin du Roi to find a
campground for the night on the 365 North. Maybe it was just the effect of
traveling in a direction other than east, but our spider senses were tingling
as the sun fell lower in the sky. We decided to give our destination campground
a phone call just to make sure we were headed in the right direction. Good
thing, as it turned out the facilities were closed for the season! We headed
back to the 138, and continued into Neuville, where we hoped we might find a
cheap motel or something. As luck would have it, there was a quaint little
campground at the bottom of an incredibly steep highway, where a hospitable
lady welcomed us. We set up our tent and
made dinner as night (and rain) fell.
Av. Spd.: 19.4km/h
Mx. Spd.: 46km/h
Alternate reason for tingling spider sense: This guy – or girl, as she
seemed to have laid an egg sac on my rain pants! Gross!
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