More overcast skies greeted us on Day 64 as we prepared to ride into Quebec City and beyond. We had a quick breakfast at the campsite and walked our bikes up the steep gravel driveway to the Chemin du Roi. The Route Verte system detoured from the 138 as we approached the “nation’s capital,” and took us on some nice residential roads into the city before releasing us onto beautiful Boulevard Champlain along the edge of the St. Lawrence river and below Vieux Quebec. Here we realized we’d need to really push it if we were going to make the noon ferry to Levis, so we push it we did. No time for sight-seeing, we raced to the terminal and hopped aboard just in time. From the ferry, we had a beautiful view of Hotel Champlain and Old Quebec as we chugged along to the south shore.
After a quick lunch at the terminal, we set out again, though not before posing in front of some French graffiti that aptly summarized our feelings for Alex Hall.
The St. Lawrence Seaway is
perhaps even more splendid when viewed from the south side, as the Laurentian
Mountains are in plain sight, making for a dramatic land-and-sea-scape. We
enjoyed the ride in perfect weather as we passed through the towns of St.
Michel-de-Bellechasse and Saint-Vallier, before settling on Berthier-Sur-Mer as
our destination for the day. We had decided earlier to treat ourselves to a
night in a Bed and Breakfast (or “Gite” as they say in Quebec), seeing how we
had made it the whole trip without doing so (the hotel in Sault-Ste-Marie
doesn’t count because Mother Nature forced us into it). Moreover, we were close
enough to home that we wouldn’t have many more such opportunities. In any case,
tonight seemed like a good night, so we found a room at La Gite de la Bastide,
and settled in. We had arrived in good time, so we strolled around the town a
bit on foot, read about the history of nearby Grosse Ile, where Irish immigrants
were quarantined during the potato famine, and then enjoyed some delicious
Italian food at La Restaurant de la Plage. Walked back to our Gite, and
hunkered down in “la curacao de meringuac” – the name of our room, though the
link between France and the Caribbean was not totally clear to us.
Av. Spd.: 18.8km/h
Mx. Spd.: 52.3km/h
Best way to commemorate the Irish potato famine: By gorging ourselves
on ITALIAN FOOD!
Funniest photos of the trip: These ones – from outside Quebec City, where the bike routes are VERY well marked.
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