Eight Days A Week: Leaving Quebec and riding in New Brunswick

Seems like ages since we left Tadoussac early in the morning to face the BIG hills. All the team were keyed up for a long day in the saddle. Not a favourite thing for anyone, riding along a highway, but this stage has been all about highways and very little about byways. Surprisingly we all made it as well as the next day which was slightly longer but NO head wind which is always a blessing. Highlight of the highway was a coke stop. It's often these funny little moments that make a day. I hear you ask if talking to locals in broken French for 10 minutes is a highlight, what the hell are you doing? Umm...good question. I guess we really like each other's company when we get to the end and during stops along the riding route. 

Coke stop friends

We needed to catch a ferry from the north side of the St Lawrence River to Matane, still in Quebec. This involved two shuttles to the ferry terminal and a two-hour ride across this mighty river, followed by a ride to Amqui.

Waiting to board the ferry

Des Moose? 

Karen had a great idea about a bike path which sounded attractive after our highways. Trouble was it involved ascents and descents in the 15% range. Maureen and I pulled the pin early and called for rescue, which duly came. Of course there was no phone reception so the woman at the Depanneur where Maureen and I were stranded phoned on our behalf. Following the bike path instructions we drove and drove but could not locate Des and Kendy, nor Michael, Al, Karen, Bill or Dave. Arriving at the hotel around 7pm, we called the police, as we only had a message from Michael and Al who were also waiting for rescue. At 7.45 Karen, Dave and Bill arrived, and told us where Kendy and Des were hiding out. Finally arriving at the hotel VERY late we were all pleased to be reunited. When Karen suggested a bike path route the next day. Needless to say, we took to the road!


And so we rode on, enjoying a ripping talent concert. Dave did a wonderful loon meditation, Maggie a beautiful song, we danced round and round in a human Venn diagram of where we all met, listed to Maureen's poignant song, Katherine's poem in French and Kendy and Janice's poems about various bike rides and were gripped by Bill's farewell song. He cried. We all cried.

Janice Packhorse?

Our lunch spot tucked away two rubbish bins after the funeral parlour.

And then the rain came down. And down. And down.

Good day for the washing.

Maureen, Des and Kendy riding our last day before blissful rest.

Relaxing at our lovely Airbnb, Al, Des and Maureen.

And now we have three nights to stretch out and forget about bikes and riding places.

More stats for the interested reader

Sunday 22 July: Tadoussac to Forestville along a busy highway, but first we had to climb these humongous hills. We rode 98kms and after the first 20 kms or so things flattened out a bit, but, you guessed it, the head wind picked up.

Monday 23 July: Forestville to Baie-Comeau along the same highway, this time for 101kms. Flatter ride so better time, however the traffic finally wore me down.

Tuesday 24 July: Baie-Comeau to Godbout to catch a ferry to Matane on the other side, followed by a ride to Amqui. Managed 18kms only - see above.

Wednesday 25 July: Amqui to Campbellton: I didn't ride due to posterior matters. Other people who did put in 100kms into a headwind on a hot day.

Thursday 26 July: Campbellton to Bathurst. A good ride along a quiet coastal road for about 65kms before the rain drove us into rescue.

Friday 27 July: Bathurst to Caraquet. Lovely ride along the coastline for 64km.

Saturday 28 July: Caraquet to Mirimichi. Slated distnce of 117km but only rode 76 as Maureen needed rescue. All day on Highway 11 - boring and dull. Happy to bail at the 76km mark.

Sunday 29 July: Mirimichi to Kouchibouguac. A short quick ride along Highway 11 for 52kms.

Circumnavigating Lac St Jean and to the confluence of the St Lawrence and the Saguenay rivers.

The Quebecois are overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming. In their customer service roles they really look after the customer. food is not great, but everything else is good to excellent, including bike route signing. Take a bow, Quebec!


Beginning in Alma, we have now ridden around the lake, stopping off at Sainte-Felicien, Dolbeau-Mitassini, Saint Monique and Saint Gedeon. Lots of saints, I know, and they did a good job of keeping us safe.

The multi-coloured crew preparing to leave St Gedeon.

We overnighted in a great Auberge de Jeunesse in St Gedeon, one highlight the wonderful dinner and brekkie cooked by Kendy and Karen. So good to eat freshly-cooked non-fried food.

The other highlight was Bill tinkling the ivories in both the church at Saint Monique and at the Auberge in Saint Gedeon. This was the first item in our forthcoming talent concert. Beautiful playing, Bill.

Bill playing in Saint Monique.

Leaving Saint Gedeon we headed for Saguenay enjoying a damn good ride along quiet country roads and through lush forests, finishing with a beautiful 'cathedral' ride where the cool trees shaded us, the track was downhillish and the wind was at our backs.

And then the NEXT day! Our Fab Four took off and rode those damn hills. And in anybody's measure of a hill these are HILLS! Al and Katherine also rode off but were not intending to do the whole ride.

Michael, Bill, Dave and Karen.

We have three nights now at Tadoussac to watch whales, do the washing and let our legs relax before another couple of gruelling rides.

Stats that may or may not be interesting

Saturday 14 July, Bastille Day: we took off in the rain which cleared after an hour and rode 90kms to Sainte Felicien. A huge thunderstorm greeted us as we arrived.

Sunday 15 July: a shortish day of 60kms to Dolbeau-Mistassini. Unusually th4e chain fell off my bike 5kms from the end of the day. Michael put it back on. Who's ever heard of a chain falling off a bike mid-ride?

Monday 16 July: a lovely day's ride, short at 55kms, to Saint Monique. Very pleasant lunch at Peribonka.

Tuesday 17 July:  a beautiful 75km ride broken into three parts: forest, road and ferry, then quiet roads and tracks to St Gedeon.

Des and Maureen avoiding moose, beavers, chipmunks and mosquitoes in the park.

Wednesday 18 July: A day of rolling hills and beautiful riding through lush farmland and forests. the 90kms whizzed by under our wheels. Our first day of riding as a 9-member team.

Thursday 19 July: I wimped out along with others to ride the van for the 125kms to Tadoussac.

Where's Garis?

This was the question on everyone's lips as we assembled in Alma, Quebec, from where we began our ride. Garis, it seems, has made an impression on all of us for several reasons: some recalled Garis Gadget on an Orient Express talent night; some desperately wanted his advice about bike issues; and others just plain wanted to say hello.

Some of the people saying 'Hello Garis!'

Bill says 'Hello Garis!' too.

We also missed Garis on our Via Rail journey from Montreal to Hebertville. Slated for an 8.15 departure we expected to arrive at about 4.30 to ride the remiaing 10 or so kms to Alma to meet everyone. As it turned out there was train trouble. And again, Garis was missed!

Garis advising the Czech train staff about pantogrpahs and other things rail-related. He's explaining to Karen  when this was taken.

So Garis, if you're reading this, know that you are a valuable team member in this odd-bod bike riding fraternity that we have collected around us.

Canada, Oh Canada

Come 8 July we flew to Canada via Vancouver, landing up in Montreal. Montreal has surprised us with its bike riding culture and the many many kms of shared and separated paths. We climbed to the top of Mont Royal to get a great view of the city and Leonard! 

One of the huge Leonard Cohen portraits on buildings in Montreal

View of Montreal from the top

Michael, Maureen, Maggie, Janice, Des on Mont Royal

The ride up Mont Royal is a lovely ride of benign gradient through the trees, squirrels darting round about. 

We then tackled downtown where there are both separated bike lanes–Copenhagen lanes we call them in Melbourne–and marked lanes on roads. Knowing which street goes which way is critical in a city of predominantly one-way traffic. After some friendly assistance near McGill College, we cycled down Atwater Street to the market where we enjoyed a delicious lunch from the many food stalls operating there.

Michael enjoying a charcuterie platter

After lunch we rode down the Lachine Canal to the Saint Lawrence River, a quiet ride through both industrial and ritzy housing. During this Michale helped with some minor bike issues like Maggie's handlebars collapsing and my brakes. We didn't pick up the fact that neither Maggie's nor Maureen's back wheels were housed properly, though! 

A bit of bike fixing

Michael and Maggie

In the team so far are Maggie, Maureen, Des, Michael, Janice and Kendy so far. We are being joined by more fellow riders in Alma where we start our 2,600 km ride, first circumnavigating Lac Saint-Jean before riding down the northern shore of the Saguenay Fjord. Then onto St Johns in Newfoundland by traversing parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
So far we've ridden about 65kms in Montreal's perfect summer weather of blue skies and warmth.