Some Final Thoughts

The Gaspe Peninsula is one of the most spectacular regions that we have ever travelled to. It was made even more special because we 'slowly' experienced it from our bicycles. We would like to share some of our impressions of the area.

First and foremost the people of the Gaspe live modestly. There are very few 'in your face' houses. It is certainly partly to do with the struggles of their economy. From what we understand this region's economy has always been this way. We were treated really well in all of our interactions and rarely was our lack of French an issue. As many of them told us, "we like to practice our English, we do not get that many opportunities". No one held it against us that we spoke only English.

A major part of the Gaspe's economy is still based upon Forestry. We saw many active sawmills with the largest one we have ever seen at Causapscal. They must be practicing sustainable logging. We also saw numerous portable sawmills in operation. It is obvious that there is a market for 'rough sawn' lumber. And of course there is the firewood business. Most people appear to use firewood as their prime source to heat their houses as evidenced by all the people we saw 'putting up their wood' for the Winter.

Agriculture is part of their economy as well. Some was 'subsistent' at best as they farmed the hills while other areas had quite good looking Dairy Operations with their multiple silos.

Fishing does not appear to be as major a part of the small coastal villages as it probably once was. However, some still exists. We were treated to the most amazing fish dinners.

Unlike Southern Ontario, the Gaspe Region still has small one or two bay garages (Mechaniques) in all of their small towns. Roadside Cantines (hamburg and soft ice cream shops) are plentiful in every little community. It appears that the Quebec Provincial Government has not 'regulated' the small butcher shops out of business as has happened in Ontario. Small General Stores (Marches and Epiceries) are still in operation all selling beer and wine at any time of the day...great for tour cyclists of course!

Last but not least, the region depends to a large extent upon tourism. Most small towns have 'Ma and Pa' motels, B&B's (Gite's) and small campgrounds. This makes it a great destination for tour cyclists.

One sign of the struggles of the economy of the region we suspect is the amount of 'for sale' (a vendre) and 'land for sale' (terrain a vendre) signs that we saw. Very few people deal with Real Estate Agents and are trying to sell privately. Again a sign of the times?

I have always found it difficult to shut down the blog at the end of our adventures. But here goes. We travelled 896 kilometers over 14 days of riding for a 64 kilometer average per day. Again our bikes stood up to the test, even the tires that remain unchanged from our West Coast ride. The ride can only be classified as 'spectacular'. However, for anyone considering this ride we have only one suggestion...train, train, train...it was a challenging adventure!

We again would like to thank all of our family and friends who allowed us to take on this adventure. Without your help and support we would not be able to do what we do. I would also be remiss if I did not thank those of you who followed my 'scribblings' on a day to day basis. It is always fun to share our adventures!

"LIfe Is A Beautiful Ride"

We Have Arrived Home Safely

Our Journey home saw us continue our 'slow travel' as we re-traced our route from our 2010 Adventure. We were able to take advantage of an extra couple of days and travelled along the south shore of the St. Lawrence, crossing at Levis/Quebec City on the commuter ferry. We then travelled the north shore down to Montreal where we gave the city a wide birth to the north until we rejoined the Ottawa River. We again took the small ferry at Cumberland (A whopping 10 bucks) back into Ontario where we jumped on an expressway to get us out to the Renfrew area. From there we were able to again trace our Cross Canada Adventure home. We were able to re-visit a motel in Beaumont/Levis and then enjoyed a 'fairy tale' stay at the Chateau Montebello. We will not talk about the cost! We were treated to one the only sunsets of our adventure while celebrating on our verandah last evening.

Loaded and Ready to Head For Home

Le Chateau Montabello...Our Fairytale Accommodation

Sunset From Our Verandah

Wednesday, September 20,2017: The Perfect Ride!

It rained again overnight and a heavy cloud cover greeted us as we hit the road by 7:50. As predicted the clouds moved out and the temperature began to rise.

There are not enough superlatives to describe today's ride, but I will give it a try. I will start by saying that we are doubtful that we have ever had a more perfect ride. To begin, the ride was mostly down hill following the Matapedia River. We were able to listen to the flow of the water or as Sue describes it as "the burbling sound of water flowing over rocks". We stopped at 2 different covered bridges and even rode our bikes through one of them and back across just because we could! The road conditions, for the most part, were good and we were aided by a strong tail wind all day. The sun shone, the temperatures rose to 24 degrees, and we were able to ride in short sleeves for the first time on the entire adventure. The Matapedia Valley showed us her 'blazing' Fall colours, the best colours of the ride. Fantastic!

'A Do Over...With a Different Result! Seven years ago when we rode through this valley I described the route as extremely hilly and a tough ride. It is pretty obvious that as John Montgomery, Olympic Gold Medalist, has been quoted as saying: "It is 90% mental and the rest is in your head." It is hard to believe I missed this beautiful ride last time.

Our ride has come to an end. The final day of each of our adventures always comes with mixed emotions. We are happy that we have been able to successfully complete our journey but at the same time we are sad that it is over.

We have returned to the Resto Motel Le Riverain where we started our ride. Thanks to Madame Collette for keeping our truck safe for the 2 weeks.

Daily Distance = 70.12 glorious kms. Time on the Bikes = 4 hours 5 minutes. Average Speed = 17.34 km. Maximum Speed = 46.24 km. Wildlife Sightings = Cedar Waxwings, Blue Jay, Downey Woodpecker, Red Squirrel, Mergansers, Cormorants.

We are presently on Part 3 of this adventure. A wrap up of the ride will be posted shortly. Stay Tuned!

Colourful Matapedia Valley

Eat Your Heart Out Meaford!

Riding the Covered Bridge

Railway and the road follow the River

The Rock, The Road, and The River

We Made It!

It was a spectacular ride today. The bikes are resting in the back of the truck. Today's blog posting to come tomorrow. Final thoughts to come later. Amazing Adventure.

Life is a Beautiful Ride!

A Do Over...With the Same Result!

After a 'full' inclusive breakfast we hit the road at 7:35. Immediately the climb began. 6.5 km later we had made our way up and through the town of Mont Joli climbing all the way. It had not changed one bit since we had biked through here on our cross Canada ride in 2010. It was a shock to our system back then after riding on basically flat roads all the way from the Montreal area. It was hard then and even harder today! I'm sure it had nothing to do with our legs (and everything else) being 7 years older and our conditioning on this trip no match for back then.

Everything we gained in elevation in the first 6.5 km we promptly lost on the next 6.5 km. I can hear it now...he is complaining about a downhill...that is because we knew this was to repeat over and over again for the first 50 km. It is not that I do not like down hills but they inevitably lead to another climb. At the 50 km mark the road flattened somewhat but the wind shifted and we 'slogged' into it for the rest of the day. It has knocked the tar out of us just like this area did in 2010.

It was not all negative today. It was amazing how different the area looked than it had 2 weeks ago as we drove through here. The Fall colours were out in all their glory as we climbed and descended. According to the forecast it was to be a wet affair. Again they were mistaken. The temperatures rose as the sun made it's appearance. It was fun to re-live some of the highlights of our previous ride through here with our nephew Eric. In particular we came upon the Canteen in the middle of nowhere that Eric treated us (yes he actually paid!) to lunch.

We are staying in Amqui at the Selectotel Motel. We are 'Dog Tired'!

Daily Distance = 72.19 km. Time on the Bikes = 5 hours 3 minutes. Average Speed = 14.28 km. Maximum Speed = 46.93 km. Wildlife Sightings = Canada Geese, Snow Geese (beautiful), dead moose on a trailer probably suffering from bullet wounds.

P.S. I have learned in previous biking adventures never to look to far ahead...but I am going to predict that our ride will finish tomorrow one way or the other...back at the Resto Motel Le Riverain in Mann Settlement...hope this does not come back to bite me in my 'sore butt'.

View From Our Motel This Morning

Farming the Appalachians

Farming the Appalachians

Farming the Appalachians

It has been years since we have seen Snow Geese

Eric's Hamburg joint in the hills...Fried onions anyone?

Fall Colours

Fleuve Saint-Laurent

We hit the road this morning by 7:55 with an overcast sky, a temperature of 7 degrees, and a forecast for the possibility of rain. We lucked out in the rain department but the temperature never got out of the single digits the entire day. We also benefited from a reasonable strong tail wind that pushed us along on the flattest riding day of our entire adventure. I guess today was the reward for our persistence on the difficult days.

Today's ride also took us through the only productive agricultural land we have seen on this trip. Previously, the agriculture appeared to be subsistent at best. Today was different. We rode by dairy farm after dairy farm with their multiple silos towering over their barns. None appeared to be really large but they were all good looking operations. It was almost enjoyable to smell the special 'aroma' wafting out of the liquid manure pits as we have been smelling nothing but salt air, combined with gas and diesel fumes.

Yesterday while riding in the rain, we had several cars honk their horns and give us the 'thumbs up' signal, truly friendly gestures. Today not so much. The horn honking was due to the fact that some cars in a construction zone in Matane thought that we were holding them up. I suppose we were but we really had nowhere to go unless we had had the ability to levitate our bikes. It reminds me of a quote I once read from Rudy Niebur who is famous in the tour cycling world (so I am told). It goes something like this: "Cyclist's Prayer: God give me grace to accept with serenity the motorist that cuts me off, the courage to cycle alongside him, and the wisdom to refrain from attacking him." Today, according to Sue, I was not real good at following this philosophy. She would be right!

We are staying at the Mon Joli Motel in Ste-Flavie. Our camping is finished as all the campgrounds in this area closed on the weekend. We are overlooking the river. Today was our last ride on the river. Tomorrow we will sadly say goodbye to the Flueve Saint-Laurent as we head south up and over the Appalachians once again.

Daily Distance = 81.33km. Time on the Bikes = 4 hours 42 minutes. Average Speed = 17.31 km. (It is amazing what a flat ride and a tail wind can do!). Maximum Speed = 40.40 km. Wildlife Sightings = Seal, Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Ring Billed Gulls, Great Blue Herons, Black Ducks, Black Guillemots, Juncos, Flicker.

Straw Bales

Wind Turbines close to houses...Maybe the Quebec Government is no smarter than ours!

Admiring the Gulls along the Fleuve Saint-Laurent

Fleuve Saint-Laurent

Putting Up The Wood

Saint Flavie is full of artists...cement shepard, his dog, and his flock on the lawn of Mon Joli Motel

A Wet and Chilling Affair

Yesterday we found ourselves wondering around Sainte-Anne des-Monts looking for water for our ride today. Our motel had water that they advised us not to drink. While on our search we found the Microbrasserie Le Malbord. We thoroughly enjoyed their 'tasting flight' while munching on some really good pub food.

We made a good decision to stay in a motel last night as it began to rain shortly after dark. So when we left this morning at 6:50 we were 'decked out' in all of our raingear and ready for a long hard day in the saddle. The climbing turned out to be a lot less difficult than we expected...maybe we are finally getting our biking legs! But the weather was a different story. It hovered between 7 and 9 degrees for the whole ride...and did I mention the rain? At times we were getting drenched from overhead as well as sprayed by passing cars. We also had to ride on 'washboard' gravel for 2 km through a construction area. Not fun. However we made it.

On the positive side we did have a tail wind (a nor'easter) to help us with our climbing. We saw our first whales of our trip. We also saw our first seals since we started biking. And finally, we found a 'gem' of a place to stay tonight in Sainte-Felicite. So I guess not everything was negative today.

We are staying at the Auberge de Jeunesse du Manoir des Sapins. It is a hostel. We have never stayed in a hostel before. We have our own room but have full use of the entire place. It can house 40 people in the summer. Prior to being a hostel it was a bar. The dance floor is still visible with the hanging crystal ball. This has the 1970's written all over it!

Daily Distance = 69.98 km. Time on the Bikes = 4 hours 43 minutes. Average Speed = 14.48 km. Maximum Speed = 50.18 km. Wildlife sightings = Black Backed Gulls, Black Guillemots, Cedar Waxwings, Great Blue Herons, 2 Whales, Seals.

P.S. Not too many pictures today due to the 'really nice' weather!

Sunrise from our Motel