Two Wheels in Transit: Cycling the Gaspe: I Never Thought That I Would Want A Mountain Bike!

We were up and at it before 5:30 am. And yes even Sue was a awake...at least as awake as she ever is first thing in the morning. So we hit the road at 7:35 to a perfectly blue sky and not very much wind. It was, however, a little chilly. It was only 7 degrees when we set out expecting a difficult day. We rode the 10 km into Gaspe (the town) making a couple of pit stops to re-stock our groceries and cooking fuel supply.

Gaspe appears to be large centre. It has a port where luxury cruise ships dock. (one was docked as we rode by) It also has a large airport where Air Canada flies out of.

Departing Gaspe was the first test of our legs as we climbed up towards Forillon National Park. There was way too much traffic on this stretch of Highway 132 and the shoulder could only be described as dismal for much of the riding. At times we were forced to simply take the lane.

Just before entering the park today we could see across the inlet and realized that we had just ridden our bikes 35 km and could see where we had been last night only about a kilometer across the water. Now that is progress! To add insult to injury, the Park Visitor Centre was closed for the season. I can hear it now. What would be so difficult, just follow 132 like you have the whole trip. We were actually trying to find a poorly marked (on maps) route across the centre of the park to cut off 27 kilometers of miserable climbing that is not recommended to ride for safety reasons. The route turned out to be an old gravel road that took us up through a valley high in the mountains. It popped us out on the North Shore of the Peninsula. However, and this is a big however, the gravel was of a 'pit run' consistency that was not fun to navigate. We just kept hoping that we would not hit something and take out a wheel or break something else on the bikes as our gear and us shook. I never thought that I would ever say "I wish I had a Mountain Bike". The old road followed a valley up through the mountains that in the 1850's was actually settled and farmed. By the 1870's 37 families were scratching out a living here. Of course today nothing remains except some old apple trees and the interpretive boards.

We are camping tonight in Camping Griffon. It is another small, well kept campground located just outside of the town of L'Anse-au-Griffon. Our site sits high on a bluff overlooking the St. Lawrence/Atlantic Ocean.

It really is a beautiful way to finish what was actually another amazing day on the bikes.

Daily Distance = 49.49 km. Time on the Bikes = 4 hours 5 minutes. Average Speed = 12.08 km. Maximum Speed = 50.80 km. Wildlife Sightings = Chickadees, Cedar Waxwings, Black Backed Gulls, Chipmunk, Hairy Woodpecker.