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October 5 Wednesday Bicycle touring from somewhere along the St Lawrence River to Deschaillons Quebec As we shivered through lunch in Pierreville we questioned whether we should head for Europe now. This cycle touring trip around the Gaspé could put us into serious cold weather. The wind was howling. Out in the open, by the river, it was downright frigid. We had on all of our clothes and gloves and we were still shivering. I wondered if I would ever be warm again. Even when the sun poked through the clouds momentarily we still didn't feel warm. The trees are looking great though. Maybe autumn bicycle touring is best done through a car window though. When we are pedalling along, it is great, but as soon as we stop it is cold. I guess it could be worse -- Calgary just had another dump of fifty centimetres of snow. We cycle past lots of farmland. Narrow strips come right down to the St Lawrence, graphically depicting how they divided up the land in the old days, so everyone would have access to the river. We cycled route 132 after crossing on the ferry at Sorel. We are on the south shore of the St Lawrence River now. It's no warmer though. We stopped at Metro food store in Deschaillons. No sooner had I got my helmet off when a fellow walked up, eyed our fully loaded touring bicycles, and asked where we were staying tonight. "We don't know yet," Sharon tells him. "Well, I've got a place for you." He proceeds to give us his address and says to bike back a couple of kilometres to where he lives after we buy what we need. What a place his offer of accommodation turned out to be! We are in our own very private cottage right next to the St Lawrence River. When we looked over the bank from his house atop the bank of the St Lawrence River, we couldn't even see there were cottages or anything else down below. It all looked like bush and river. Maurice took us down in the car first, about 500 feet down. The road is at a scary 45º angle, or a 50% grade. Against Maurice's good advice I rode my fully loaded touring bike down, holding tightly to the brakes all the way, skidding my back tire the entire way. Lucky I didn't have a blowout! The road makes a T intersection at the bottom, right at a small strip of beach. Once we stowed our touring bicycles outside the cottage, we went in and ate our "une poulet bbq." That's what I asked the butcher for when I noticed the chickens on a rotisserie in the store. The butcher looked at me and asked "Touriste?" Also swigged down two litres of Coke. I never drink the stuff at home, but when were bicycle touring, it becomes an electrolyte replacement drink. I had a shower, then had room for a hot chocolate, nachos, and a great helping of mashed potatoes. That's the beauty of bicycle touring -- one can eat pretty much anything. After our snack, we headed up the hill to visit Maurice and his wife, Jacqueline. Maurice is 65; he retired when he was 54. He used to be a suitcase salesman. They've had the cottage at the bottom for thirty years. Their house, at the top of the cliff, is 155 years old. They bought it from a guy with a contract that allowed the old codger to live in it for as long as he wanted. That was ten years ago. Now they have completely rebuilt it. Maurice did all of the work. He used beautiful wood inside. We took a picture of them outside their house. It was super clear when we had walked up the hill, but, leaving Maurice and Jacqueline's an hour later, it had clouded over which made for a very dark walk back down the steep hill to our bicycle accommodations cabin. The weather is brisk. It is sure great to be inside all snugly and warm sipping hot chocolate. Ah, this is the bicycle touring life. |
