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October 8 Saturday Bicycle touring from Levis Quebec to Trois Pistoles Quebec We got an early start and cycle toured 200 kilometres. The wind at our back reminds me of Newfoundland. The terrain is still quite flat. There are lots of dairy farms and farmland. The other day I took a picture of the thin farm plots. They are only about 100 feet wide. The St Lawrence River is getting wider. One can sure tell there is a tide. There are wide areas that are black mud. It looks like an evil oil spill. Fishing nets are anchored way out. They are high and dry right now. I can see rows and rows of nets stuck out into the river. Later this afternoon they will be underwater again. Traffic is light -- great for cycle touring -- where Hwy 20 parallels route 132. At Rivier de Loup Hwy 20 ends and traffic and freight trucks once more become a reality. Not so great for bicycle touring. It is about 5:30 PM when we find a roadside picnic area at Trois Pistoles. We pull our fully loaded touring bicycles off the road for supper and camping. I took a picture of Canada snow geese today. Hunting season has opened. The sound of shotgun blasts fill the air both day and night. Fields full of decoys are seen. The hunters are all in camouflage gear. Some people think migration is triggered by the shortening daylight hours, but it seems to me to be influenced by the start of hunting season. We have seen flocks and flocks by the hundreds heading south now. So far these roadside picnic stops have been great for bicycle tourists. The washrooms are clean and have running water and flush toilets. And even of Friday and Saturday nights we haven't had the displeasure to encounter gangs of unruly youths bent on vandalizing whatever is in sight and partying late into the night. Maybe it is too cold? Or maybe these sites are located in just the right spot. There has always been houses located right by them. Or maybe Quebec youth have better things to do? I like to think the latter. Car drivers, on the whole, have been much friendlier and much more respectful of cyclists than Ontario was for sure -- maybe even of all the provinces and states that we have cycle toured. I wonder if it goes back to that French love of cycling with the Tour du France? The people we have met while bicycle touring here have been friendly. They speak to us first in French and then switch to English the best they can to communicate with us, even when they don't know a lot of English. "Big wine today," one fella said to us. "Yes -- it is windy," I replied. "Oh, yes -- wind." he corrected himself, self-consciously. Still better than my French though! While we were blissfully cycling along on our grand bicycle tour of Quebec, we saw a detour sign, but we went straight ahead onto the closed route. Nothing like bicycle touring for a little adventure. "Could it be another bridge out?" I asked Sharon, remembering what happened with us another time when we had ignored a detour sign in New York state a few summers ago. After a few kilometres of cycling, we came to a bridge out. One fella was working on it. The approach to the bridge was about six feet in the air. I waited there, wondering if we should turn around -- it is no little creek to ford. Eventually the fella turns around and sees me. He smiles and waves us to come on. I push my fully loaded touring bike through the dirt and together, with him standing on the bridge helping us, we hoist our bikes up. Portage! We push our touring bikes to the other end of the bridge and then the worker put a piece of plywood down the edge for a ramp. Together we successfully got the fully loaded touring bikes down. We waved and gave the popular thumbs-up sign. There is no traffic for quite a ways since the road is closed. Terrific for scenic bicycle touring. Sharon says I don't know how lucky I am sometimes. I tell her, "Hey, life is an adventure. Once in a while you have to take a few detours." Church steeples are the landmarks here, instead of grain elevators or water towers we saw as we cycled all the way across the prairies. Church steeples pop up in the distance, pointing the way to civilization. Lots of double steeples, too. They like big churches here. There are lots of religious artifacts in people's yards as well. Statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, tons of crosses. Predominantly Roman Catholic here. Maurice told us his mom had twenty kids. Sixteen lived. Maurice was number fifteen. We had breakfast by the side of a church, using it to shelter us from the wind. The caretaker was taking branches and using them to line the outside of the church walls, giving it the splendid colours of autumn. As we cycle along, we note there seems to be more flower shops and lingerie shops in Quebec than in other provinces that we have cycle toured. In small towns there is always at least one of each on main street. Ooh la la. |
