See the World in Blue and Green...: Day 74 - Saint Flavie to Sainte Florence - And Then We Pedalled...... Cross Canada 2015

August 15, 2015

See the World in Blue and Green...: Day 74 - Saint Flavie to Sainte Florence

It's a beautiful day.....

I had always pictured the Gaspe region as just a far away pink region on a map. Rugged, remote, harsh.

That is not the Gaspe we rode through today. Our Gaspe was full of rolling hills, forests, dairy farms and quaint villages. We were on Route Verte 1 again, which was a mix of highway 132, secondary roads and bike paths. Mostly sunny skies, a little bit of a tailwind and it was .... A beautiful day..... No drama, just a perfect summer day pedalling through and discovering a part of the world I had never been too before. And like so many other parts of this country, a place where I would like to return.

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Amqui is a lovely town that we've heard many positive things about from other cross country folks who have passed through. Couldn't agree more and we were tempted to stay, but we needed to push on. We ended up in Sainte Florence, a small town of about 400 people and no real stores or services, yet they have a wonderful municipal campsite. It's one of the nicest and cleanest ones we've seen anywhere, and in a fairly small and remote area. You've got to love this place. We picked up our supper in Amqui, our now standard salad, salmon filet, green beans, cous-cous and a fruit salad, a couple of beer, all on ice, and we have a perfect end to the day.This will be our last night in Quebec, it's been wonderful time. We'll be back again in October. Can't wait.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

You've got to love the names of these Quebec towns... I'm hoping that when we're in Newfoundland we come across a town called "Lord 'Tundering Jesus". Can't let the Quebecois have a monopoly on the religious names!

Rural Quebec's two religions existing in peaceful harmony...

Lovely farms in a landscape of rolling hills

Looking back on Lac Malcom ... iPhone pictures don't really do it justice. You will have to come and see it for yourself

Extremely well kept farms on the outskirts of Amqui

Our approach into Amqui .... Looks like a setting for a dreamy impressionist painting

Bonjour, comme ça va aujourd'hui? Tres bien, et vous? Happy days!

One of several covered bridges on the bike trail entering Amqui

The Matapedia River that flows through Amqui from the covered bridge

Evening light on the church at Causapscal, about 10 km north of Sainte Florence

Song of the day:

Highway Free by Madeleine Allakariallak

Another great song about travelling in Canada. This one is set in the arctic where Madeleine hails from, but the feelings it evokes work anywhere

No you tube for this ... you will have to get it off the Great Canadian Road Song album put out by the CBC!

Historical monument of the day....

The covered bridges leading into Amqui. The first one of two we went through was on a regular road leading into a large park. As we were about to turn into the road and cross the bridge, a very large wedding party procession came along, waving and honking their horns. We joined in the middle, about 20 cars in, and rode across the bridge waving and dinging our bells like everyone else! Got lots of waves and thumbs up from the wedding folks. A stretch for history but it was an older bridge, history was being made with the wedding, and we had fun. That's enough to make it the pick of the day!

Today's ride: 114 km (71 miles)
Total: 6,805 km (4,226 miles)

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