Sculpture parks and summer camps: Continuing along the Saint Lawrence

July 16, 2016

I did not sleep particularly well in our lumpy patch of grass at the side of the road, but given the fact that we were camping right next to a 'no camping' sign we were all three of us happy to get up early. Shortly after six we were back on our bikes and enjoying cycling on the almost empty road into a town with a proud maritime museum. After a quick cycle around the two huge vessels that sat outside of that we continued further on to a pier where we stopped for breakfast on a bench. Next to us was a campground that was absolutely overflowing with caravans. They were crammed in like sardines. Julien correctly pointed out the irony regarding the fact that people who spend most of their lives crowded together in cities choosing to take their vacations in an even more crowded campsite.

We were all very impressed that the graffiti had a nautical theme

We resumed cycling as the sun rose into the sky with a promise to continue the recent heatwave. With our early start we were confident that we could make this a one hundred kilometre day, even allowing for Meghan's continued determination to stop every time that she saw anything remotely edible:

"Meghan, what are you doing? You're not going to, are you?"

After a couple of hours we arrived at a sculpture park and stopped to take a look around, with Meghan surprising me by insisting that this was where Julien was conceived. How exactly she came to know that information was not clear, but I thought it a very fine location for such an event, with the swirling rock patterns down by the river being really rather inspiring. The sculptures themselves were pretty good. Most of them were carved from logs, and in fact there was an artist there carving one with a chainsaw, rather disturbing the peacefulness of an otherwise serene environment - it seemed unlikely anyone could be conceived with that sort of racket going on. But some of the sculptures were very good, my favourite being a wizard with his face through a book.

I thought perhaps the ground was a little hard for baby making personally

We rode on, with a continued sense of determination and purpose. This, sadly, was not sufficient to prevent us being overtaken by a large group of other cycle tourists. They sneaked up behind us on a hill, and passed us one-by-one. There were about seven of them in total, and they looked very young. One of them, impressed by my load, asked where I was going. He asked in French of course, and I didn't understand, so I just nodded, and then they moved on.

The three of us felt rather put out to be overtaken by a group of kids, and decided to try and catch up to them. We started pedalling a bit faster, and may well have been narrowing their advantage, but the race was soon over when their whole group pulled off into a car park as one of them had a flat tyre. This gave us an opportunity to say hello. One of them, the boy who had spoken to me originally, could speak English, so I apologised for not answering his original question, and now answered it in English.

After briefly explaining my trip, I asked how old they all were. They looked like teenagers, but the guy said "I'm 24, and she is 21," as he pointed to a short girl next to him. At this point I began to fret. Was I really so old, that a bunch of twenty-somethings looked like kids to me now?! But then I was relieved to hear him go on and explain that the two of them were running a summer camp excursion, and that the others were all about 15. It seemed like a fantastic sort of summer camp to me - they were completing a bicycle trip of several weeks, from Montreal all the way to Edmundston in New Brunswick. I wished I could have had the chance to do something like that when I was 15.

Never mind worrying about your flat tyre guys, what about that giant guitar-playing owl?

We left the summer camp to go about fixing their puncture and rode on through fine scenery. The river was getting ever wider as we followed it north. Gradually it was turning from fresh water to salt water as it opened up slowly towards the Atlantic Ocean. On the far side a row of mountains gave a nice backdrop to the river, whilst on our side the going remained relatively flat and easy. We took another break in a riverside park and Meghan and I enjoyed a game of one-a-side volleyball with a little ball I'd bought. I'd got it because it had an image of the world on it, but found that it also gave us something fun to play with. The volleyball was epic fun, not least because I won. I was really enjoying these days cycling with company. Volleyball is so much better with two players.

Our afternoon cycling became a little intertwined with the summer camp's. They would pass us, we would pass them, they'd stop at a rest area, we'd catch up and stop and say hello there, and so it went on, but they finally got a good lead on us when we took a long break at an ice cream place with free wifi. I got online and chatted with Dea in what was left of my screen. Sadly her eye was giving her problems again, and she shared her concerns that maybe the treatment wasn't working. She was sad and that made me sad and I was in a bad mood when the three of us continued cycling. I'd been having such a good time cycling with Meghan and Julien and now I felt almost guilty about that. What was I doing here, merrily cycling in Canada having a jolly time, when I should really be in Europe supporting my sick girlfriend? There was no easy solution. At least I was almost at the end of Canada now. My boat back to Europe was leaving in just ten days. There was nothing else for it but to keep pushing for that goal.

One last break by the river, we were almost at 100 kilometres

We ended the day watching the sunset from a neat little hiding place in a field. Meghan and Julien seemed impressed with the ease with which I found a good wild camping place. Not my first time guys, not my first time.

Today's ride: 97 km (60 miles)
Total: 54,728 km (33,986 miles)

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