July 30, 2012
Chateau Richer to Baie-St-Paul
For some unknown reason I was awake early this morning - well, earlier than I have been waking lately anyway - and we were away from the campsite by 8. The early start proved to be valuable, as there were so many good reasons to stop, admire and photograph. On the first section from Chateau Richer to Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre when travelling the quiet back road (which was also a designated bicycle route) we passed many old root cellars and bread ovens on the roadside, dating from 1650, as well as some beautiful old buildings.
Keeping to the small roads, we climbed lots more, passing many road cyclists (on the other side of the road - obviously), and going through some glorious countryside - a cycling heaven. The temptation of a swim was too much to resist when crossing over a river, and the first dip in Quebec which was long overdue was had.
Eventually we had to rejoin the main road, the 138, and crossed a pass at 740m before a fast descent through some roadworks, and then a 4 mile 10% gradient, over a bad road surface allowing a top speed of only 49mph, and being a typical man I didn't stop to admire the stunning scenery, I just enjoyed the decent descent, dropping us into Baie-St-Paul. It was by now 31 degrees in the shade, so after stocking up on groceries, emptying a tub of ice cream and using McDonalds' wifi, we rode through the lovely town to find Camping Gouffre, a great site, and at $20 a refreshing change from the overpriced and underwhelming sites of Ontario.
Always keen to keep the body stocked up on calories I have been trawling the shelves of gas station snack racks, and today I found the calorific winner to date, with a whopping 610 calories (if you lick all the icing from the inside of the packaging). It is also a source of vitamin A - or something like that!
Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 5,832 miles (9,386 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |