Prepared by Jo Anne - her thoughts and impressions of the first couple days with the group.

Saturday, July 22nd, Ottawa to Voyageur Provincial Park - 134kms

Escorted by Ottawa Cycle Club to Parliment Buildings for picture taking and then off through the fantastic cycle paths in the elite part of Ottawa and along the Ottawa River. What a beautiful, warm, sunny morning. We were soon out of the cycle paths and out into the country. A sunny morning with the wind at our backs. The scenery was awesome - beautifully kept old style estates with flowing lawns and gardens. Most riders had planned on lunching out along the way but as we found out we were cycling mostly through rural areas, which
of course means "no restaurants". So what do you do but throw what lunches you have together and share the feast of buns, bagels, cheese, muffins and fruit - never let it be said that cyclist go hungry!! We ate in a shady spot overlooking the river. Then off again - looking for ice cream - alast we lucked out and rejuvinated ourselves at the next TWO places. Wow!! What a wonderful day!! Great guides out of Ottawa, beautiful terrain and an excellent
map book prepared by Marthe. Everyone arrived at camp between 2 and 6pm and had their tents set up before the thunderstorm and torrential downpour which lasted 30mins. Just enough to send the mosquitos into hiding. We were treated to appetizers before a scrumptious dinner of new potatoes, veggies and meatballs, with fresh raspberries and three choices of ice cream for dessert. This was my first day to ride with the group as I has just flown in to Ottawa to finish the trip with Peter. I had a wonderful day and look forward to many more days
like today - with the wind at my bak and the great commoradory that has developped in this group.

Sunday, July 23rd, Voyageur Provincial Park to Montreal - 97kms

Ready to hit the road again at 8:30am. Oh no!! Horst has two flat tires!! Fixed pretty quick with team work and off we go. Led out of the park along cycle paths by Marthe and Peter behind as the sweeper. No one is allowed to go astray in this group. Today we are going to Quebec! Again onto the beautiful country roads, though the lovely quaint villages. The sun is still shining and the wind is still behind us. Who could ask for anything more, except for some more ice cream stores (Noreen) or as Gordon would say, "Sure could go for a Big Mac". First coffee at 40kms. I was more than upset when my wheel bearings went (after having them checked before I left!) and was forced to ride the truck into Montreal.

The rest of the group was led in by Montreal cycle club, young people fromthe Parks Board who gave them a descriptive scenic tour - especially of the Lachine Canal. Marthe had even arranged their own personal police escort (on bike) into the city, who stopped traffic at every intersection to let the cyclists through (even if it was a red light!!) and escorted them right to the front door of the Hostel. Marthe's sister Collette personally led Yvonne and the truck through Montreal to the Hostel. Thanks Collette!! It was truly appreciated by all!! We were all treated to a gourmet meal at the Hostel by Valerie, a friend of Marthe's. Can you believe marinated eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, etc, etc, plus garlic bread, two kinds of lasagna and decorated chocolate cake for 30 hungry cyclists - all done by Valerie and her husband!! Our hats are off to you both!! It was a fantastic meal and was enjoyed by all. Another top of the line day.

July 24 and 25 - Montreal - Days Off

We had a faboulous time in Montreal. Everyone went out on the town. Some visited with friends, a lot went shopping, others toured around the old and downtown, hopped on the Metro, watched fireworks, etc. Everyone enjoyed their stay in Montreal!!

Wednesday, July 26th - Montreal to St Barthelemy - 100kms

We have been so lucky with the weather and now it is just getting better and better. A cloudless, sunny day with thie temperature about 25 degrees. We left our Hostel in Montreal after an "on camera interview" with Global TV.
Marthe, Gordon and Horst told their stories and then all 30 of us rode down Rene Levesque Avenue single file. The camera man was set up at different locations along the way. It is all very nice, but as we don't carry a TV with us, we don't ever get to see these interviews. Through the city and now the ride starts to become enjoyable. The traffic starts to thin out and we can now see the St. Lawrence Seaway. Our route follows the Seaway and now we are seeing old stone and French provincial homes on the banks of the river. All of the homes are really neat and tidy, with beautiful flower gardens. It is almost like they cut the lawns and tidied up the gardens for us. Small towns with old buildings are well preserved and cared for. We arrived in camp at 3:30pm. A real nice day to tour on a bike. Nice camp with a lake, swimming pool and a small river (stream) running through.

Thursday, July 27th, St. Barthelemy to St. Genevieve De Batiscon - 100 kms

Another spectacular day in the Quebec Province - cycling along hwy 138. It is part of the Trans Canada Trail and has a nice shoulder about 4ft wide. It runs right along with St. Lawrence River. We travel through a lot of small
towns and the houses are right next to the road but in perfect shape. Some very old and most in the French provincial design. This is what cycle touring is all about! There are so many things to see in Quebec!! The best thing is that you can stop and look at everything, and still arrive into camp in the afternoon in fairly good shape.

Friday, July 28th - St. Genevieve De Batison to St. Augustine - 85kms

Again another wonderful day. Temperature around 25 degrees and beautiful sunshine touring through the countryside of Quebec. In one area today, the community was celebrating Fire Week. Well they do it differently in Quebec. It is more like a festival, with people decorating their houses up. Some houses have firemen climbing ladders to rescue children at the windows or on the roof, others rescuing cats from trees, etc. All the participants are mannequins. Some houses have cardboard flames attached to the house. Really unusual to see these houses all decorated up. We stopped for tea on the side of the St. Lawrence River at a tea house almost 200 years old. We finally arrived at our camp at 2:30pm to a rousing welcome from Marthe's town, Marthe's Louise's and Rejeanne's cycling club and friends and family of Jean-Pierre and Rejeanne. They brought some munchies and champaine over to celebrate our arrival in St. Augustine. We all rode into town with our CANADA riding shirts. Later the representative of the Mayor and his wife came and supplied dinner for 30 of us. This is Marthe's home town and it was so nice for the town to supply our dinner. It was also Louise's birthday so we had birthday cake and sing
songs in both French and English.

Saturday, July 29th - St. Augustine to Quebec City. - 27kms (includes Sunday,
July 30th - Quebec - Day off)

We started out after having breakfast in a restaurant. Everyone had their CANADA riding shirts on and we all road to Marthe's home. We had all the neighbours come over for a visit and to take pictures. After leaving Marthe's, we cycled to where we meet the guides. They took us into the "City of Quebec". We are staying inside the walls of the city at a youth hostel. It is a 5min walk to Chateau Frontenac. Old Quebec City is a World Heritage Site and really is a delightful place to visit. It is the cradle of the French Society in North America. The history goes back 400 years. The English and French battle on the Plaines of Abraham. Both Wolfe and Montcalm, the generals on each side died as a result of this battle. We really have enjoyed our time in Quebec
and the people of Quebec are very special. They have treated us with extreme warmth and generosity. As our French Canadian guide said this morning, "Don't believe all that stuff you read in the newspapers about separation." Quebec City is full of restaurants of every description and the people love to stay up to early hours of the morning. We had a lovely vietnamese dinner that lasted two hours for $10 each. You really have to spend a week there to know your way around. Lots of buskers playing different instruments and performing different acts. Make sure you put Quebec City on your places to go list.

Monday, July 31st - Quebec City to Baie St. Paul - 95kms

Marthe again in her very efficient way had us guided out of the city. Can you imagine seeing 30 bike riders threading single file through the old city with our bright CANADA riding shirts on. They have a real nice bike path that goes 15kms out of the city, leading us to the Chutes Montmorencey (Falls). It was easy to follow and we got to see some of the outer Quebec City. The first 30kms to the coffee truck was flat but after that it became very hilly. I suppose we were starting to get a bit soft. Anyway, not much to say about the ride except it was a good workout. We arrived in camp to a surprise dinner supplied by John-Pierre, Rejeanne, and their cousins Rita and Etienne. It was a traditional French meal of tourtiere, soup aux gourganes and blueberry pudding for dessert (Salmon Pie for the vegetarians). It was absolutely delicious!! I am sure there wasn't much left over!!

Bud had a birthday, Ed had a 45th wedding anniversary and John-Pierre and Rejeanne had their 38th wedding anniversary. You guessed it, we also had three cakes to top the night off. Those hills kind of make you hungry.

Tuesday, August 1st - Baie St Paul to Tadoussac - 110kms

Well today was a day of doing nothing but riding hills up and down and fighting with the traffic. Of course, most of the day is spent going up. These hills are fairly short - .5kms to 1kms - but most of them have a grade of 7% to 12%. Towards the end of the day a lot of us were using our 25th gear (if you have24 gears on your bike and 22nd gear if you only have 21 gears on your bike). About half of the road doesn't have a shoulder so you have to share the road with large trucks, cars and cars pulling trailers. But we did the job, took a small ferry and arrived in camp, a little shaken but all in one piece.

Bosco, Sonie and Sally (as I write this) are preparing a huge Chinese dinner. It smells so nice. I can't speak for others but I am so hungry I could eat the hind quarter of a steer right now. I blame it all on those damn hills.

Wednesday, August 2nd - Tadoussac to Parc Du Bic (Rimouski)- 84kms

Before we left Tadoussac we went to a bluff that overlook the town, St, Lawrence River and the Saguenay River. We had a short ride to the ferry from Les Escoumins. They only have three sailings a day to Trois Pistoles on the south shore. While we were leaving the ship, one of the trucks started its engine still in gear. It lurched forward and pushed another car. That car pushed another car that crushed a man's leg who was walking between two vehicles. Not a nice situation! We continued the ride on the south shore with the last 15kms through a bush trail in Parc De Bic - Fantastic ride. Before we started off on our little detour through the bush, we all stopped off at this little restaurant for pie and ice cream. Rejeanne bought a pie to take back with her. She was able to bungee the pie to the back of her bike, ride through 15kms of trails and gravel roads and make it back to camp with the pie intact. Now that is what I call riding!!

Thursday, August 3rd - Parc Du Bic to Sayabec - 105kms

A cloudy start to the day and a very large hill to climb after a large bowl of porridge with raisins and cinnimon. It is almost like jet fuel for us cyclists and it is just not the same without our porridge. The day got hotter and more humid as we traveled along the coast through Rimoski. More hills that look like they are impossible to climb but as we get closer the challenge gets smaller. When you get to the top and the sweat is running down your face you have a great sense of achievement. As Dennis said the other day, we riding each day don't really see the scope of our ride. We are probably riding the largest consecutive cycle ride on the North American continent, over 8,000kms. At the end of the ride, we had a real heart thumping hill to climb before relaxing at Lac Malcolm campsite. The lucky ones were able to make it before the thunder and lightening storm, but the ones that stopped for ice cream weren't so lucky...

Friday, August 4th - Sayebec to Causapscal - 47kms

What a nice ride down the hill we climbed up yesterday. But we did not fail to have our 70th bowl of porridge. We had rain again at night, but it stopped before we had to pack up. Stopped at McDonald's for coffee and a muffin and were in camp by 12 noon. A good day to so some washing, fix bikes or just do maintenance. Of course we couldn't miss the cocktail hour and the socialability of it all. Tomorrow we will be leaving Quebec which we all have thoroughly enjoyed and hope to return one day.

Saturday, August 5th - Causapscal to Cambellton - 79kms

Merci beaucoup Quebec!! Merci beaucoup Marthe!! Today we will be leaving Quebec after 60kms and entering New Brunswick. It is hard to believe we have come so far. Another dry day to start out down the highway. A short day and hardly any hills. We followed the Matapedia River all the way to Campellton. A nice wide slow moving river with lots of fishermen trying their luck fishing for Atlantic salmon. We are camped at Sugar Loaf Campground at Sugar Loaf Mountain. Gordon thought he would be smart by changing his worn out tires
for Rachelle's old ones, but you have to wonder - he has had three flat tires since!!! She wasn't the queen of flat tires for nothing!!

Sunday, Aug 6th - Suger Loaf Mountain Campsite - Day off

Usual stuff - eat, bike maintenance, patch holes in tubes, eat, eat, eat. We had a lovely sing song campfire last night and a lot of people stayed up really late. Beautiful stars - we tend to miss them when you go to bed as early as we do!!

go to Part Eight


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