Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Day 58 – Distance: 137.61 km
Mont St-Hilaire to Trois Rivieres, QC
It started out slow – I had a hard time summoning the energy to get going, especially since the wind was somewhat in my face. About 5 km along I spotted a Chocolaterie, and was sorely tempted to stop for a specialty coffee, but didn’t really feel I deserved one quite yet. However, I did get a couple of lovely photos, and a small box of chocolates for Jean, who I felt deserved them after the day she had endured yesterday. It was a cool morning, but the route was very scenic. The morning route was along the Richelieu River, and all the homes were immaculate, with well-tended gardens. Many were large, as were the farms I also passed. One was busy emptying a manure pit – I didn’t enjoy the smells much, and wondered what the people in the grand homes on the opposite side of the road were thinking. It felt very much like a European biking vacation, with the quaint villages along the way, complete (in cases) with broken up road that felt like cobblestone.
We just missed the 11:30 a.m. ferry, but I didn’t mind; it gave me a chance for a longer break. We made sandwiches to eat in the car, and reached the other side (at Sorel) about 12:20 p.m. The afternoon route started along Hwy 138 through Berthierville, but turned up along a route verte along a country road “less traveled” that went through St. Viateur, St. Berthelemy, St. Justin and Maskinonge, then back to Hwy 138 through Louiseville and Yamachiche before coming to Pointe du Lac. I was feeling much better by then, especially since the country roads had been along an escarpment which protected me from the wind. So, we thought we would add some kilometers to today, in order to shorten up tomorrow’s ride to Quebec City. Jean checked the campsite book, and found a site which sounded like it was fairly close to Hwy 138, so off we went. We managed to find our way (more or less) through Trois Rivieres, then Jean spotted the name of the road that the campsite was supposed to be off of. Since it was 5:10, we decided to pop my bike on the back of the van to see if we could locate the site. We had the GPS working by then, and so we set off. Well, it turns out there are a great many “Rue des Prairies” in this area, and the one we went to first was a residential street. We tried again, and again…and ended up just 19 km from Shawinigan. We thought perhaps the little boy from Shawinigan might have room for us at his home, but found another campsite before we got there. It’s actually lovely, set in trees, and is very quiet, so we enjoyed our fresh corn on the cob, salad and spaghetti in quiet solitude.
For the record, Quebec gets full marks for all the effort that has been put into making it a bicycle friendly province. Many cities have dedicated bike lanes, and the Routes Vertes, even when they are shared with traffic, are well marked with warnings that the road is shared. I’m looking forward to more biking holidays in this province for sure! People are also very friendly, even when they can’t speak English, and it’s fun trying to make ourselves understood.
I’m listening to a whippoorwill as I’m typing – it’s very charming now, but I kind of hope it doesn’t keep up its call all night…
Mont St-Hilaire to Trois Rivieres, QC
It started out slow – I had a hard time summoning the energy to get going, especially since the wind was somewhat in my face. About 5 km along I spotted a Chocolaterie, and was sorely tempted to stop for a specialty coffee, but didn’t really feel I deserved one quite yet. However, I did get a couple of lovely photos, and a small box of chocolates for Jean, who I felt deserved them after the day she had endured yesterday. It was a cool morning, but the route was very scenic. The morning route was along the Richelieu River, and all the homes were immaculate, with well-tended gardens. Many were large, as were the farms I also passed. One was busy emptying a manure pit – I didn’t enjoy the smells much, and wondered what the people in the grand homes on the opposite side of the road were thinking. It felt very much like a European biking vacation, with the quaint villages along the way, complete (in cases) with broken up road that felt like cobblestone.
We just missed the 11:30 a.m. ferry, but I didn’t mind; it gave me a chance for a longer break. We made sandwiches to eat in the car, and reached the other side (at Sorel) about 12:20 p.m. The afternoon route started along Hwy 138 through Berthierville, but turned up along a route verte along a country road “less traveled” that went through St. Viateur, St. Berthelemy, St. Justin and Maskinonge, then back to Hwy 138 through Louiseville and Yamachiche before coming to Pointe du Lac. I was feeling much better by then, especially since the country roads had been along an escarpment which protected me from the wind. So, we thought we would add some kilometers to today, in order to shorten up tomorrow’s ride to Quebec City. Jean checked the campsite book, and found a site which sounded like it was fairly close to Hwy 138, so off we went. We managed to find our way (more or less) through Trois Rivieres, then Jean spotted the name of the road that the campsite was supposed to be off of. Since it was 5:10, we decided to pop my bike on the back of the van to see if we could locate the site. We had the GPS working by then, and so we set off. Well, it turns out there are a great many “Rue des Prairies” in this area, and the one we went to first was a residential street. We tried again, and again…and ended up just 19 km from Shawinigan. We thought perhaps the little boy from Shawinigan might have room for us at his home, but found another campsite before we got there. It’s actually lovely, set in trees, and is very quiet, so we enjoyed our fresh corn on the cob, salad and spaghetti in quiet solitude.
For the record, Quebec gets full marks for all the effort that has been put into making it a bicycle friendly province. Many cities have dedicated bike lanes, and the Routes Vertes, even when they are shared with traffic, are well marked with warnings that the road is shared. I’m looking forward to more biking holidays in this province for sure! People are also very friendly, even when they can’t speak English, and it’s fun trying to make ourselves understood.
I’m listening to a whippoorwill as I’m typing – it’s very charming now, but I kind of hope it doesn’t keep up its call all night…
posted by BikingBabe at 2:14 PM
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