Day 69 - St. Michel de Bellachasse, QC to La Pocatiér, QC

July 21, (Tuesday) 

Start Time: 6:00 am 

Stop Time: 12:00 pm 

KM Travelled: 104.7 km 

Elevation: +436/ - 428 m 

Special Stuff: Nice biking pathways, Kindness and generosity of people

While I have my morning coffee, I hear the cry of a new bird – a peacock. Peacocks are such a beautiful and interesting birds. They are also very noisy - in not so lovely a way first thing in the morning, which it is fine because we are only here for one night.

Our campsite is right next to the start of my route, so I'm off to a quick, smooth start. I ride along the side of the St. Lawrence River all day and notice that the river is gradually getting wider. I see mountains – not hills - to the north. This is a new development. I have not seen mountains since I left them in Pincher Creek, Alberta.

The mountains appear a bit hazy – which makes me suspicious that there is smoke in the air despite there being no air quality warnings issued. I’ve noticed I have been clearing my throat a bit more since Trois Riviére, where I cleared my throat the Subway and everyone looked at me (not sure why, maybe I did it in a way that is not culturally unacceptable in Quebec). I'm wondering if air quality was a contributing factor to my sluggish feeling yesterday morning.

I notice some interesting things as I'm riding:

• KFC is PFK here (which stands for Poulet Frit Kentucky)

• A sand sculpture in a place where there is no natural sand (they must have dumped the sand here just to make it).

  
  

As I am riding along, I hear the bird song of the bird that accompanied me through Ontario.  After not hearing it for a while, it is back, so it catches my attention. When I hear the song, it takes me back to some quiet times on the Ontario highway. Oddly it’s a good feeling. This bird helped to get me through some tough times. I need to find out the name of this friend of mine. 

I stop in a small town to admire a church - they really are works of art. There are two women sitting and chatting on the porch across from the church - I say "Bonjour" to them. They say some thing in French to me. I let them know, "Je parle anglaise" to which they respond back "Good Travels". I realize in retrospect they had said "Bon Voyage". How very kind of them. I say, "Merci"and continue on my way.

On my travels I come across a unique church with a RED roof! It feels like a scandalous deviation from the classic silver-coloured tin church roofs. Oh, what fun it would have been to hear the local and religious community chatter when THAT roof went on!!

A section of my ride today, I get to ride on a superb gravel trail along riverfront marshy areas with reeds and fireweed flowers. There are lots of people walking and riding bikes. It is great to see so many people out, especially seniors. I'd like to be riding my bike when I am 80 - I hope this will be possible. 

Towards the end of the ride, I see a peninsula jutting out off in the distance. My campsite is on the other side of this peninsula. 

I’m about 10 km out from the campsite and I stop to check my location when a man who had passed me on the trail a little while back approaches me. It is unusual for people to approach me when I'm out on the trail travelling so I am a bit on the alert. I am especially on the alert because there are not a lot of people around. I take extra care to assess the situation. As he approaches me, I feel that I am in a position of strength because I have a good sense of the route that I need to travel. He tells me the trail ahead is really rough (they are doing construction), and there is a better way to go. He describes the alternate route to me. I check it out on my map. He asks me which campsite I am staying at (he mentions two). Normally, I do not answer that question, but I decide that it’s okay to share. He offers to take me to the turn-off to the campsite. I check in with how I am feeling and I decide it is safe to accept his offer – so I follow him. It feels great to ride along with someone else for a little while...but he’s WAY faster than me and soon after leaves me in the dust. Eventually I can’t even see him anymore, but it’s okay because I know the way.  

I get to a bridge where I turn off to the left and and the man is patiently waiting for me - the situation still feels comfortable. We continue on and he takes me to the entrance to the campsite. In front of the campsite, we stop and have a bit of a chat. I realize that this guy must be in his 70s! He lets me know that this is his usual bike route – he bikes about 60 miles (~100 km) 5 times a week! He knows about the route I will be travelling in the coming days and shares all kinds of information about what I can expect. He lets me know about a good trail to follow called Petit Temis - which I can join at Rivière-Du-Loup. He’s on biking forums and knows about the area that I'm particularly concerned about and says that he has heard that the construction zone is now open. I have a feeling this man is a highly experienced long haul biker, possibly even a GOAT (Greatest of All Time). Before he departs, he tells me that I can get food at the campground store and he lets me know the location of the nearest restaurant (classic points of interest for long haul bikers). As he leaves, he turns back in the direction that we came from, clearly having deviated from his usual route in order to get me here. I am grateful for his kindness and generosity.

I meet up with Brian at the campsite where he is busy working away. As the evening settles in, the wind picks up and blows the trees around all over the place. It is good to have shelter from the wind in our little trailer.