Day 70 - La Pocatièr, QC to Rivière Verte, QC

July 22 (Wednesday)

Start Time: 6:15 am

Stop Time: 12:00 pm

KM Travelled: 82.2 km

Elevation: +537/ - 387 m

Special Stuff: White throated sparrow, Challenges

The high winds from last evening have settled down and the campground is quiet. I hear the birds chirping away, and notice the special bird song that I have yet to identify. I pull out my Merlin app, and BINGO, I capture the song! Merlin says that my mystery bird is a white throated sparrow!

Here is a picture of what it looks like.

The image is from the You Tube video where you can also listen to the song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdMOVrIJXeI . The bird calls from the birds I've heard are a bit longer and have a bit more vibrato.

As I get ready to depart this morning, it is dry out, but there are rain and thunderstorms forecasted to start around 11:00 am. It is best to get an early start even with a shorter ride.

There is some debris on the ground from last night's high wind activity, but not nearly as much as I anticipated. I suspect that high winds clean out the loose tree branches regularly.

Starting my ride, I back track 3.5 km to the bridge that crosses the Quelle River. I hang a left back onto Highway 132 and continue to follow along the St. Lawrence River. I am once again riding in farmlands, but the terrain is changing to be more hilly and rocky. For the first time, I can smell saltwater!

Highway 132 is a quiet secondary highway that parallels the main Highway 85. For parts of the ride, I can hear the highway in the distance. My Ride with GPS route takes me down some even quieter roads and through some super cute, peaceful oceanfront communities. There is lots of character to the homes here. I am not pressed for time, so I enjoy the little diversions.

Much of the oceanside is made up of these shale rock cliffs - which is very interesting to see. In one spot, it looked like there was a shale rockfall and someone built a fence out of it on the other side of the road. It's a bit of a take on the, 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade' idiom...'life gives you a shale rockfall, make a shale rock fence'. You know what I mean.

I stop in Riviére-Du-Loup at a bike store with the intention to ask for information to inform my ride tomorrow. I buy some more supplies (which I actually don't need) so I can ask my question. I get some intel to add to my data bank.

Rivière-Du-Loup is a surprisingly big and hilly town. The street that the bike shop is on has lots of cute little restaurants and coffee shops.

I navigate through Rivière-Du-Loup, and stumble across Petit Témis, just as the man from La Pocatìère mentioned! It feels so good to see something familiar in this unfamiliar place - I am so grateful for the man from La Pocatière crossing my path again!

Brian has arrived at the campsite too early and he's parked on the side of the road past the campground somewhere - and, of course, he's working. I find him, unload my bike and put my luggage and bike into the truck and wait until 1:00 pm when we can check-in.

The last few days I've been feeling a little bit under the weather, like I'm on the verge of being sick, but I don't get sick. I highly suspect I'm feeling the effects of an air quality issue (even thought there are no report of air quality issues).

In the afternoon, I get to researching and finalizing tomorrow's ride strategy, which will be quite long and tricky with the 'mystery zone'. My Ride with GPS tool will not let me plan the route in the way that I want to ride it, so I make 2 maps ('before' and 'after' the problem area) and I take a screenshot of the section that it will not let me manipulate (the problem area). I'm eager to give the route I've developed a try.

At 4:00 pm, I'm working on a few tasks when it pours down rain. The shower lasts a total of 15 minutes and then it's gone. My early morning departures often help me to avoid these kinds of showers and thunderstorms as they tend to come later in the day.

After Brian finishes up work, we zip into Rivière-Du-Loop to take a look-see. The sky is blue, but the wind is blowing very strong - we laugh as my hair and my baggy clothes whip around all over the place.

Here are a few of the amazing sightseeing 'moments' I've experienced the last week or so on my ride:

• A woman gardening (I wish I could stop and pick some weeds with her and ask about her garden)

• A bench build way up on top of the hill overlooking the farmland below

• The grain rippling in the wind

• The mailbox with a boat built on it (and a cute little flag)

• A run-down miniature boat store

• Marshlands

• So many older couples out walking and biking and spending time together

I go to bed, knowing that tomorrow is THE day for my most challenging ride on this stretch - getting through the 'mystery zone'. I have spent hours researching and trying to plan for this next 115 km stretch of the ride. Even with the intel from other expert bikers, I can't help but feel anxious, AND I'm also excited to tackle it. I guess if I really wanted to, I could take the truck and drive ahead to assesses the situation...but you know what...where's the fun in that! I think that maybe in my own way, I have a bit of a spirit of adventure - and I enjoy the challenge of being able to sort it out somehow.