Day 85: Ottawa, ON -> Brownsburg-Chatham, QC

Date: August 8, 2023
Start: Ottawa, ON (Staying with friends)
End: Brownsburg-Chatham, QC (Municipal Campground)
Distance: 126km

We woke, packed up, and had the last breakfast with Sarah and Tyler.  We were anxious to hit the road as the forecast had been calling for a solid day of rain, but we woke to find the forecast had pushed the rain off to the afternoon/evening.  We wanted to get as much done as possible before it hit.  We thanked Sarah and Tyler who have hosted us for 5 nights, which I know is a lot to ask.  I'm forever grateful.  They were incredible hosts and - like so many times before - I left not being sure how I would be able to ever make it up to them.

We set off under the threat of storm clouds, but after 5 days off we were well rested, fed, and ready to take on the world.  We would have rode directly out of Ottawa, but there were still one or two more pictures that we needed to take!

At that, we set off to cross the bridge into Quebec and end the Ontario portion of the trip.  I crossed over the bridge to Gatineau and entered Quebec with my odometer at 6929km total for the trip.  I'd crossed into Ontario at 4365km.  This means I'd covered a total of 2564km in Ontario.  37% of the ride so far has been Ontario.  I'd also crossed into Ontario on July 7th.  This means it's taken an entire month to make it out.  I'd done a lot of detouring and visiting...but that's a loooong time!  It's an incredible province, but I'm happy it's done.  Crossing these boundaries gives a sense of progress, and it's been a long time since I've felt like I've made any progress!

I snapped some pictures as we crossed the Alexandria Bridge.

On the other side we immediately encountered a statue of Maurice "Rocket" Richard, probably the mightiest figure in the pantheon of Quebec hockey.  To have this be the first thing we saw on crossing felt very appropriately Quebec.

What we didn't find was a Quebec welcome sign.  It was located at another nearby bridge and was surrounded by construction.  We were denied our welcome photo, but again to be denied by construction felt very Quebec.

Quebec is known in the cycle touring community for having the best cycling infrastructure in Canada.  By a long shot.  No question.  It's known as La Route Verte (The Green Route) and can get you to most major cities and area of Quebec.  I was excited to try it out because - despite being born and raised in this province - I have never biked in it.  I have a complicated relationship and even more complicated feelings about the place, but it will always be home and I was curious to see what it was like by bike.

Sure enough, it didn't disappoint.  We rode out of Gatineau on pathways along the Ottawa river and were treated to some beautiful sights and sounds.  Skipper's keen eye saw many kinds of birds and cranes.  At one point a turkey on the side of the bike path jumped up and scared us, and we saw more in the farmers fields that we crossed through.

Many of the small towns had paper processing mills, a legacy of the role that the Ottawa River played in moving timber from the interior forests down towards Ottawa and Montreal.

At some point the rain started to threaten and we tossed on our rain jackets, but it didn't last more than 15 minutes and it was light.  We could see rain in the distance as small storm cells moved around, but they never found us the rest of the day.

We left the pathways and rejoined an old highway that paralleled the river.  The scenes were really amazing.  The river would frequently be bordered by wetlands and marshes.  This provided an amazing habitat for birds, and the highlight of the day might have been seeing some Sandhill Cranes which are rare in this area.  At some point we passed a field filled with some plant with purple flowers.  For a short time the world looked almost alien.

We entered Papineauville and stopped in the local grocery store and picked up sandwiches and drinks for lunch.  We ate in a nearby park and enjoyed the day as we watched some local seniors play bocce.  We finished lunch and hit the road again.

The goal for the day was Brownsburg-Chatham.  There was a campground there that is recommended by La Route Verte and its located on the route.  I was trying to pay attention but had been talking to Skipper and missed the moment when I passed over 7000km for the trip.  I snapped a picture at 7002km!

We passed through more old and historic towns along the river as we rode the highway.  Montebello, Fassett, Pointe-au-Chene.  At one point we passed Avoca Road, which led to a tiny town with a church where a friend was married over a decade ago.  It was a wonderful day and I remembered it as we passed the road that would have taken us back to that place, but not that time.

When we reached Grenville, Quebec we stopped for a break and something to drink.  There's a bridge that crosses from Grenville to Hawkesbury, Ontario and we found the Quebec welcome sign there and took some pictures with it!

We were directed down a hard packed dirt road and bounced through the countryside as we neared Brownsburg-Chatham.  We were in some lovely countryside and though we were tired from the riding, we enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings.

When we reached the campground we registered, setup our tents, and showered.  We decided to put the fly on the tents as the clouds were threatening rain.  Sure enough it drizzled for a short time, but just enough to dampen things without making them wet.  The campground was run by the town and was very clean and organized.  It had playgrounds, a supervised beach, and a casse-croute (chip stand) that made foods.  We opted to go for dinner at the casse-croute to get Skipper a taste of Quebec.  He had a club sandwich while I had a poutine and hot dog.  And it was bliss.  I've been waiting the entire trip for this, and it didn't disappoint.  After this we had ice cream and walked back to our tents.  I had bought two non-alcoholic beers at our last break in Grenville without telling Skipper and offered him one, but he was stuffed and so I had one to myself before bed.

The sunset was glorious.  It was hidden behind a lot of trees, but we managed to see it via the colours of the clouds.

After 85 days of the trip (including days off) I'd finally made it to Quebec.  As I said earlier, my feelings about it are complicated...but it's my home province and it felt pretty wild to be coming home by bike and enjoying so many new areas of the province.  If La Route Verte continues to deliver like it had today, our time in Quebec was going to be spectacular.