Day 94: Quebec City, QC -> Rivière-Ouelle, QC

Date: Thursday, August 17, 2023
Start: Quebec City, QC (Auberge Internationale Hostel)
End: Rivière-Ouelle, QC (Camping Rivière-Ouelle)
Distance: 135km

We woke at the hostel and I took the opportunity for one last shower to start the day.  All the visiting and relaxing was now over, and I wanted to savor being clean one last time!

The hostel hosted a continental breakfast and I headed down to beat the rush and stuff myself before we checked out.  Skipper wasn't too far behind me and we ate cereal, fruit, bagels, eggs, and drank tea and coffee.  Across from me sat a woman with 5 bagels on the table in front of her and she was leaning right into them.  I wondered if she could be my soul mate.  Can you build an entire life on a shared love of bagels?  I think a lot of others have built a life on a lot less.

After breakfast we packed and headed down to load up our bikes.  When we had all the gear on and bags with us we were noticed by a fair number of people in the lobby who wished us luck.  Once outside we tossed everything on the bikes and started towards the Chateau Frontenac for one last photo...

We arrived at the boardwalk under the Chateau and snapped our picture!

The goal for the day was somewhere around La Pocatière, Quebec but we hadn't booked anything because the forecast was predicting days and days of rain and we didn't want to book a campground if torrential rains were inbound.  Step one of the journey would be to cross back to the south side of the St. Lawrence River.  This could be done by backtracking 10km to the bridge we had taken to get here, or by taking the ferry that leaves from the old city in Quebec directly down the cliffs from the Chateau Frontenac.  We opted for the ferry of course.

But the next ferry crossing was at 9am, and it was now 8:46.  So we hopped on the bikes and let gravity do all the work of taking down the steep roads and into the lower section of Old Quebec.  Once there we biked the block to the ferry terminal, bought tickets, and walked on with about 2 minutes to spare!

The ferry crossing lasted about 10 minutes, but the views as we crossed the river were superb and I took too many pictures.

At one point I actually said "Wow..." out loud.  Quebec City is unique among the cities I have visited in Canada so far.  I knew this about the city, but there are places that honestly feel like places in France or Europe and I get why people go there now.  It's stunningly beautiful.  I came here on field trips in elementary and high school but never appreciated it.  Being older and more experienced, I was overwhelmed at times by what I saw.  Say what you want about how Quebec spends it's money, but there's an absolute gem of a city there and it's open for you to visit at any time.  I encourage you to do so at your earliest opportunity!

We arrived in Levis and de...boated...and started through a park along the pathways that would take us out of the city.  We were back on the South side of the St. Lawrence and watched as Quebec City - up on its cliff overlooking the river - faded into the distance.  It's really breathtaking at times.

The pathways were a pretty straight shot out of Levis.  Usually cities mean a lot of slow cycling as you navigate through roads, suburbs, pathways, and none of them connect properly and you're constantly pulling your phone out to check directions.  La Route Verte means there are clearly marked pathways that take you out of the city on a far more direct route.  Every city in Quebec has been easy to get in and out of on bike.  Without much fuss or discomfort, we were out of Levis and pushing into the countryside.

Our home for the next few days is Highway 132.  It follows the river as it goes Northeast towards the Gaspe Peninsula.  This means we also get treated to some incredible views.  I've heard a lot of people talk about this area but never gave their recommendations the credit I now know they deserved.  I mean...it's just a river.  How beautiful could it be?

Well this river is massive.  Not far out of Quebec City and it's anywhere from 10-20km across to the other side.  And the North side of the river is mountainous.  Large hills that dominate the horizon and tower over the river.  It was a cloudy day and so there was an absolute ceiling on what could be seen, and this really helped frame the views.  In addition, just past Quebec City the St. Lawrence starts to change from freshwater to saltwater and tides begin to affect the river.  This creates tidal planes - areas that are only covered by water when the tide is in - and the tide was out as we biked past and so the smell of salt water and the sea was in the air.  I had not expected any of this, and it was in.credible.

That was all along the river to our left.  On our right was fields of crops as farms lined the highways between towns.  Those towns were hundreds of years old and filled with stone houses and massive churches.  Beaumont, Saint-Vallier, Berthier-sur-Mer, and Casault.  Some sights as we biked...

When we reached Montmagny we stopped at a grocery store and grabbed a few things to eat, then found a park to enjoy it.  The park ended up looking out at the Chutes de Montmagny and it was a great spot to stop and eat.

Skipper had a new Canadian experience: Nanaimo bars.  He approved.

We left Montmagny and the rain that had been promised started to chase us.  We could see the mountains across the water disappearing behind the rains.  We raced along to try to stay ahead of it.

It found us though, and for about an hour we biked through the rain.  It wasn't anything intense, just showers enough to wet everything, and when it was done the sun came back out brighter than before and there were places where the road was covered with fog from the water evaporating so fast.  This pushed the humidity waaaaay up!

We passed through St-Jean-Port-Joli, a town that I remember once talking about in a class in elementary school and whose name I never forgot.  I was happy to finally be able to put a place to the name!

Another part of what makes cycling in Quebec so comfortable is that there are regular rest stops in the small towns.  They always seem to have bathrooms, picnic tables, and water fountains.  Near the end of our ride for the day we stopped in one of these and ended up meeting Jeremie.  He was on his town tour and had left Montreal two days earlier and is planning to tour around the Gaspe Peninsula.  We spent some time talking to him and trading notes on our stops, what we'd seen, and the road ahead.

This is a strong contender for weirdest name I've seen on the trip so far...

The forecast was no longer calling for rain so we decided to head to a campground.  There was one recommended by La Route Verte in a place called Rivière-Ouelle that we headed towards.

As we arrived we realized that the campground was right on the river.  The sun was streaming down out of the clouds and it was shaping up to be an incredible sunset.

We registered, got our tenting site, and setup our tent.  A couple from France tenting next to us was also doing the Gaspe tour by bike.  It decided to rain for about 2 minutes, just enough to wet everything.  But the air after the rain felt dry.  I think it was the first time since crossing into Southern Ontario - almost 1 month ago - that the humidity hadn't been high.  It felt great.

We made supper and then the show started.

I've experienced some memorable sunsets in my lifetime.  I can still name a few of them.  But what we experienced over the next 30 minutes was easily the most beautiful sunset I've ever experienced.  As the Sun set it burned like a beam across the water.  At some point a cloud moved over the Sun but the show didn't stop.  It just changed, and now we could see the rays shooting through the clouds higher up.  People stopped what they were doing and walked out to the shore to stare at it and take pictures.  I snapped quite a few.

If you're looking at these on your phone...I'm sorry, you need a screen to really see these.  I won't try to describe it, but here's some mood music that might capture the feeling while you look at the pictures.

It was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever witnessed.

I've frequently said to people recently there have been three places that have wowed me.  That have actually made me say "wow" out loud.  The first was Southern British Columbia.  The second was the prairies of Saskatchewan.  The third was the Northern coast of Lake Superior.  And now there is a fourth: the St Lawrence coast beyond Quebec City.

I ate dinner watching the end of the sunset.

The campground had a small depanneur (corner store) where I'd bought a bottle of a local beer that is only brewed and sold locally.  It was a Norwegian multigrain saison.  I was intrigued.  And it was delicious.  In addition to the brewery having an incredible name - Baleine Endiablee (the devilish whale) - they are brewing something really incredible.  It was a great way to end the night.

I also bought a small bag of ketchup chips for Skipper to try as another taste of Canada.  He tried two or three and looked quizical as he tried to figure out the flavour.  "They actually taste like ketchup!" he said.  Another Canadian treat

Skipper took a walk and watched fireworks going off somewhere down the river.  I didn't see it but that sounded magical as well!

I left the flaps on my rain fly open for the night and the cool wind made it a wonderful sleep.  It drizzled at around 2am for a few minutes, but that was it.

It had been quite a day.  A strong contender for one of the most memorable of the trip so far.  We're both looking forward to seeing what else the St. Lawrence coast has in store for us.