Ken, Sue, Stewart & Jessie's Eastern Canada Tour

QUEBEC CITY AREA TOUR LOG

DAY 18 Quebec City to Ile d'Orleans 39.1 km +by foot May 28/02 Tuesday

Woke up early to see Claudette off to work at 0630h. Wonderful to be dry! Thanks so much to Claudette for being there!

Packed up and off down Chemin St Louis. Don and Claudette live on a lovely street in a very nice home with lots of perenials coming up. Cycled back to Ave d'hotels which isn't much fun as no shoulder and lots of big trucks on the turn onto boul. Champlain. Really nice ride thru to lower town on shoulder and separate bike path. Cann't say enough about the effort Quebec has put into these paths. We just couldn't cycle off without stopping to walk in the old part of town. Locked our bikes in a parking lot with a kind attendant who "couldn't take responsibility" for the bikes, but let us put them behind his kios, chained to the fence. Gloreous sunny day, lots of tours all over the streets. Lots of school kids. The bike path thru the old ship yards is wonderful with tables for picnics. Large market was selling tons of plants already in bloom. Headed off down the bike path towards Montmoracy Falls... a little confusing as to the path which went under the freeway for a long way beside the railway tracks. Continuous bikers, rollerbladers,ect on the path. Made one wrong turn adding a couple of km. Path took us right to the bridge over to the Island. By now it was getting a little late to head off to the end of the island, so we contacted Catherines friend Guy who was very wonderful and let us tent in his yard. Directions were "blue roof house and barn, plastic ducks in the pond, red garden tractor, large property.... is this the country?

Set up the tent in the blistering heat...my back is blistering first time in years. Due to no sun, then too much on one day. Oh well. Met the 1 owner of the home Rita was really nice to let us stay by their cute pond. They have 2 huge black labs that seem to have too short of legs for their large torsos. Very nice dogs. Guy has a great apartment built over the garage. The trap door stairway was a little steep, but all else was as nice as any city apartment.

We had a great supper of fruit/salad wraps and a great walk in the forest. Guy has a interesting job, besides teaching at Laval,...proof reading atlas' for all types of errors. Not a job I could do ... to exacting. Was great to have the opportunity to get to know him.

39.10 km M 31.2 A 12.1 T3 h 13 min TD 825.45 km

DAY 19 Ile d'Orleans West to east tip 41.54 km May 29/02 Wednesday

Woke up at six am to thunder...thought it was trucks going by, but no such luck.... Guy never say 2 women move so fast...got all our gear and the tent into his garage before the huge down pour which lasted about 2 hours.,, With thunder and lightening. Had time to work on the cross stiching I brought!

Guy was getting ready to soak Atlantic Salmon to put in a smoker... but the sun came out and we headed out to explore the island. The houses are so neat. Bright red, blue or green roofs. Some are Normandy style which is a barn shape with windows up in the roof, or more traditional French style being rock sided with many sizes of windows, all facing west to get the sun, and the ones I really like with the steep roof the curves up over the deck at the front. Everyone seems to be out in their gardens today finally able to plant! We stoped by some churchs, artisans, generally poked our way down the road. Traffic seemed to pick up around 3pm, but never was much to worry about. Seems like a really nice spot to cycle. The camp has only about 5 campers so quiet. After such a bad start to the day, it turned out to get up to 30C... hoping tomorrow is nice too. The black flies are still with us.

41.54 km M 42.2 A 13.7 T 3 h min TD 866.99 km

DAY 20 Ile d'Orleans 44.31 km May 30/02 Thursday

Rain started early am. Is this all it does here? Discouraging

Decided to pack up and leave tent to dry...walked on the beach. Rocky not sandy. Neat little cottages along the way. Youth camp... that's where all the kid noise was from last evening. Folk art painting on shoreline rocks... incredible that the river with the salt hasn't washed them off. Vibrant colors. One artist painted them all (left of coast guard dock .5km) No signs to direct you to them. None defaced.

Tent dried so off we go on the southside of the island. St Francois where we camped seems a family area. Very agricultural =strawberries, apples... More populated along the road thru Saint Jean... old homes.. met 2 men, one who was born here ~60+, who told us some history...Boats from England were lined with 2 rows of bricks to stabilize the boat.. these bricks were kept by "pilots" wealthist men on St Lawrence...as they brought ships thru the channel. They built their homes from these bricks. Very ornate metal railings on decks also. Visited MauvilleGenest Manor. . lastly a physicians home who was Mon Seigner of Ile d'orleans. Very interesting 1:1 tour. Walls are 2 ft thick logs on end side by side with ? cement on both sides. No wonder it is still standing... it was in disrepair when the society restored it. This island was one of the first places in Canada inhabited. Visited what used to be the hostel (now B&B) 2nd oldest standing home in North America. Stone walls 2 ft thick. They are trying to keep it towards original.. bread oven outside, gardens, inside huge fireplace for cooking (not in use, have modern) They offer horseback riding, dog sleid rides, childrens camps. Jessie/Louise will stay there next weekend $30/person/nite $10 supper only $20 to pickup in QC. Very reasonable.

Very few groceries on island, corner stores with more liquior than vegetables. Only 1 cmpgrd. Headed off for Montmoracy Falls across the bridge. Up , up, up to find the campround closed.... not to bikes. Lots of people walking dogs, riding bikes. Great riding, sight seeing weather hot this p.m. but the mosquitos have hatched out! What next!

44.31 km M 34.2 A 12.4 T 3 h 34min TD 911.30 km

DAY 21 Beauport Cmpg to motel in Beauport 23.62 km May 31/02 Friday

Woke up at midnight to terrific lightening/thunderstorm lasted 1 1/2 hr. Drenching rain...drips thru tent. Hot and humid in tent. I think resealing is in order.

Well a interesting day finding the CND tire, then into the bibliotek ? to upload. and the heavens opened up with great winds... drenching rains once more. Thanks to being inside. Needless to say we decided a motel was in order even though we are dry the tent is still sopping wet from last night

Dried stuff out all evening.... lucky the place we stopped at had a suite (2 rooms) so we were able to spread out everything. Sprayed some sealer on the tent. Wonder what they think when the airconditioner is on in one room and the heat in the other? The joys of velo camping! Another hot meal as we have a stove! Met some interesting people... everyone very helpful... one guy called out to us from the gas station asking if we needed directions! Everyone appologizes that their English is poor... much better than my french! Understanding more as the days go by.

23.62 km M 37.6 A 11.5 T 2h 3min TD 944.92 km

DAY 22 Beauport to St Anne de Beaupre 32.68 km June 1/02 Saturday

Up to partially sunny skies! Headed for St Anne de Beaupre

Had a great sleep in the motel even though it was a sauna. I don't know how people work with that smelly sealing stuff...phew! Learned could set up the fly for the tent without the inside... will have some gromettes put on the snap straps to make it easier. Not that this means anything to anyone but me!

The motel also had a coiffures so got a long needed hair cut as my stylist didn't make it to Kelowna before we left! The girl spoke no english! You don't know what confidence that takes to let someone cut your hair with sign language! She had a great smile! Oh well I will use lots of gel for the wedding next week!

Stopped at Mont Morancey Falls... took the Gondola with our loaded bikes to the top. Amazing amount of water pouring down there. View of Isle d'Orleans bridge great, but lots of threatening clouds. Sprinkled on us by the time we were off after having lunch in the park.

Set off down Avenue Royale... neat road with lots of old buildings restored with dates on a sign on each... took a picture so I can get a french speaking friend to interpret if it was saying they were built in the 1600! Amazing that someone could still be living in a building built that long ago. Would like to see inside them! Homes spread between small neatly kept farms. Stopped at Chez Maries, a bakery that makes the bread in a outdoor oven heated with wood. mmm with maple butter. Continues to sprinkle on and off. Darn cold! 10C

First flat of the trip...Jessie...12min to change...tres bien!! Neat "root cellars" all along the road. Continued on to St Anne de Beaupre... the patron Saint for Quebec. Magnificant bacillica which could seat probably 2000. The tile work is amazing. I was here 30 years ago and got a very different impression. There are numerous churches on the grounds & bronze statues of the stations of the cross (Jesus on the way to crusifiction) that was really interesting. Pleasant evening spent wandering the grounds. A wedding was being held while we were there so it made the church seem more real than just a tourist attraction. The brides mother was so funny... she kept arranging the crinolines of the brides dress, before and after the service. We stayed in the free camping along the St Lawrence mud flats across from the bacillica. No showers, but the bathrooms open until past our bedtime and open early. One other tent, many campers... could be Wally World in the summer!

32.68 km M 38.2 A 14.3 T2 h 16 min TD 977.60 km

DAY 23 St Anne de Beaupre to Isle-aux-Coudres 107.03 km June 2/02 Sunday

I don't know what possessed us today.... this was the hilliest day of the whole trip so far and we decide to go for broke!! Set off for Baie Saint Paul after quickly taking the tent down at 7 am due to threat of what else, but more rain!! 10C I could about now use some rather harsh words about the weather, but what good would it do anyways. Start out on Avenue Royale once more(Le route Novelle France) continues to wind thru homes old and new and ended up at Cap Tourmente... oops had to return to Beaupre as not thru road to Hwy 138. Missed 360 so out with mega car traffic, good shoulder or passing lane all way. Hills ~10% grade up with no apparent downs. Climbed all day to St Tite des Caps where it was 5C and snowing!! Stopped in a small restaurant for something hot...food ok...starving due to the exertion and effort to keep warm. Struggled on as what else could we do... we didn't want to consider going back....Guy told us it was hilly! Mega vehicle traffic with velos on racks. Was a Mtn bike race up this way yesterday...could thumb a ride back maybe? Saw our first loaded cyclists going south...she yelled out to us in French and know I think she was saying..... You must be CRAZY to be going that way! Reached Baie St Paul...cold, tired and recieved bad advice or maybe it was bad judgement, not sure, but we decided to go on to the Island another 24km which was supposed to be down hill! Oh we just forgot to tell you it's 5km of 10 & 15% uphill, then 10km of up and down, then....2km of 11%...18%...13%....10% down!! to the ferry. How in h.... are we going to get back up that!

Nice ferry ride.... all ferries drop you a sea level... I think I learned that once before! Of course by this time at 104km we had to push up the hill and a flat ~2km to Camping Sylvie. It was still cold and he had the cutest little cabins for rent with heat!! As exhaustion and hypthermia threatened to take over $40/nite for 2 was a great price with kitchen, BR with shower bedroom, tv we never tried (the weatherman lies anyways) Heat(electric) turned up to 30C just kept the frost off our noses. So glad we didn't stay in the tent that I've been carrying up all these big hills!!!! Grumble grumble... are we having fun yet! Yes we are demented!

Not sure but the tent may go the way of the stove next trip. Been ou 23 nights and 9 in tent!

107.03 km M 46.7 A 12.4 T 8 h 35 min TD 1084.63 km

DAY 24 Isle-aux-Coudres to Baie St Paul Hostel (Le Balcon Vert) 36.95 km June 3/02 Monday

Up early...decisions...decisions on how to avoid that hill! 23 km anticlockwise around the island with 2 small hills. Not as interesting as Isle d'Orleans. Not many old homes and not as inhabited. There is a primary school, but mostly older people seen out and about. Stopped by a bakery, but no fresh stuff until after 0930 This baker needs to get out of bed earlier!! Stopped and toured a working water driven flour mill. Most interesting. They also have a windmill driven mill also for the winter when the river is frozen. You can buy their flour, but as it has no preservatives it only keeps 2 days on the shelf or up to 2 years in the freezer. Guess we have enough weight to carry. Too bad they don't make any goodies for us to feast on. Bike rental shop had some neat bikes like this one for 5. He said is it very difficult to balance, so they will only rent it to 3 children and 2 adults... I'm not sure if that's becauce kids have better balance or not. He gave us a hint to cut 10km off the return by taking the old road up from the ferry... he said "you will be pushing anyways so you might as well go steeper and shorter" Well it was steeper...15-18% grade for 1.8km in 1.5 hours... it was a grind, but we made it. Road 138 once on it not so bad, traffic lighter than Sunday, but wind from the right in great gusts... tried to push me off the road! and into traffic a few times. The 5km down into Baie St Paul amazed me.... how did we cycle that yesterday after 80+km I'll never know.

We started up to the campground and it is a grind of .8km pushing on maybe 15% grade that becomes gravel. We arrived to find it is a hostel, so for <$18 each we are inside once more. It is well worth the money and would be really nice to spend a few days here. The view of the mountains is really nice in the sun! and the St Lawrence and the town below is well worth the grunt up here. Today was still cool, but the sun is shinning and lifting our spirits. We are right out of food so the IGA will be tomorrows first stop before the daunting up hill (~5km) out of Baie St Paul. Hoping to go on the Beaupre or Mont St Anne tomorrow. We really need a full day off, hoping the weather is on the up swing and we can find a nice spot to sit for a day. Looking forward to Ken's arrival.

36.95 km many pushed! M 37.6 A 10 T 3 h 39 min TD 1121.58 km

pushing very hard on the achilles tendon and the back!

DAY 25 Baie St Paul Hostel to St Anne d'Beaupre 68.86 km June 4/02 Tuesday

Started off....had to push...morelike be dragged by Sarah down the 1km ~20% grade at times, from lovely hostel to the road. Like walking in high heels for the first time! Into the IGA as 0 food left. 8C...layers off as up hill a coming. Headed up, up, up the 5km out of town which we did with out pushing to the rhythm of the traffic. Still up til 22km on odometer with trucks on our heels. Passing lane or shoulder all the way. Neck, shoulders, hands aching +++. Down 10km into St Tite de cap on newly paved road... yeha!! Left 138 or "road to Ft McMurry" as Jessie named it, (due to ++ trucks, ++cold, 5C now, no trees leafed out, no views) onto Avenue Royale (hwy 326). Quiet... didn't take this road on the way out. Wind is bitterly cold. Ate lunch.. what else but bagels, peanutbutter and apples on the steps of 539 now 5887 (town must have grown) old boarded up home. Wonder how many families it has seen thru the years 10 feet from the road. Why would it have been built so close? Houses in this area very small. Bird condo multiplex yard.

Up and off towards Beaupre. Saw Mont St Anne ski Molehill oops hill. Lots of condos, must have line ups as there aren't many runs and they aren't very long. Looks like the Falcon chair for lifts too. Suddenly found ourselves on Hwy 138 and found all the trucks were waiting for us, but lucky we are at St Anne de Beaupre and able to set up our tent. Considerably warmer down at this elevation. Spoke with a security guard who answered some of our many ? St Anne was Jesus grandmother,Mary's mother, and it is he who she is holding in pictures and statues. New to us, but not to most maybe.

Neat very French gentleman on the street on day said to us "le belle femmes" with such conviction. Great compliment.

No stiff legs after 3 really hard days!

68.86 km M 42.9 A 11.3 T 6 h 02 min TD 1190.38 km

DAY 26 St Anne d'Beaupre 0 km June 5/02 Wednesday

Awake at 5 to rain starting. Decided to stay the day here anyways. Walked to McD's for juice and toast (Jessie)cleanup and ready for the day. All Rubber Tomahock stores open at 0730 so glanced about. Went for a long walk in the rain on Royale Avenue. Visited the Museum which was excellent to get more of an understanding of the Bacillica and area. Started in 1923 to rebuild this bacillica after a fire. Still not considered finished. in 1930 it started to look as it does today...quite a feet to build such a structure in that time. Statue of St Anne and Jesus did not fall from the roof when the previous bacillica burnt, seen as a miracle, so they put the same one on the new building. St anne is mother of Mary, grandmother of Jesus, married to Jocquim,and is Patron St of Quebec. RC's pray to her for favors. In the museum they speak of this as being a cult. Many bacillicas all over the world for St Anne.. would promise to do things for her favor ie build a new church. Story goes that Mary was from infantsy to be the virgin mother of the savior ( if I got it right). Womens Pilgramage this week... 10 buses full.. we went to a mass in French. The singer was very good. Candle light procession after around the sanctuary as it is raining outside, which signified the pilgramages. 10C cool Raining on and off all day. Was great just to relax.

Not many campers. Tent didn't leak!!!

0 by bike km M A T h min TD 1190.38 km

DAY 27 St Anne d'Beaupre to St Foy QC 55.86 km June 6/02 Thursday

Decided to doodle along on Avenue Royale looking at all the neat houses, taking pictures of doors, stacks of wood, clothes on the line... just a fun day

Hit the bike path, after being passed by many many tour buses of some students from the Toronto area on school trips. Great to see some trips with in our own country, rather than going off to Europe all the time

Jessie decided to have Nellie looked at as she wasn't shifting gears too great... on hour later, but not too big a dent in the pocket book we were off to Don and Claudettes. It was a great day, sun shone all day and the breaze is warming up.

Arrived really stinky, but not wet this time around. Great to have good friends!

washed us and our gear and set off to walk about St Foy. Really nice walking path along the river all lite and security guards. Gorgeous tall trees and the flowers are starting to bloom!

55.86 km M32.6 A 12.1 T4h 35 min TD 1246.24 km

DAY 28 St Foy QC 50.96 km June 7/02 Friday

Jessie was off today to meet Louise and go out to Isle d'Orleans. I rode with her to Old town and met with Dave and Paula who are preparing for the big day tomorrow. Lisa and Vincent are getting married by the Plains of Abraham

Just a lazy day cycling about Quebec and out to the airport to pick up Ken, Keith, Grandma Dagny, Grampa Glenn, Karen and Margaret.

Fabulous dinner with the Forbes once more. Great to see Keith and Ken!

50.96km M33.4 A15.2 T3h 20min TD 1297.20 km

DAY 29 ST Foy QC (Chateau Laurie) 0 km June 8/02 Saturday

Up to a lazy breakfast and off to Old Quebec to walk about then checked in at the Chateau Laurie for a night. Tyson arrived so the family is all here. The wedding of Vincent and Lisa was at 5pm. Had been not a bad day until 3pm when the rain started so the wedding moved inside. Really great ceremony. Margaret did a really nice job. It was a bilinquel service with the opposite in the leaflet when French/English was being spoken. Paula had a stunning dress on. Lisa's dress was tres chik! It was really nice to be able to be here for their special day. The meal was fabulous... need to get the name of the restaurant that cattered it. Was all in all a great day and I think I'm getting rested up.

DAY 30 St Foy QC 0 km June 9/02 Sunday

Up and off to breakfast early with Glenn and Dagny. Karen and the boys slept in. Marg and Dave were early birds too. We walked again about Old town and headed back to the Forbes for a lazy day. Spent time doing my pictures which aren't much due to the dull days and lots of rain so I quess I better work on getting better ones in the next month. We are off early Monday for the Gaspe.