Saturday September 12, 2015

Another tough ride again today. Today was another day of a full-on headwind and again we alternated ten and ten.

We met up with three guys who were cycling to Quebec City. They were all smiles because they had the tail-wind.

The route was a little hillier than yesterday and at lunchtime we knew we weren’t going to make it to Riviere du Loup. There was a campsite at Riviere Ouelie but that would mean cycling 4kms off-route. The campsite was along the St. Lawrence and it would have been a cold night. We opted to continue on the route and see what came up for motels etc.

There were a lot of small farming villages we went through with very limited services. Although the route did have a lot artists, sculptures and wood carvers.

Obviously a nice Sunday ride for people who live in Quebec and wanted to see different artisans.

I kept looking for a sign that said Gîtes (B&B) or Auberge.

We stopped in St. Denis opposite a large historic house. A man was dressed in period costume and watched us for a while. He came over to chat to us and told us that there were lots of B&Bs in the next village. Which is one of the prettiest villages this side of the St. Lawrence according to him.

I asked him about the historic house and he said it belonged to Monsieur Chapais one of the founding fathers of confederation. The house is set out as it was when Monsieur Chapais lived there in 1867.

He said that if we were ready to stop, he could arrange for us to pitch our tent in the gardens of the house. It was tempting, but we decided to carry on for another 10 kms to Kamarouska.

As we came into the Village we noticed that the first motel was full, as were the next few B&Bs. I was beginning to get a little concerned that there would be nowhere for us to stay and we were both battered by the wind and ready to stop for the day. I spotted a little sign welcoming velos (bicycles) and vacancy. We stopped and were trying to find the piece of paper that said “Avez-vous une chambre pour ce soir?” Do you have a room for tonight? When this tiny little French lady came out and welcomed us in French. She told us she had one room left and it was $80.00 with no breakfast. Ralf and I looked at each other, how would we be able to cook dinner in the room. Her daughter came out and she asked in English if I would like to see the room. The room was lovely and there was a big kitchen that we could utilize. Perfect, we took the room. As I came downstairs there was another couple asking about the room, too late we just squeaked in.

After we had settled in, we walked into the village, it is a very pretty village with nice restaurants, cafés and small auberges, very quaint and very French. We went into the patisserie and bought some wonderful sundried tomato bread and blueberry streusel for dessert.

This Village is also the home of the Chaloult family. René Chaloult was one of the main drivers behind the adoption of the Fleurdelisé flag.

When we got back to the auberge with the fixings for our dinner we chatted to Nicole and Matin (sp). The two ladies usually get together with two other women for a week-end away a couple of times a year. They had all met in the Yukon where they all lived about 8 years ago.

Matin’s son is about to start a small bike adventure of his own – cycling from Rimouski to Halifax.

We had a nice evening with them.