Day 44: La Pocatiere, Quebec, Canada

July 26, 2016

Miles: 42

Average Speed: 11.1 mph

Riviere du Loup, QC to La Pocatier, QC




I got up around 7:30am because Di woke me.  She had been up for a while, but as for me, I could have slept a few more hours.  Its not that I was tired from yesterday's ride, its just that sometimes I like to sleep in.  And it was overcast and cool this morning, which is perfect weather for sleeping in.  But, I got up all the same, because I am a dedicated and responsible person, and also because Di kept calling my name until I got up.

It was cold enough to force us to put our jackets on; I would guess the weather in the upper 50s.  We rode about one mile until we saw a restaurant and stopped to get some breakfast.  I thought breakfast was really good and Di said it was excellent, so we were happy.  I ordered crepes with an egg on the side and Di ordered a bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of fruit, two eggs, bacon and potatoes.  Di's order alone required multiple waitresses making multiple trips in order to get all her food to our table.  The waitresses were impressed.

Di happily surrounded by food

It was 11:15 before we actually got on our bikes again - it took a lot of time to eat all that food.  We had a headwind, but it wasn't that bad and the flatness of the road helped offset the wind.  In fact, today was probably the flattest road riding we have done on this trip and we were very happy for it.  We were riding along the St. Lawrence River, which explains why the road was so flat.  It was very foggy, however, and even though we knew the river was just to our right, we couldn't see it through the fog.

There's a river out there somewhere

We stopped at a very elaborate bridgeworks for pedestrians that was designed to not only get you over a local road that is seldom used, but also to give you a fine view of the river.  We couldn't see the river due to the fog, so we had to be content with being impressed with the bridge.

Imagine, if you will, that those houses border a river

Look at that impressive pedestrian bridge

We rode through a number of small towns.  Each town had a church and because it is so flat you can see the spires from many miles away.

An exemplar church

We saw hills and ridge lines in the distance, but this was one of those days where your hopes that somehow you will avoid the inevitable climb come true.  We climbed a few rises but never had to do any sustained climbing.  Nice!

Hills that never materialized on our ride

We had ridden only 15 miles when we came upon the following sign:

I could guess that the manufacturing of something small was taking place here, but I didn't feel brave enough to hazard a guess as to what it might be.  Di didn't know either, but we saw a lot of cars, motorcycles and even bicycles parked out front, so we decided to check it out.  It turns out the word "brasserie" means brewery, so this was in fact a microbrewery.  At this point in the day we hadn't ridden very far and we had just had a huge breakfast a short time ago, so it made little sense to enter the brewery for food and even less sense to enter for beer.  So of course, we went on in.

I'm not a big beer drinker, but today I was.  I mean, look at the size of the glass I was given compared to Di's!  That's a big beer, at least relatively speaking.

His and her's beers

The brewery had an outdoor deck with a view of the St. Lawrence River and with the sun starting to peak through the clouds, it felt great sitting out there.

I'm there for the view, not the beer.  Really!

Di enjoying the view

We left the brewery and Di said she was going to watch me carefully to see if I was weaving as I rode.  I have to admit that it would not be unusual for one beer to affect me so, but as I started riding I found that I felt pretty good.  Maybe I should stop for a mid-day beer more often.

Another example of interesting church architecture

Another example of road flatness (that's like Kansas flat!)

Taking a break in front of the smoked meat sandwich to go shop

Around 4:30 it starting to rain.  It wasn't raining hard, but still, it is no fun to ride in the rain.  The rain reminded me of a conversation Di and I had yesterday when it started to rain on us.  We told each other we should get into the habit of leaving earlier because it seems to rain often in late afternoon.  Well, here it was, late afternoon and raining once again, and once again we left late and were caught in it.  I guess that's our style.

A rain shower on its way towards us

It rained on us lightly for about 30 minutes and then the clouds broke up and the sun came out again.

See, the storm is over

We arrived at our motel, Motel La Pocatois, around 5:15pm. We noticed right away that there is a big hill to climb in order to get to downtown La Pocatiere.

Di wonders where the escalator is

We headed downtown to look for a place to eat.  It was easy to find downtown because it is comprised of only one street.

Downtown La Pocatiere

Because this is a college town (Collège De Sainte-Anne-De-La-Pocatière) there were a surprising number of restaurants.  We chose Restaurant Opera, which didn't have a single English speaking employee and had only a French language menu, so it was a little rough ordering (We needed Brian, who apparently is fluent in French. Who knew?).  Di ordered a burger and I the fish and chips.  Di didn't eat her bun, of course, and the waitress was concerned about this.  She asked something in French and I said, "Sans gluten", pointing to Di.  "Ah, sans glutain", she replied, smiling, and all was well in the Restaurant Opera again.

Di right at home in the French-speaking only restaurant

Our motel at night

After dinner, Di and I discussed our plans for tomorrow.  We could take a rest day here, but that would mean walking up that hill again in order to get into town.  We thought that was foolish, so we are heading up the road 15 miles to a town that doesn't force you to climb an enormous hill in order to get downtown.  Saint-Jean-Port-Joli is right on the St. Lawrence River and if its not foggy, we may actually get a chance to finally see that river.