Day 45: St-Jean Port Joli, Quebec, Canada

Day 45: St-Jean Port Joli, Quebec, Canada

July 27, 2016

Miles: 16

Average Speed: 8.4 mph

La Pocatier, QC to St-Jean Port Joli



We started our morning off with something a little different.  We both had a berry smoothy, and coffee of course.  We then ordered breakfast from a menu, which was written entirely in French.  The waitress replied 'oui' - translation yes, then left us.  We looked at one another and asked 'do you know what you just ordered'.  Steve said, yes I think I ordered french toast.  I then said, I think I ordered two eggs over hard in a veggie skillet.  Well only one of us was right, and it wasn't me.  At least, the smoothies were good :)

It was easy ordering the smoothies.  All we had to do was point at a picture.

Veggies, no eggs.  Not too bad.

Instead of taking a day to rest, we decided to ride a short mileage day to a little town about 16 miles away.  It was very windy today (13 mph - SW winds), so we were glad to have few miles to ride.  We averaged 8.4 mph; basically, it took us over two hours to ride 16 miles.  We essentially have been on Bike Route 1 the entire stretch of the Saint Lawrence River.  A very safe road, largely flat, but always windy.  Day after day, we see many, many people touring on their bikes, on this route.  We know they are touring, and not just day riding because they have bags like us that they are carrying.  And when I say lots of cyclists, I  mean lots of cyclists.  Over 50 at least, so far.  Quebec is known for its biker friendly culture.  Cars are very respectful and the roads are well signed reading share the road. We saw a lot of people touring in PEI, but not like in Quebec.  There is something else we have noticed.  All the bikers that we saw were riding in the same direction - west to east.  The opposite direction that we are riding.  At first, we thought oh, they are lucky, the wind is behind them.  Another few bikers pass by us.  Lucky, wind at their backs; stinkers, so lucky they have a great tailwind pushing them along, so forth and so on.  Then it dawned on us.  No one in Quebec rides their bikes against the prevailing wind along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River.  Only cyclists who aren't from Quebec do something this crazy, riding east to west.  Wow we thought - we're going the wrong way!  We then realized, we probably have some difficult days ahead of us - yikes!

Along the ride today, we stopped at an outside fruit and produce stand.  We thought for sure we could get some fresh strawberries.  As it turns out, there were no strawberries for sale, but everything looked so fresh and the veggies so good that I just had to take a couple of pictures.

The following pics are of different views of the Saint Lawrence River.  Yesterday the tide was so low and the skies so foggy that we really didn't see the river, just the river bottom. We knew today would be different given the high/low tide schedule.  We imagined a crystal clear, blue river, flowing fast and furiously.  Well not really, but it sounds good doesn't it?  In actuality, the river is light brown as you can see in the following pictures.  Not that the color made it any less magnificent. We started calling it the coffee river, not to get it confused with the chocolate river that we saw in Moncton.

Vantage point 1

Vantage point 2

Vantage point 3

Vantage point 4

We rode into one small town after the next.  All so cute and with churches that have tall steeples.

Twin steeples

This town had a colorful cafe storefront that was attractive.  We had only rode 5 miles at this point so we only stopped to get a picture.

These black eyed susans were too beautiful to resist.

At one point on the route, we moved south of the river and saw mostly scenery like this.

Multicolore - vert, dore, jaune

We then came across Jerry Garcia.  I don't really know if this is supposed to be JG, but it sure does resemble him.

So many roads ...

Steve's foot

This is a picture of the motel that we are staying at tonight.  Very close to town.

Since it was early when we arrived at the motel, we decided to walk into town to find a cafe.  Thunderstorms were forecast in the afternoon, so we wanted to be inside by the time the rain started.  There were two cafe's to choose from in town.  The Cafe OK or the Cafe Devine.  We decided on Cafe Devine.  Now, who wants to go to a cafe that is just OK.  

We made it to the cafe before the rain, but it started coming down shortly after we arrived.   We were held up, so we decided to have some really fine coffee and a little nosh, and then play some cribbage.

This is a shot taken after the first game.  It was very close, but there could only be one winner.

Well, with a final hand like mine, how could I lose.   

Steve gently reminded me that we had a lot of days still left to ride, so he said 'don't count your chickens before they hatch!'  I consider myself a quick study, so I decided to excuse myself to go to the restroom where I immediately did my victory dance in private :)  

We moved on from the cafe after a few hours, but we didn't want to go back to the motel room just yet, so we headed to Cafe OK. On our way, it started raining hard, so instead we ended up choosing a restaurant that was real close.  We were glad that we did.  The food was great!

As you probably already have realized, Steve likes to have his chocolate milk and I like my lemonade.   When we order our favorites, this below is what we got.

 A mini chocolate milk for Steve and a red colored, fruit flavored, lemonade for me.

We both ordered wraps. Steve a chicken wrap and me a veggie - sans gluten!

This is a little boutique shop that we passed on the way back to the motel.  I thought very colorful when I saw it.  

Peekaboo

The rain had stopped, but it was only a short walk, so it really didn't matter much. Our motel is overlooking the Saint Lawrence River and to our surprise, this gorgeous view of the river was waiting for us!

Now that's a river!

Instead of taking a rest day tomorrow, we again decided to ride a short mileage day to another little Quebec town about 22 miles away called Montmagny.