We left Québec City via a ferry across the St Lawrence/St Laurent river. Waving goodbye to the city was definitely a ‘moment’ for us both. Big city time was coming to an end, and here we had our final few weeks stretching ahead of us to explore the rest of Québec, New Brunswick and finally Nova Scotia. We both had a feeling of wanting these last few weeks of the trip to be in classic touring mode. The highs, and lows of what that always means awaited us.
‘Better never stops’
As we’ve mentioned once or twice, our time in North America has been punctuated by being told repeatedly that we’re here ‘a bit early in the season’. At some point we were hoping that everyone would catch up with us – the weather would get more consistent, the campsites might even be open!
Our wish was (mainly) granted for us for this stage with the consistency of windy days (!) but also sunshine and a bit of warmth. Also, we managed to find enough campsites open to get us fully back into the camping routine.
Our first night back in the tent after Québec City we celebrated by video-ing ourselves putting up the tent. We have since timed it and came in at a tidy 4 minutes 59 seconds. I think it has been even quicker when the conditions are perfect (yes we are competitive types, even with ourselves). By conditions I’m talking about the surface we’re pitching on (grass, please; not gravel/sand/rocks, thank you), how level it is (why oh why are so many purpose-built camping spots worldwide not level?) and if it’s windy/raining/hailing/flies swarming whilst we are doing the erecting.
We’re both the sort of people who like to be time efficient, as well as enjoying finding ways to improve processes (yes I know this sounds a bit like what we both do at work… but it also applies to this trip too).
I’ve come to calling it ‘better just keeps getting better’. Matt likes to say that ‘better never stops’. Either way, putting up the tent, getting the sleeping mats/interior of the tent laid out, the cooking equipment out, the chairs up, and then packing it all away again in the morning has become slicker the longer we’ve been away. The key thing is doing this in a way which plays to both of our strengths, with some tasks needing to be done together (putting the tent up) and others separately (I am the ‘bed lady’ as Matt puts it). We’ve taken a lot of satisfaction out of this, both at a micro-level (it’s a lovely feeling when everything is put up and we can finally relax for the day), but also a macro-level (knowing that by speeding things up through improving how we do things over time, we are giving ourselves a bit more time at the end of every day to relax).
I’m not going to say I will miss it (because not having to inflate your bed every night is probably even more relaxing) – but I have found the repetition, the process, the teamwork quite soothing at times.
Another highlight of camping in Québec was that we were fortunate enough to find ourselves in a beautiful spot on the river, with wide expansive views looking North, with not a cloud in the sky on the night of ‘that’ solar storm. For both of us, seeing the Northern Lights has always been a bit of a dream. At one point we had thought we would make it to Iceland on this trip (partly for this reason). So how brill that we were able to unexpectedly see them as far south as Québec! We waited patiently for it to get properly dark, and then there they were. A stunning light show to remember. It made the world feel entirely different, all of a sudden.
The peaceful camping spots continued in Québec, and into New Brunswick with a range of different campsites just opening up in time for us to stop by. This meant we very much became used to having the place to ourselves, with the run of the facilities and the best spots awaiting us. We even weathered an unexpected storm beside the St John river in New Brunswick. The tent kept us dry, the ramshackle gazebo next to us less so when Matt made the morning porridge.
Hugging shoulders, bouncing along trails
With the wind mainly in our faces, but sometimes on our backs, we sped along the St Laurent river on mainly secondary roads with generally a nice wide shoulder to the city of Rivière de-Loup. We have definitely become North American in our outlook on road riding. We really do appreciate a hard shoulder – less so the soft ones. I definitely don’t remember being so shoulder-centric before this trip!
In Québec the provincial government has linked roads with appropriate shoulders, as well as some off-road routes into a wider ‘green’ network. We liked this a lot – despite seeing barely any other cyclists we’re hoping that this approach catches on more generally in Canada and the US.
Waving goodbye to the mighty St Laurent river (which was now looking suspiciously like an estuary, or just the sea proper) we joined Canada’s only off-road trail which crosses a provincial boundary – the Sentier Petit-Temis. This turned out to be a real treat for us. Despite being multi-use (meaning ATVs are allowed) the surface was mainly pretty good and had a gentle gradient taking us up to the watershed. We especially enjoyed riding alongside Lake Témiscouata in peaceful solitude before crossing the border into New Brunswick.
The on/off-road combination continued into New Brunswick (our seventh Canadian province, and the only province which is officially bi-lingual) where we managed to join up secondary roads again with some off-road trails, providing a mix of slower and sometimes rougher riding with some opportunities to drop wattage bazookas (another Matt phrase, I think it has something to do with pushing really hard on the pedals and going really fast – an unfamiliar concept to me).
Fuel us-up!
The daily riding/camping combo always makes us really (really) hungry. It’s no surprise that cycling a lot burns a lot of calories. But there is something about sleeping outside which also induces major hunger pangs.
We have been enjoying a solid morning diet of porridge with bananas. At one point we were carrying a bottle of maple syrup, just to join in with the locals – so that was generously drizzled on top too.
Lunch and snacks has involved far too many cereal bars, as well as home-made sandwiches, shop-bought sandwiches and a growing addiction to whatever Tim Horton’s has on offer.
For those who are unfamiliar, Tim’s is a bit of a Canadian institution – there are thousands of them across the country (although not always where we want them to be sadly!). The filter coffee is hotter than the sun, served in a choice of large, extra large or gigantic sizes. The doughnuts (and their mini buddies ‘Timbits’) are a sure-fire sugar hit and they even do flatbread pizzas and wraps. All for worryingly low prices. Catnip for cycle tourers – we will miss having an excuse to over-order and over-eat when this trip is over.
Dinner has been back to the rice/pasta diet – interspersed with Matt experimenting with whipping up sausage omelettes one night which were insanely delicious.
Province Number 8
Having camped, cycled and eaten our way across Québec and down New Brunswick following the St John river valley we found ourselves on course to have a full two weeks in our final province – Nova Scotia. We arrived into ‘Canada’s Ocean Playground’ via another ferry from Saint John to Digby and celebrated by having fish and chips (and clams) and spending two nights at another beautiful campsite about 20km from Digby, at the artist’s community of Bear River.
We loved this spot – amazing river views, an opportunity to do some washing, a winery within walking distance, and even an Indian takeaway. A dream day off – hard earned.
What next?
Well I write this about a week after our departure from Bear River. Time keeps marching on, and so do we. More fish and chips, camping, rough trails and swarms of black flies (!) beckon!
P.S.
A quick thank you to everyone who so enjoyed reading Matt’s Transitions blog. He has definitely been more ‘behind the scenes’ when it comes to the blog part of our collective endeavour. He takes the photos, chooses them and uploads them to WordPress (the last bit is no mean feat, trust me). I do the writing and get to say I am the author of most of the posts. It’s always lovely when he puts pen to paper (iPad) and you lot enjoy reading what he has to say, too. Thank you 🙂
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