Matane to Ste-Anne-des-Monts, July31Today 86km, total 519km
Route Planning over BreakfastOK, yesterday's blog may have been a bit fragmented. That Quebec beer has a kick to it. By the end I was more or less hitting keys randomly, and when I got up from my chair to go to dinner, I was literally ricocheting off the furniture. Pete says he doesn't know me well enough to tell if I've had a skinful, but I told him that is a pretty good indication.
Another thing about that beer, it's fermented in the bottle, with a millimetre of lees in the bottom. As we don't have the luxury of glasses to decant it, we get a pretty good mix of beer and yeast by drinking out of the bottle. Talk about rocket fuel.
I'm having a great time trying out my French. It's like finding that old rusty tool that sat in the bottom of your tool-box for 40 years, polishing it up and finding that suddenly you have a use for it. I don't remember it coming so easily 40 years ago, I think perhaps it's because you get less self-conscious as you get older. I find that I can have reasonably complex conversations; tonight some kids in the campground were asking me about the trip and I was really able to tell them something. I'm actually going to be sorry when the francophone part of the journey ends.
I'm feeling really comfortable riding so far. We are not covering huge distances, mainly because the day's rides are set by the distances between services and camp sites, but it's good for me to acclimatize gradually, and I think the others are appreciating the change of pace too.
Today we began to encounter some more serious climbing. The route is still largely through rolling farmland, but every so often the road rises over a rocky bluff giving a fairly stiff climb (8%) for a couple of kilometers. We still have a nice tailwind, which is good for the ego - cruising at 35km/hr with a heavy load feels pretty good.
Obviously wind is a major commodity in these parts. We have been seeing posters for an international kite festival here next week, and every height of land is sprouting giant wind turbines. These are truly amazing, rising out of the forest and dwarfing the trees and farmhouses. Ryan has already likened my quest to Man of La Mancha, so the windmills are a nice touch.
This afternoon, riding along by myself, I became conscious of a persistant buzzing sound by my right ear. Suddenly, I realized it was coming from inside my jersey. Some insect had flown up my sleeve. I gave him a whack, and was rewarded by a bite or sting, not sure which. I jumped off my bike and ripped off my shirt by the side of the road. must have looked pretty strange. But the critter was nowhere in sight.
Time to head out and forage for some food. Promising little Poissonerie down the road, so we'll be doing a chowder hunt.
Until tomorrow,
Barney
PS don't forget to check out Pete's blog at http://www.transcanada09.blogspot.com/
PPS, Happy 59th Marilyn. I'll raise a glass of Maudite in your honour. XX Barney
The breakfast meeting was rewarding - a meeting of minds; the insurnace meeting looks like it'll sort out some wrinkles in the present insurance and maybe reduce Paces' overall insurance bill; took Sarah to have her hair done before tea; managed to steam-clean another section of the kitchen floor, only one bit to go then put new polish down; cooked a great chicken curry to take with us to Pocklington, Saturday, for dinner with the Karen, Steve and the grandchildren. Ca va bien.
ReplyDeleteThose French-Canadian beers sound like they taste like I could help you out with a bottle or two. Thanks for the link to Pete's blog Barney. Great read, tell him. And if you speak to Val, tell her I'll look out for her on Facebook.
Bonsoir mon ami.