We sure lived the heck out of that day!

St Anne du Monts to Grand Valee

Just Cruisin, on a forever coastal road

Surfin' Gaspesie -style

Heading for the sky

Grand Valee

Ste-Anne-des-Monts, to Grand Valee, August 1

Today 115km, total 634km

The musketeers spent an hour blogging away in the nice rec-room provided by the camp-ground, and then set out in search of adventure and chowder. Checked out the menu at the local pub, but not up to our exacting standards, so we had a beer and slipped away to the possonerie we had seen earlier. St Anne is a lovely little seaside town, well kept with a lot of old buildings. They have developed nice little parks, and a real boardwalk, with wooden sculptures everywhere. Pete and Ryan ordered the chowder, and I had the fish soup, and then we got into some serious seafood casseroles.

As we walked back to the campground, the sun was setting, and Pete got some great shots, including a special one of a staemy do-it-yourself carwash right on the foreshore. I guess that waterfront real-estate is not at the same premium we expect in Vancouver.

We paused outside a little cottage with gnomy sculptures all over the lawn, and through the window we could see two old ladies playing 10 pin bowling with a Wii and a big-screen TV. You couldn't make that stuff up!

Got back to the camp-site, and retired to our respective tents. As we are at the east side of the time-zone, it gets very dark by 9pm (and broad daylight at 4:30 to Pete's chagrin.

I goy the netbook fired up, found some wi-fi, and amazingly was able to get Valerie on a web cam conversation. Imagine that, sitting in a pup-tent a continent away, with real-time video. Technology is moving so fast!

This morning dawned bright and blue, and we were all packed and ready to hit the road by 7:30. Great scout Ryan had done anearly coffe-run and found a great greasy-spoon diner just down the road, so we stopped there for an early breakfast. Great, all the good stuff and homemade jam to boot. Better yet, Ryan picked up the tab for us.

The ride out from St Anne was nothing short of world class. 80km of sea-level highway that snakes along the shore-line, with just an occasional power climb over a rocky bluff to keep us honest and give us great views of the few little towns along the way. And our friend the tail-wind was stll there keeping our days average up to about 25km/hr, even with the climbs.

We picked up with a young biker named Chi, from Montreal, and swapped cycling lies for an hour before he stopped for some groceries.

The last hour into Grand Valee gave us a gnarly climb of about 1,500 feet over a big rocky headland. Definitely bottom gear stuff, but we were all so stoked from the day's ride that we just chugged over it, and enjoyed the 14% run down into Grand Valee.

Now sitting in an internet cafe, enjoying a pint and wifi, watching the seabirds (gannets?) thermalling over the bay.

Truly a great day.

Barney