Walmart came up with a clever idea when it began welcoming RVs to set up for the night in it’s parking lots. They successfully banked on the prospect of increasing their business and that is especially true for those Walmarts open 24 hours. You always need something and where are you going to go ? Why, Walmart, of course, and it’s mere steps away. The Walmart in Rivière du Loup was packed, as pictured, when we cycled past it this morning at around 7:45. Several  groups of people were headed for its’ front doors.  

Tonight we are planning on camping outside a Metro Grocery Store. It says “Bievenu aux campeurs”. Which means “Welcome To Campers.” We know they don’t really mean tent campers like us, but we are going there anyway. We’ll just wait a bit until it starts to get dark and then we’ll set the tent up behind the side wall near the tree. We will probably be the only campers there tonight. Their “Bievenu a Campeurs” sign doesn’t seem to be working well for them.

Last night at the grocery store strawberries were on sale! Quart baskets overbrimming with sweet goodness were selling for $1 a basket. Who can make money on that? Had I been home there would soon have been a jam session, but as they are so perishable, we bought 1 basket and enjoyed them all this morning with our cereal. They were from L’Isle d’Orleon, which is mid Fleuve St Laurent, across from Levis, Quebec. So good! 

The route leading out of Rivière du Loup, Quebec to Edmunston, NB can be either straight up a long, demoralizing hill, or along a series of switchbacks that also lead to the summit and beyond. We took the second option. It was still work but we were both still breathing at the top, and that’s what counts. From the top we took the Petit Temis route. This is the oldest bike path in Quebec and it is  interprovincial, joining Quebec with New Brunswick. Lightly gravelled, I viewed it with some skepticism initially, but soon adjusted to its texture. Still, it takes much longer and more work to push your way along a gravel path than it does to be on a smoothly paved road. But today we had the wind with us! And what a wind it was! We were stopped at one point and we watched how the wind was causing the grain fields to ripple and flow. I remarked that it was mesmerizing, kind of like watching the ocean.     It was not warm outside; Charlie said it was “like riding through a sunny fridge”.

The bike paths are generally away from the towns and while we wouldn’t want to be off and away from towns all the time, the scenery today was beautiful. Petit Temis is an old railway line made over into a cycling path. There are trees, bushes, flowers, farmers fields, impenetrable forests, rock faces, creeks, rivers and lakes.  Dotted along the way are benches, picnic tables and west of where we are now, free wild camping areas. We planned to make it to here but secretly I’d hoped to get into New Brunswick by the end of today. It’s 40km away. The spirit was willing but the flesh knows what’s good for it.

Tims, our quiet refuge, where we are alone together and where we catch up on email and often blog, is where we are currently stationed.   We had our dinner outside of the Metro Grocery Store. Canned beans, cold, with shredded cabbage mixed with canned peas and doused with coleslaw dressing and a pita. All washed down with a lemonade Bacardi Breezer.  It’s getting dark. I’m going to go wash out the container we mixed our salad in and while I’m in there, I’ll clean my teeth and wash up as best and as fast as  I can. We will make our way back to the Metro and set up our tent. It’s green. It blends in with everything. And there is a sign outside that says, “Bievenu aux Campeurs”.

Goodnight and God Bless You All.

This is what summer is all about! 

We’re sitting outside on a terrace mid-town Rivière du Loup. The sun is shining, it’s warm with a light but cooling breeze. I could be wearing a light, pretty summer dress and not even have my ski jacket at hand for later in the evening, (as one must in Calgary).  That is if I had a light pretty summer dress…..  No, I’m wearing cycling shorts and my usual purple shirt with my reflective vest. And my whistle, can’t forget that! I’m also sporting a nice black chain impression on my unevenly tanned right calf. 

Today is a rest day. We started off slowly and set the pace for the rest of the day. Charlie needed to go to a pharmacy to pick something up and initially I planned on hanging out at Tim’s until he rejoined me. My main motivation for that was that I knew there were at least 2 hills I’d have to climb if I wanted to go with him. And I don’t want to do any hills I don’t have to. He went his way and I headed to Tim’s but then I thought, I’ll catch up with him. You never know what adventures we can find together. And so I did. The hills weren’t all that bad either, probably because I hadn’t already done 100+ km today.

This is a busy little place. Lots of tourists poking around the little shops that have their wares enticingly displayed. There are flower baskets and everything is vibrant with colour. Soon, however, a thunderstorm is expected. We have been fortunate so far in that, other than that wild, demonstration of Mother Nature’s power we endured in Alberta between Bassano and Medicine Hat,  we haven’t been exposed during any other storms. 

I can feel it’s getting cooler…. 

It’s pouring! Rain is bouncing off the pavement, and the streets, minutes ago alive with people, are all but deserted. Where did they all go?  Charlie and I left the cafe/bar and took shelter under an overhang where I made our lunch. “What will you have? ” “Oh, just the usual, ham and cheese with cucumber on a pita with a squirt of ranch dressing.” I know we looked like street people sitting out there on the side of the road. Street people without a hat or bag out.  It’s too expensive to eat all your meals in restaurants, and we find that we’re able to eat better food when we make it ourselves. Sometimes though, it’s less expensive to eat the daily special in a restaurant at dinner time than it is to go to a grocery store and buy food. For example, cans of food can cost, depending on where you are, up to $4 per can and Charlie will eat four and me, one.

There is a street festival planned for downtown Rivière du Loup tonight and there are burly men setting up stages and sound equipment. If the weather doesn’t improve it will be a lot of work for few participants. Some of the musicians are tuning their instruments, blasting out parts of songs so loudly that the sound reverberates in our chests.

I wandered up and down the street, checking out all the cute little shops while Charlie sat in a bar, had a beer and tried to upload photos onto his blog. It’s been a source of frustration for him lately as his WordPress site tells him that the memory is low and photos won’t upload. Such frustration that he called the WordPress help line and paid $130 to enable him to put his pics up. Great, except it’s not working!

Everything is wet. The prospect of setting up, sleeping in and tearing down a wet tent is daunting so instead we are staying in a one star hotel tonight.  It has what we need and it will do just fine. Soon we will mosey down the way, grab a bite, buy some groceries for tomorrow. It will be an early night tonight. Tomorrow we are headed to Edmunston, New Brunswick. We don’t expect to get all the way there tomorrow but we’ll try to put in at least 100km. 

I’m looking forward to lobster! With garlic butter!

“Charlie, that smells like salt water! And do you notice, they no longer say, “sur la fleuve”, now they’re saying “sur le mer”. That means we’re close to the ocean!!! Can you believe it!!!! We are near the Atlantic Ocean!!!”

Now, I say that with tremendous excitement but I remember the story of the tortoise and the hare and how the hare, who thought he had it all in the bag, screwed up. So just because we’re close doesn’t mean it’s signed, sealed and delivered yet.

We are in Rivière de Loup and we just got express permission from the Mayor of this town of 20,000 to put our tent up outside of Walmart tonight. We met the Mayor when we stopped at a bike shop to buy a new battery for Charlie’s odometer. I was standing outside with my bike while Charlie had his inside and this unshaven man holding a sweet toddler asked me about our trip. So in my very best French, (which is improving daily, I might add), I told him a bit about it. He said that his daughter (who he was accompanying to the bike shop) and her husband had traversed Canada 5 years ago. (Good thing ’cause she sure ain’t going anywhere now…she’s got 3 kids under age 5). He said he’d done some cycling himself including a trip from North Bay to Rivière de Loup. We talked about how deadly highway 11 was and how much easier, safer, nicer it was to cycle Quebec. And then he told me he was the Mayor of this city and that he was on vacation which was why he looked like he did. (I guess I could have told him the same thing because I look like I’ve just crawled out of the bush most days too.)

It was another great ride today.    We only got a little lost this morning searching for the clinic Charlie had to go to for his blood test. They took him in right away and then we were on the road. Following the 132 highway is foolproof. We did go off onto a firm, lightly gravelled cycle path when the pavement on the highway was rough but most of the day the highway conditions were admirable.     We saw a few things we remembered from 2 years ago. I love Quebec. There’s so much to see!  We passed many lavish churches. Every time I see those I think of how much money it must have cost to erect those monstrosities and how dearly the townspeople must have paid, not only in tithes but also in man hours of (probably free) labor and in lives lost. They are very high. People must have died. I took some photos of one church, (rare to find one open on a weekday), in St Roch des Aulnaies.  
We also  saw and photographed the motel we stayed at 2 years ago, where we met Liz Brenchley, a woman in her 50’s from a England who was cycling across Canada alone. Her blog is : Liz and Black Betty”, the black referring to the colour of her bike which she’d named “Betty”. Speaking of which, I tend to name things too, and I’ve decided that my “hoss” actually is not a hoss with no name and that her name is “Surely”. A good name for a Surly Disc Trucker, I think, and because it does ride like a truck, strong and sure.   

We planned on camping tonight but, as we sat in Tim’s, Charlie sipping mint tea, me guzzling my caffeine fix, it started to rain. Lightly at first but it continued. The grocery store was across the parking lot so we had a chicken, potato salad, mixed greens with chipotle ranch dressing salad picnic right in the store, on a bench beyond the tills. There are puddles outside and Enviroment Canada calls for more rain and thunderstorms tonight. Time to search for an inexpensive motel or hotel. We’ll go back to Tim’s, have some more tea and start calling. Tomorrow is a rest day anyway, we think, and the prospect of lying around all morning holds a lot of appeal right now. In case you didn’t know it, I am not a big fan of camping.

It was like a sauna!

Eight o’clock in the morning we stepped outside Thomas’ home where we’d spent the previous night. The sun was shining but it looked misty outside, especially over the water. Humid! I’d forgotten how humid it could be but now I remembered nights where you couldn’t get naked enough to sleep. We’d missed all that the night before as we’d stayed in Thomas’s cool air conditioned basement. 

We felt energized and well rested after spending the evening with Thomas. We’d tried to introduce him to our breakfast concoction but he declined, preferring his own of eggs and croissant. St Nicola is located just across from Quebec City  and I told him how tempted I was to go across to an ice cream pallor called “Mes Chocolate Favoris”.   They serve soft vanilla ice cream with an assortment of thick gooey dips! Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, cookies and cream, dulce de leche, salted chocolate caramel. The best!!! Worth a trip across the river….almost. Thomas smiled and said there was no need for that. There was one right in town and another, the original,   in Levis up the way! That put some drive in my drive chain! We were going through Levis anyway.

Well, of course it ended up being a complicated, convoluted route to find it, (and Charlie and I lost each other for a while), but in the end I had a bowl-me-over salted chocolate caramel cone.    Charlie, who never ate desserts before but since starting his trip has been slurping them back like a pro, decided not to have one and smugly sealed his lips in refusal to taste mine. Good! It was too delectable to share! Then he told me how great he felt for not having had one and I told him how great I felt for having snarfed back every bit. Good thing we don’t have one in Calgary. 

Highway 132 running east has super wide shoulders and generally smooth pavement. Most of it is part of La Route Verte and they have pretty high standards for their cycle paths. Eastward we rode with the wind at our backs. Not totally flat but nothing too challenging. It was a very nice ride. The St Lawrence River was often visible to our left and we passed many pretty little towns with their carefully maintained homes surrounded by flower gardens, all in vibrant bloom.   Drivers taking the 132 are used to seeing cyclists and indeed we saw many others from the super sleek in their spandex on their expensive featherweight bikes, to older adults pedalling too fast to be believable, (until we noticed they had battery packs to give them that ummpth), (wish I had a battery pack to give me some ummpth), to other cycle tourers like ourselves. I always want to talk to them and we do whenever we can.

When you’re rolling along at a good speed, you create a breeze despite the heat. When you stop, it doesn’t feel like it would be long before you’d shrivel up and die. The wind started to increase and with it came the occasional drop or two of rain. Refreshing! Soon, however, those scattered drops turned into a full-on deluge of warm wetness. We stopped and put on some rainwear before continuing on. Our target for the night was St Jean Port Jolie. (We’d actually cycled from Levi’s to Rivière de Loup 2 years ago and all should have been familiar, but aside from a few interesting buildings and points of interest, it was all new to me).

St Jean Port Jolie is a pretty place, as its name indicates. There are a lot of artisans living here, sculptors, potters, painters, etc.. When we got in to town they were closed up for the night but we peered in some windows.  I’d love to explore. Not to buy. I have learned that I do not need to own something beautiful to appreciate it. I can just look at it and enjoy it in the moment. Besides, I don’t want to carry as much as a Cliff bar wrapper with me if I don’t have to.

After checking a couple of hotels we picked one that had a restaurant and we spent the night there. So good to be clean! Spaghetti for dinner downstairs. We seem to be craving pasta lately.     Anyway, it was way too much for me, but fortunately I know someone who can help me out under those circumstances!

Expertly, he chopped up a large chunk of fresh ginger and several cloves of garlic. Then he sautéed the chicken and tofu, adding that garlic and ginger and the sauce he’d just whipped up. He put that aside and sautéed the mound of vegetables until they were tender, then added the meat mixture, gently stirring. The rice was ready too and he put several scoop fulls into each of the three dishes he’d set out on the counter. He swung around and placed a steaming aromatic dish before us, then sat down to eat his own meal.

Meet Thomas, our amazing 19 year old “Warm Showers” host!   Last year Thomas rode his bike from his home in St Nicola, Quebec to Tofino, BC with 2 of his friends. They had an adventurous time and enjoyed the hospitality of “Warm Showers” hosts  on their trip. When he got back he wanted to extend that same kind of warm hospitality to other travellers. Thomas still lives with his parents and while they were away, they were fine with him hosting us in their home.

The day didn’t start out as well as that. We awoke early at the hotel. “Oh, it can’t be morning. Noooo……I just want to lie here.” We got up anyway and once you’re up, it’s ok. This morning at the motel there was a continental breakfast included. Yay! Something other than raw oatmeal for breakfast! We had cereal and toast with peanut butter. I have a love/hate relationship with peanut butter. Sometimes just the thought of it flips my stomach and other times I love it. Right now peanut butter and I are in a very good relationship.   

We got going, watching Charlies tires initially, then forgetting about them and just churning through the kilometres. Unfortunately we got detoured again for about 10 km. Ahh…it’s all part of the adventure and it takes us to places off the route we’d never see otherwise. We passed 5500 km and Charlie had to take a picture. We also passed numerous ditches where we heard frogs croaking, sounding like badly tuned guitars. We got off our bikes and tried to get some pictures of them but those slippery little green guys never stayed still enough to get a pic. We saw them though. And they saw us! 

The villages are so pretty. The people really take care of their homes and gardens. St Croix is one such village and it’s main attraction is it’s magnificent Catholic Church. The grounds were well maintained and a woman was planting and trimming outside. I went over to talk with her and she had lots to say. She was a former biologist with the Quebec  government and she studied predators. Now retired, she volunteered her time, like many others in the area, to maintaining the church flowers. She was a lively conversationist, and we learned a lot from her. I told her that I suspected that a church like that would have bled the  parishioners dry back in the day, and she explained that the church was something that everyone was proud of. Too bad no one goes anymore.  

There are fruit stands enroute too and we stopped to enjoy the sweetest most flavourful strawberries we’d had in years!  

At the end of our ride  today Thomas greeted us at his parents home. He was an exceptional host and treated us like welcome guests. He even made dessert! Plain Greek yogurt, harvest crunch cereal, maple syrup produced by his grandfather and blueberries. So, so good!

A little later his girlfriend came over and we went downstairs. I tried valiantly to stay awake, as I’m trying now, but it was impossible. I was down for the count!

Oh beauty! What a pretty little French-Canadien town this is! Look at the flowers and how nicely people keep their lawns! And these shoulders…..perfect! Wide, smooth, and really, not much traffic either.  Lots of squished frogs though, probably because we’re so close to that river we’re enjoying so much. Wow, I hope these conditions continue all along this route because this is awesome!!!

Those were just a few of the thoughts running through my head as we started our ride today. We had at least 100km on our radars and today that seemed daunting. I had awoken with a stuffy head, like I was coming down with a cold and I also had a bit of a headache.

It had rained during the night and we thought we’d once again, have to pack up a soggy tent. To our surprise, it wasn’t too bad and, as the sun was already out, it dried completely in the time it took us to have breakfast and pack everything else up.

Off we went, me a little slower than usual. I just wasn’t up to snuff. I wanted to get it over with. But these conditions were so great, it made the ride much easier.                                                        What’s that sign over there? Oh, it’s a cul-de-sac. Must be for one of those side roads. Oh, now we’re on an island……well, it must reconnect to the 132 on the other side. Maybe we should ask that man over there……

What! We’d gone 9 miles off track! Miles! That’s even worse than 9km!!! Oh no!!! My poor aching head!

There was nothing to do but backtrack, so we got to see that lovely little village all over again from a different perspective. On we rode, this time on the right route. The shoulders were still mostly good, even on the long detours we had to take. Sometimes when there’s road construction and cars are rerouted, they will allow bikes to go through. This time there was no choice. The bridge was out, so we had to take the long trek around too. Crap! And I still didn’t feel good.

“Charlie, I need to stop for coffee.” The next  place was about 20km away. There was a Tims and I headed straight for it. Amazing the recuperative properties of a large coffee, and a bit of rest. We also ate something; sandwichs we  made ourselves in the parking lot and a $1.39 carrot nut muffin.  I felt so much better! Ready to take on the world, or at least this little part of it! We did 38 more kilometres through more villages and on some bike paths. We’ve heard it say that Quebec is the reward for getting through Ontario. It’s true. There are several things we’ve noted that are particular to Quebec. One is that everything is in French. Even information that non-French speaking people should know is only written in French.  Like don’t drink this water ’cause if you do your insides will be outside for the next 3 days. Or, don’t jump in this canal ’cause there’s an octopus waiting for you. Well, maybe not that last one but, you get my drift. Another thing is that there are many, many motorcycles and most are the 3 wheeled type. Some have 1 wheel in front, 2 wheels behind, but most have 2 front wheels and 1 back one. They often go by in “flocks” or “hordes”. There are also a lot of 2 wheeled  motorcycles and I wonder if they’re a little smug and think of the 3 wheelers like this: “When you grow up maybe you’ll be able to ride a 2 wheeler like me.” Another thing is that the French Canadiens seem to love their Joe Loueys!!! They are selling like….like…..hot cakes!!!  

One of the info centres we stopped at had air pumps for bike tires. When Charlie filled his there was a problem with his front tire. We rode as fast as we could to get to a bike shop in Gentilly before it closed and when we got there, the bike mechanic was not there. Charlie filled his tire and we went to a corner restaurant for a bite.  . When we finished, the tire was limp and floppy. There was no way we could ride out to the campground as it was getting dark. Fortunately there was a motel less  than 1km away. The clerk told me there were two prices. One for a small room and more for a larger room. I said we’d take the small room as all we wanted to so was shower and sleep. The clerk kept trying to upsell me and finally I said “Look, you have a choice. You can either lease me the smaller less expensive room or you could give  me the more expensive room that you’re not going to tent out tonight anyway, for the less expensive price.

He gave us the bigger room and then he, Steve, drove Charlie back to the bike shop. The mechanic was there and he solved Charlie’s bike problem by  enlarging the hole on the tire rim where the valve goes through.  After it was pumped up and ready to roll, Steve drove Charlie back to the motel where I was already clean, happy and reading in bed.

6:45am. The alarm went off but we were both already awake, still tired, groggy and headachy. Hopefully we’d start feeling better once we got outside.

Sunday morning is usually pretty quiet in the city and today was no exception. We headed back to Peter’s in laws to retrieve our bikes. People were about but there was none of the hustle of weekday mornings. It was cool outside, but not cool enough to need long sleeves or pants. Even this early we knew we were in for a hot day and we prepared for it by slathering ourselves with sunscreen. Both of us have odd uneven tan lines. Oh well…. I’ll concern myself with that once I’m plunked back into reality.

We plowed through our usual breakfast, said goodbye and thank you to Peter for hosting us and set out to find and cross the Jacques Cartier Bridge. There it was. The hard part was trying to figure out how to access the bike route across it. It’s a long bridge!     Eventually we crossed it and then had to find the bike paths that follow the river east. (Au bord d’leau.) That involved elevators and much hauling, lifting and navigating those awkward boards they put in stairways on which to wheel your bike. Those seldom seem to be on the convenient side. Finally we were on some nice bike paths, ready to rock and roll and put on some kilometres. The problem was that I didn’t feel well and that means I had to eat. Whenever I feel sick or headachy, I try to eat my way out of it. Most of the time it works well and it seemed to help today too.

We got into a Tracy-Sorel and started looking for a restaurant. The little place we stopped at, The Tracy Taverne advertised food but didn’t have any on  Sundays. We had a cold one and chatted to some locals seated outside on the patio.      I love having the chance to practice my French and people are awesome about it. I understand most conversations but every now and then my brain gets full and I don’t hear a thing. Anyway, it was very fun to sit outside with these folks. Starving though, we headed down the street where Charlie ordered pouting, a large one as a starter. It was everything poutine should be and fulfilled every reason as to why not to eat it. Delicious! Just once every Quebec trip. Can’t kill us, right?!     For a main course Charlie had lasagna and I, a Greek salad.

Mounting our steadfast steeds before it got too dark, we headed to the campground noted on our town map. The river was on our left, the water inviting, the sun hanging low and reflecting orange and pink on the horizon. Several boats were in view, including a huge one on which there was a boisterous party. There was a fine stretch of mown grass across the street from one of the houses facing the water. On a hunch, Charlie went to their door, knocked and asked if they owned that riverfront property. Indeed they did. “Well, would it be ok if we camped there tonight and left early tomorrow morning? ” “Only for one night?” “”Yes. We’d be gone early in  the morning.

It was so calm, and quiet save for the lapping waves against the rocks below us. We set up our home-away-from-home, watched the sun descend and Charlie went for a swim. I was hesitant about getting right in there as by the time I was ready it was dark, but I replaced my road dirt with river water dirt and scrubbed up as best I could. These are the unexpected, unplanned experiences that no money can buy. Incomparable!

It’s hard to be excited about getting up when you’re camping in a tent and it’s raining. I heard it, rolled over and went back to sleep. Eventually though, one must get up. And so we did, performing the onerous tasks that just have to be done. The tent was wet and heavy when we packed it. Good thing Charlie, my big strong man, carries it.

After breakfast back at the grocery store, we pointed our noses east, soon crossing into Quebec.  I was so happy to leave Ontario behind that to celebrate and to let Ontario know what I really thought about it, I had a pee just before crossing into La Belle Province! I actually really like southern Ontario. It has everything one could ever want and its a fantastic place to live. But northern Ontario, where we were is a totally different story. I’m surprised anyone lives there. But many do and they’re all happily hunting, fishing and drinking beer.

Hudson, Quebec is primarily anglophone. Well established as a wealthy, retirement community, its livened up by the presence of numerous vendors, restaurants and cafes. The houses are well maintained, the lawns groomed, the flowers full and resplendent.  We rode through this little village all the way to the end, where we took the Oka Ferry, a less than 15 minute ride to the other side.   Our destination for the night was Cotes de Neighes, in downtown Montreal and Charlie asked someone if they knew the way. As this man was explaining, a woman interrupted and said she knew exactly how to get there as she cycled that route regularly. So, thus began a long, hot, confusing journey into and through the heart of Montreal, requiring several backtracks and revisions. I have a poor sense of direction but Charlie is exceptional. Put him anywhere and he gets things figured out pretty quickly. Today though, nothing fell into place easily. Eventually we did get to the home of Peter Seeley’s in-laws where we were to leave our bikes. Peter, a former student at Mount Allison, now Professor  of Arcitecture at U of T has shared an ongoing friendship with Charlie. They have several common interests including a rabid passion for soccer. He, his wife, Dominique and their extremely energetic 3 year old daughter, Agnes, live about a 15 minute walk from Dominique’s parents place.     They had kindly offered to host us for the night but we had to leave our bikes at the in-laws house as their apartment was too small. Showering there and selecting what we’d need for the night, we walked up to Peter and Dominique’s apartment to spend the night. Peter gave us angel hair pasta for dinner and shortly after we all headed to bed, us worn out by our long, hot, confusing bike ride, them worn out from chasing their 3 year old. Thank you Peter and Dominique for hosting us. Have the time of your lives bringing up Agnes and that little boy you’re expecting this coming winter!!!

What is that law of inertia?     Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, bodies at rest tend to stay at rest? It’s something like that anyway. I can tell from experience that this body at rest had no desire to get back into motion. But you do what you have to do…..

After breakfast Les  (Geri went to work again) took us back to Ottawa, stopping briefly in Merrickville at Mrs McGarrigles, one of the many little shops in the area. Merrickville is not one of those places you want to rush into and back out again. No, it’s really cute, full of shops selling anything and everything: coffee shops, restaurants,  ice cream parlours, kitchen stores, dress shops, toy shops, gadget stores, flower shops……. It’s the kind of place to go to with a girlfriend or two and explore.  Take your time. Stop for coffee. Linger over lunch….  Mrs Mcgarrigles had red pepper jelly and some fancy mustards among many other things. That was what Les was after. It was a teaser, but I can’t carry anything on my bike anyway. Some other time, and some other place……

 After saying our goodbyes to Les and expressing our heartfelt appreciation for their hospitality and my joy at having seen them again after all these years, we turned our attention to our summer quest. Good news at the bike shop! They did tuneups and changes our chains and that was it. Bought some Butt Butter and groceries and off we went.

The road wasn’t too bad but there was another option open to us and that was to take the Prescott-Russel bike paths. The surface was mostly pea gravel and we averaged a booming 12.5 km an hour, which is ridiculously slow, but we were ready to be away from the traffic. The path , mostly flat, led us through the deep, dark, forbidding woods, through farmers fields edged with wildflowers and  by numerous waterways.  We listened to the deep croaks of frogs and the various singing birds. There are flocks of vibrant yellow finches darting about, plus robins and many others I can’t identify. The wind was against us but it was often broken by all the trees and bushes. How blessed we are to have this opportunity to see Canada from this perspective.

We turned in to a little town with the promising  claim to being the gingerbread capital of Canada. Anyone who really knows me, knows that gingerbread holds equal  appeal to me as strawberry-rhubarb. Maybe more. Anyway, to my disappointment, Vankleek Hill’s gingerbread claims to fame were all about the lacy wooden cut-out adornments on the outsides of many of the houses.  

It was getting late in the day. We stopped at a grocery store, bought a BBQ chicken and a few other things and googled campgrounds in the area. Nothing close by. By then it was dark. We rode up the way a bit and set up our tent up behind a monument at a high school on the Main Street. Hidden in plain view. Slept peacefully all night.  

Shhh….. Charlie’s still sleeping.

6:30 am on a day when I could sleep in. What am I doing up?  Geri and Les are early risers and I could hear them talking in the kitchen. I joined them for coffee before Geri left for work. She only works 17 hours a week as a homecare nurse. She loves her work and her clients love her and they will miss her when she retires. It’s on her radar but she keeps deferring it; she derives so much joy from it. Les and I had time to have a real good chat as he made me bacon, eggs, toast, cheese and onion for breakfast. Nice change from our daily raw oatmeal! Eventually he went out to clear trees and Charlie came down. I made him exactly the same food Les had made me.

Les returned hot and sweaty from all his hard work and said he was going to go to Brockville for a swim. Brockville!!! I had no idea we were so close. “Yes”, he said. “It’s only about half an hour away”. Brockville! That was  where one of my high school friends who had been living in Toronto had recently moved to. I hadn’t seen Sheenagh since we were both 17! I messaged her on Facebook. Was she available? Yes, she was!!! She came and picked me up and we went back to her new home where she lives with her husband a Doug. Doug was 3 years ahead of us in the same high school but I don’t recognize him. Maeve, their oldest daughter was there too, helping them unpack and settle in. (I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures!!!!!) They have 4 kids, 3 daughters and 1 son, all grown up and living independently. There was no shortage of conversation. We yapped non-stop for hours! It was amazing to see her after all these years. I hope they love their new home. The location is enviable. There’s lots to see and do in the immediate vicinity. We also passed through Merrickville, a place I’d love to have time to

explore. Alas, no time this time.

After his swim, Les picked me up to take back to his and Geri’s place.He again took the scenic route. When we got back to the house he wanted to show me the property from behind him on the ATV. So, off we went, me yelling, “Faster! Faster!”                                                                           Not really….. I was saying how fast it felt after being on a bike for almost 2 months.  He was super slow for me. I’m finding the same thing when on the rare occasions when I’m in a car too. It feels like we’re whipping by, but we’re only doing 60km an hour!  

During all this time Charlie had been on the computer, figuring out routes and lining up places to stay. He’s an amazing man. I love him.

Another fantastic supper, this time of barbecued London broil and potato wedges and all kinds of other tasty things. Lots and lots more conversation. Matt,  their youngest who Charlie and I know dropped by. He had been flying clients around all day then he jumped on his motorcycle and rode to his parents place from Ottawa, visited with us, ate dinner then motorcycles back to Ottawa. What energy!

We called it a night. I was exhausted but so, so happy to have had such a enjoyable time to catch up with old friends.