Thursday, 10 August 2006

Sept-Iles to Port-Cartier (Quebec)

It rained quite a lot during the night - I'm not very impressed with the tent, it seems to get quite wet inside for a brand like The North Face. I much prefer my Terra Nova Solar II. I got up and had time for a shower and breakfast before packing up and going back yet again to the Tourist Information Office to finish catching up on my week backlog of blog. (They were open again at 7:30)

I didn't get to use the facilities much at the Youth Hostel, but I did get a chance to wash my waterbottle and found that it should be a translucent white and not green! When I first got up it was still cloudy from all the rain, but as I cycled to the Tourist Information Office I could see clear blue sky ahead of me to the west.

It was nearly 10 am by the time I had finished blogging and it was a pleasantly warm and sunny day as I cycled back into town to a bike shop to buy some more spare spokes of the right length (There's nothing so simple as a standard spoke) and while I was there I got them to replace a broken screw that holds the rear derailleur to the drop-out. A trivial problem. 3 spokes plus replacement screw and labour = $5. Bargain. In the bike shop they were telling me what I already knew, that there were a lot of steep hills on the road ahead after Tadoussac, but what I didn't know, they answered for me; were the hills worth doing for the hills? - No.

On their recommendation I went to Chez Cora for breakfast - I've never seen so many breakfast options, and although I was tempted by the fruit, the 'dejeuner construction' won out. (Builder's breakfast?) - 3 eggs, 4 sausages, 3 slices of toast, and lots of homefries. Je n'ai pas faim maintenant.

It was 11:30 by the time I set off from Sept-Iles. I was cycling into the wind for the first part, but I was still on a cycle path and it was a lovely sunny morning so I just went with the [slow] flow... Once the cycle path ended I was back on the 138, which for the most part had no shoulder and with the fast moving traffic was a little hairy in paces. I suppose in the interests of Yin and Yang there had to be something to make up for it being such a lovely sunny day.

After 30 km I detoured through Gallix to avoid some of the 138; I was hoping to find a little cafe or something, but it was pretty much just a long line of houses between the beach and the road. There was a nice little park next to the sea where I sat and had some lunch. I did get stung on the foot by a bee as I walked across the grass. That had me hopping around a bit which would probably have looked quite funny to an observer. Yin and Yang again.

I cycled on through Gallix and back up to the 138 and immediately found a little cafe where I could sit and write some diary and have a hot tea and a cold milkshake. It wasn't too much further to Port Cartier, which was lucky as the road continued to be none too friendly. I found the Camping municipal le Paradis, ($16, showers free) set up the tent and lay out my sleeping bag to dry before setting out to explore the town. I did find a little internet place and typed in a load of blog only to lose it all when the blog site went down. Teeth grindingly frustrating. I went to console myself by watching another beautiful sunset.

Distance: 82.2 km
Cycling time: 4:31
Total distance: 5782.9 km