Tuesday, 08 August 2006

Havre Saint Pierre to Riviere-au-Tonnerre (Quebec)

There was not a breath of wind at the campsite down by the sea and the sun was peeking out from under the clouds. I had set my alarms earlier for Quebec time, and was surprised to find the washrooms so busy at 6 am. I was trying to condition myself to an earlier start as sunrise and sunset are so much earlier here.

Everything was dripping wet with condensation as I packed up. I was back on the go by 7 am. Up on the 138 road there was a very light headwind, but nothing compared to the last two days. The sky cleared quickly ahead of me and I was soon cycling in bright sunshine, with the cloud hovering to my left over the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

the road was much more open to the west of Havre Saint Pierre, with some hills away in the distance, inland. I was only 20 km out of Havre Saint Pierre when I felt the familiar 'ping' of a spoke breaking - again on the freewheel side of the rear wheel. It was one of the ones that Brett had replaced in Gander. I decided to carry on until I could find somewhere convenient to stop and repair it, and ended up cycling all the way to Longue Pointe de Mingan where I arrived just after 9:30 - a good time to stop for breakfast.

After breakfastI set about replacing the spoke. It took me longer to unload the baggage and lay out my towel and the tent flysheet to dry in the sun and breeze than it did to replace the spoke. Getting the freewheel off was by now an easy task and as I could re-use the same spoke-nipple I didn't have to deflate the tyre and remove it. So, now I had a nicely trued rear wheel again and a derailleur working 95% okay.. Hurrah! But in the hour and a half I had spent having breakfast and doing the repairs ithad started to cloud over and the wind pick up again. Boo.

As it turned out, the wind would blow strongly for a while when it was cloudy and cool, and then it would calm down for a while, when it was sunny and warm. Much of the road from Longue Pointe was none too exciting, so that I was looking forward to reaching each new village if only for a change of scenery. In Riviere Saint Jean, another small community (Population 287) I saw I sign "Bar Saumonier, SPECTACLES NUDITÉ"! I didn't stop to discover what that meant. Maybe I should if only to liven up the blog.

I was having to try to ride once again in the middle of the carriageway so that I wasn't being surprised by vehicles coming past too close too fast. Maybe I was too spoiled by my time in New England and Nova Scotia where driver were so much more considerate.

Just before Riviere-au-Tonnerre I found a lovely little spot by the sea that would have made a great place to wild camp, but I thought that it was too early in the day to stop. I did stop for lunch there though, and spent some time beach-combing and taking photos. It was only a few kilometres further to Riviere-au-Tonnerre where I stopped for a cup of tea (You can't get a pot here it seems) Right next to the cafe was the Motel Marje which advertised 'Camping Sauvage' - but it's not what I'd call wild camping - a nice big grassy field right next to the beach, and there was even a [free] shower. I decided to stop there, relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. It was either that or battle the wind for the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow might be better, or it might be worse; but that's something for tomorrow.

There was a gazebo in the garden with some hammocks in (one of my favorite things) so I could relax there and read the tourist brochures I had collected. With the wind it was too cold to stay in the hammocks once the sun was behind the clouds but as evening approached, the wind dropped and there was a beautiful calm sunset.

Distance: 98.4 km
Cycling time: 5:14
Total distance: 5556.7 km