Day 79: Rivière Ouelle to Trois pistoles ( yum!!)

This morning started out like most other mornings - get up, pack up, eat breakfast and go. However, breakfast was rather disappointing - not all granolas are created equal, and "Selections" granola (Sobeys' discount brand) was among the worst we've had. This was soon forgotten though, because as soon as we started, the astounding beauty of the countryside made us forget everything else. "La Fleuve" was off to the west, held back by dykes which protected a fertile strip of perfectly flat farmland nestled below the ridge to the east. We flew along straight flat roads, tailwind behind us, passing through fields of gently waving green wheat which flashed silver in the sunlight. The deeper green of the barley fields and the brilliant yellows of the canola accented the amazing tapestry. With the grace of a smooth road and steady power of being in high gears, we rode through the landscape with our heads high taking in the scenery. The picturesque farms and lovely small towns - each identified by their own graceful church - completed the scene. We've been in some amazing places on this trip, but I've got to say that this one takes the cake.






There was only one thing needed to make this perfect, and when a friendly biker zoomed by, then slowed back down again so I could catch up, he gave me the clue to the missing piece. He told me of the most amazing bakery, located just up in the town ahead, where you could eat the bread as a meal itself and the chocolatines were promised to be the best in all of Quebec (and therefore all of North America!)



So we raced on ahead and through the beautiful town of Kamouraska (where every second house is a stylish old B&B - obviously a tourist town, but in a careful, well done way) and found the "boulangerie" just where he said it was. On the outside it was a wonderful old historic house with all the touches and well kept grounds, but it was the inside that blew us away - even though we had high expectations.

I'm quite sure that whatever I write will not do justice to the place - it was the ideal old-school small French bakery. Wooden shelves covered in a myriad of amazing golden brown loaves, flavored from plain old bread to chocolate cranberry or grains galore, helpful staff all dressed in simple white aprons and hats, and a pastry display that blew our minds. Decide? We wanted everything!



After much delicate and careful consideration, we managed to reluctantly leave the shop with only 10 pastries and 2 loaves of bread. The first of the pastries didn't make it out the gate, and boy were they great! Warm, flaky, buttery, soft but not underdone, perfectly moist inside. I've never had anything like it before. And the true sign of their superiority - even us pastry devouring bikers sat around and slowly nibbled, savoring every bite. Incredible, and we all will be back there again some day ;) However, for now we still had kms to cover so it was back on the bikes, propelled forward by the knowledge that we could have the bread and remaining pastry at lunch.




After that, it was several hours more of similarly gorgeous countryside. If you're ever thinking of trying a short bike trip, go around here! We even out-fixed the wily Route Verte and took a flat sideroad through a quaint little coastal town, thus avoiding several kms of big hills. From there we had to suffer our way through Rivière-du-Loupe (a modern commercial mess) but we were able to refill our dwindling supply of groceries which made up for it. Then quickly out of town (through a construction nightmare - blasting the road to install a new sewer main) And eventually back into pretty countryside.

Here at Rivière-du-Loupe La Fleuve becomes overwhelmed by salty ocean water, and so while it still keeps it's name and you can still see across it, the environment becomes much more rugged and coastal. Ridges and terraces overlooking the water fewer fields and more trees, fewer towns - it all started to feel like the Maritimes with that extra bit of Quebec style/class (a good thing). We also got a devil of a tailwind and literally flew along the flats above the sea, doing 30km/hr without even pedaling! Thank goodness we weren't going the other way, we would have given up instantly.

With the wind behind us we reached Trois-Pistoles only to find that the 2 campgrounds were already full. After much discussion, it seemed like it was going to be another night on the side of the road until one of the helpfully women called up a fellow member of the Optimists Club (a local seniors meetup group we think) and convinced him to let us camp in his back yard just down the road. And it was great a thanks Hector-Jean!

Let's see what tomorrow holds - with any luck the beautiful riding/scenery will continue, but we'll have to turn inland leaving Quebec for NB soon - sooner than we want.

Distance: 111.66 km
Time on bike: 5:24:36
Average speed: 20.6 km/h
Distance from Vancouver: 6270 km
Start: 8:00 am
End: 5:20 pm
Wind: south-west (strong-tail)
Conditions: sunny with great wind!

Location:Trois-Pistoles, Quebec