Velo Spirits

So we left Nicolet Hotel Montfort after breakfast for another 38 mile ride in cloudy weather and this day involved an 18 mile country farm route to the Visitors center near Becancour.  We said “bonjour” to the hostess and asked to take the bike shuttle across the Laviolette bridge to Trois Rivieres because there is no bike access across the bridge.  She asked “in 5 minutes?” We waited just moments it seemed when a short woman in a very worn van showed up with her bike rack. It was a towing company and bike shuttle service.

She fussed a bit and Vic helped her adjust the  highly questionable rack.   She spoke French but more loose Québécois and it was harder to understand her French.  Instead of hearing “oui” she said “way. ”

But we had only one purpose. And we had to take off every last bike pack and water bottle for the ride. For $20 each she loaded us up, drove a few miles to the crossing and dropped us off in front of a motel.  It was sunny now and not raining. A good sign. We were on the Route Verte again, this time Route Verte 5. We were on Route Verte 1 and 4 on the other side of the river.

We found our way into Trois Rivieres, to an outdoor cafe with our bikes  next to our table We took Vic’s leftover grilled chicken and fries strapped to my trunk bag. Dinner I figured. We are often too tired to go out again after a day of riding. So we still find great comfort following the Route Verte blue and green signs.

This time we entered the Chemin Roy trail,  in 1737 as the longest road  North of Mexico in North America. We passed quaint villages and landed at Gites Maison de Marie-Rose. It is a nice Victorian house and we were invited to sit in  Adirondack chairs to see the sun set on the Saint Lawrence River. I ate leftover chicken.  That was our first relaxed view on top of the river sitting on the edge of the grassy hill overlooking with the gulls flying over. Our host frowned when we asked for a blanket. We were cold  when  Canadians think it’s warm. We slept soundly after a night time stroll, passing another beautiful church.

Breakfast was the best yet and our host Sylvain told us his people were Cajun and the French flag with the little yellow star was the Cajun flag. He and Johanne also had quotes framed tastefully on the walls that expressed an independent thinker’s sentiment. Einstein, Gandhi, James Dean were the ones we knew.