After a good night’s sleep (again!- -we must be so tired everyday!) Liz, host of Auberge de Chemin de Roy prepared us a good breakfast. I had a most scrumptious quiche and fresh fruit and yogurt dish and she made Vic an omelette without cheese and a meal without dairy, as requested. Her brother unlocked the garage and Vic had our bikes ready. Packing up each night gets to be routine. I had some underwear drying on the window sill and a shirt also. I strapped my shirt on my trunk bag to sun dry.
We followed the Chemin de Roy signs around the edges of the river, sometimes moving inland as we cycled. The Chemin de Roy is a meandering road with views of Fleuve Saint Laurent and charming towns. Liz said we had 2 big hills and that the 45 mile ride into Quebec City “was not too bad.” We did encounter two steeper climbs on Route 138 but these were not the “big” ones we later found out. We picked up 2 apples at a market from a street vender, for $1.
We rode on the edges of a trafficky 90 km. road for a while but we’re glad to turn off toward country roads with views of the river again. We noticed hillier riding though compared to the previous Chemin de Roy.
Then we came to a part of the road with a 15% grade hill. I told Vic I was walking. He joined me. A garbage trucked grinded up hill in first gear. We experienced a small hit to our egos when a whole group of spandex clad cyclists sped down the hill as we pushed our bikes up. It was sunny and getting warm. I wondered if this was steep hill number One?
We had beautiful riding for a while and our trail ended at Cap Rouge. The hills had sapped our strength and we stopped at the waterfront to eat a snack of apple, peanut butter, and olive cheese bread. We noticed a group congregating on the pier and remembered –it was the solar eclipse in one hour!
We started out again with the steepest street ahead. Vic’s Route sheet said, “look for Route Verte.” We saw no signs. We did see folks walking up a steep set of stairs. We asked a young man where was the Route Verte and he did not know but told us that if we climbed the stairs we would hit Rue Saint-Louis. Yes! Vic spied the rails on the steps we had seen on our last bike tour in Quebec. It was so steep, we both pushed each bike up separately at each landing up the designated rails.
We guessed hill number 2?? We were exhausted but happy we were on track. We saw the Route Verte signs whoopee.
We travelled on suburban roads which had now flattened out. Getting closer!
We thought we were in bike heaven going through a beautiful park on wide bike lanes along the Saint Lawrence on our right, with cliffs on the left. At a light, a cyclist said we should take the bike bath to the side of the steep road and the Avenue of hotels would be at the top. He cycled up it but again Vic and I walked it.
The switchbacks were steep. At the top though we found tree-lined avenues with beautiful old homes. Two women told us we were near Hotel Concorde. But at 3 pm we were so hungry. We found a row of restaurants and locked our bikes to a tree and had a great pasta dinner.
We found our hotel after another stranger pointed it out. It was the tallest building with a rotating circular restaurant. On Grand Allee near a gorgeous park.
They let us store our bikes in our large modern room and again, a hot tub awaited us and deep sleep.
The hotel lent us a huge umbrella since rain was forecast. We found a great coffee shop, Cantook, and a place for egg breakfast and bacon with croissants
on Rue Saint Jean the next day. We bought lube at the bike shop. We kept walking toward old Quebec and the shops. The flowers, grand buildings, and food enchanted us. We saw a street performer. We walked back to our hotel and spent several hours resting and recovering from our 5 days of biking. It also rained heavily and we liked being in a cozy room. I had picked up a bottle of wine earlier and ate some more of the good bread we bought.
The next day we went back for good coffee at Cantook and enjoyed sitting outdoors sipping it and enjoying pastries. We ventured into old Quebec walking down steep hills, viewing the amazing history and murals, buying souvenirs, maple fudge, and basking in sunshine and flowers. A beautiful town with a lot of history that we read about online.
Where’s Vic? Or Waldo?
The Trompe d’oeil were just incredible, painted by a dozen Quebec and French painters. We did not take the Funicular which transports people back up the steep cliff. We walked and it was not too steep compared to pushing our loaded bikes earlier. What an amazing fortresses city. 
We ate at Cafe Buade , the oldest restaurant in the city. Good comfort food. After a walk past shops, parliament, the Citadelle and our local park, we called it a night.
We found working pay phones in town. It has been 10 years since we had seen that in the states.
We were taking a train the next day to Montreal so bought sandwiches. And visited a chocolate museum and shop. Best chocolate ever! Erico’s chocolate. An email told us our train baggage service tomorrow was cancelled. After a phone call we booked a later train. What else could we do?
In the morning we got coffee and pastries and enjoyed our coffee shop again. We met a young couple from Ontario who told us they recommended the Musee National Beaux-arts. They also confirmed that the cold windy weather was uncommon. We layered up and wore socks and several layers. Close to our hotel. So we checked out, stored our bikes in the lobby and walked 15 minutes to the art gallery. Nice contemporary and modern art and part of the gallery was in the old prison!
We ate our picnic sandwiches. At the right time we retrieved our bikes and biked downhill to the train station. Because the had cancelled and delayed our train ride, they gave us free bike transport -we saved $50.
And let us stay in the lounge for business class with free beverages and comfort lunge chairs. Nice! We boarded at 5:45 for a 9 pm arrival in Montreal.
Velo Spirits 