The idée fixe of this trip thus far has been a fine brisk morning, and this morning was no different. But by the time we left the excellent B&B in Lyster, Gîte du Coteau, it had warmed up enough that I didn’t need my jacket, even though we got on the road even earlier than yesterday morning.
Today was to be a shortish day—only 49 km to Victoriaville—so we took our time, stopping often to watch birds and take photos. It being a Monday morning, we had the bike path to ourselves, and in fact we did not see another cyclist for the first 90 minutes. The first 25 km of this ride, between Lyster and Plessisville, were some of the most idyllic riding we have ever done on tour. Much of it was through maple forest, and we found ourself stopping just to listen to the abundant birdsong, uninterrupted as it was by any other human-made sound. We did see the occasional sign of human occupation (other than the bike path itself), which manifested itself by either a stretch of forest that had been logged selectively (apparently to cut back certain species to allow sugar maples to grow), or a woodpile made from said logging.
But none of that was going on this morning. All we heard was the sound of our tires on the gravel and the many resident songbirds, including all three Mimid species we see in Quebec, the gray catbird, brown thrasher, and northern mockingbird.
Alas, this state of existence mostly ended after we rode through Princeville, with its lovely Église Saint-Eusebe. After that, the bike path began to run parallel to Route 116 again for a long stretch. Coupled with our forgoing of 2nd breakfast (a mistake!), which caused our energy levels to flag at this very moment, and a very slight headwind (the normal state of affairs), the euphoria of the previous two hours began to melt away.
By the time the path finally curved away from the highway, it was well past noon, and we were tired, irritated, and hungry. We were only a few kilometres away from our destination, but when we came across a quiet suburban park, we were finally able to stop for lunch. It also seemed like a good idea to open up the kitchen pannier, pull out the camp stove, and make a saucepan of tea. This proved to be just the elixir we needed. Coffee is wonderful, but there’s something really special about a freshly brewed cup of tea to go along with your picnic lunch.
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| Tea for two! |
Now feeing MUCH better, we rode the final seven kilometres to our B&B for the night, which entailed another noisy ride along a busy road. But the B&B is very comfortable, and after settling in, we decided to go for a walk at the adjacent Mont-Arthabaska park to use some different leg muscles and take in some nice views of the area. A second short ride to get dinner provisions completed the day’s activities.
So much for an shortish day.
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