South side of the River

Its been a few days since I have last posted.  I left Quebec City heavy hearted as I enjoyed my time there greatly. After a slow start to the day and a bike tire replacement I was off and cycling about noon.  A short ferry ride to the south side and then another great biking path.  The first hour was very hot and hilly with a good head wind to boot.  Then the trail joined the highway, the wind shifted to my rear and the my progress increased.  The ride along the south side of the river was as pictureque as the north had been. I had seen storm clouds building so when I reached Mongagmy I hid out under a covered patio of an icrecream store where I met a couple of guys, one who spoke English and had lived in Calgary.

We chatted for quite awhile till the storm broke where he and his friend departed.  It rained for a while and I was starting to debate what my evening plans should be... should I stay here, bike on and if I did how far.  The rain ended at 7, and I decide to trek on. I made to a nice camp ground in l'Islet Du Mar for the night.

When setting up tent I was next to a bunch of other cyclists, but no one was there.  In the morning I chatter with them and they were from the Niagara region and were biking to Newfoundland but at a different way then I was.  My destination today was Riviere du Loup, and with a cooler mostly cloudy day I made gret time and arrived in Riviere du Loup about 2:30.  I even chatted along the way with a few other cyclists who were on their way to NL.  2 young ladies from Kingston and another gent who was heading a little east of Riviere du Loup.

I had heard mention of a town called Tadoussac by Alex in Trois Rivieres and then from another traveler so thought I'd take a detour to Tadoussac to see the whales and what made this place special.  Alas I missed the ferry I think so had to wait till the 6pm ferry ride.  I had stopped in an information centre and thought that the ferry went directly to the little town,. it actually goes to one 35 km down the road.  Well the road is a very mountainous highway that goes up and down, in fact Ste Simion the down was built on the side of the mountain. I arrived in this town about 8pm and had decided to take a bus to Tadoussac, this little detour was becoming an epic adventure in itself.

What I had hoped was just a quick hop over to see the whales, had gotten very complicated.  So here I was with it getting dark, and no idea where on the mountain roads this bus station was and even exactly when the bus departed.  I didn't want to be stuck in this little town all night if I could avoid it.  It turns out that the bus was at the restaurant so I doubled up my efforts to peddle as I really REALLY didn't want to have the bus pass by me when I was that close.  I was in luck as the diver wasn't leaving for another 10 min,

The driver allowed me to throw my bike on the bus as is which was great and off we went.  The road as I mentioned above was very windy and pitch black out so I was very happy I didn't decide to take on this short 35 km ride.  Especially sine this was supposed to be a short segway from my trip.

The hostel in Tadoussac is very nice, all the hostels in Quebec have bars attached to them, and this one had a patio.  So it was very lively. They initially didn't have any rooms available so I was going to tent it as they also had tent spots, but a bed opened up so I crashed there for the night.

The next day I booked my whale watching trip and then made breakfast in the very chaotic kitchen and went for a hike up a hill with a gal from the hostel.  It was a very nice view of the city.  I went out on the Zodiacs on the choppy water.  The river is massive.  Its hard to imagine there is that much water flowing to the ocean.   I learnt that the choppier the water the less whales you see, and alas that held true.  Out Zodiac did see the whales but only as blips. which was a little disappointing, but still a fun afternoon on the river.  There is even fjords along the river, its that big!

So today I have booked my bus.  It sounds like I need to break down my bike.  I sure hope I don't for a single stop....    so I will wait till the last moment before I break it down.  It won't take long to do, it takes for ever to put it back together again in comparison.  So its now noon and 2 hours to the bus.  Time to go pack up my tent and then perhaps a short walk in town and along te bay before the bus arrives.