Day 56 St. Mathieu de Beloiel to Trois Revieres, QC

87.2 miles (I Missed a turn due to error in the cue sheet, and rode almost 10 extra miles.) 680 ft. ascent

 

Great news!  Louis came back!  He had a bike shop look at his bicycle with its bottom bracket problems, and his bearings were broken so badly that the shop could not make a fix.  He rejoined us riding one of his old bikes, the yellow one with an aluminum frame and granny gears, perhaps for the remainder of the tour.  (I have an older bike with an aluminum frame and granny gears at home.  Sometimes the oldies are the tougher goodies.)  He told us that it requires a special tool to extract a bearing broken the way his was.  His regular bike shop opens Tuesday, so he hopes he can secure a repair of his newer bike in a timely manner.

 

 

The Three Rivers mentioned in the title of today's post were really all the St. Maurice, as it splits into three channels just before entering the St. Lawrence.

We rode parallel to the Richelieu River, for the first 30 miles before taking a ferry across the St. Lawrence River.  The Richelieu is a tributary of the St. Lawrence that has its source in Lake Champlain on the border of New York and Vermont, before flowing north into Canada,  It was nice to have water from Lake Champlain in the USA flowing beside me in the Richelieu.

 

We rode past this church with its soaring spires.

 

The typical 4 way stop signs in Quebec leave it beyond a doubt that everyone is to stop.

 

 

 

 

We peddlers all like to see signs like this one.

From our ferry I managed this shot of ocean going vessels on the St. Lawrence River.

 

We cycled on the King's Road.

 

 

At Tim Horton's we stopped for lunch, where I enjoyed a sandwich, potato wedges and coffee for under CA$10.00.  

St-Antoine-de-Padque Louisville Catholic Church.  Louisville is where the famous Louisville wooden hockey sticks were made.  They didn't make the move to composite hockey sticks.  What a shame!

French Equestrian School.

 

Poultry farm with three different levels.  We saw many of these along the road recently.  A poultry high rise?

 

I rode solo for the greater part of today in order to make it easier taking photos and to be one of the first to reach the campsite laundromat.  (I want to be a tourist when we get to Quebec City, rather than wasting time there washing clothes.)  

At 35 miles, I caught up to Mr. Speedy, Don, from Ontario, at the ferry across the St. Lawrence River.  We rode together for the next 20 miles, when I cut out for a Tim Horton's lunch.  Mr. Speedy hardly stops to eat or drink during a ride, and arrives first at camp daily.  My preference is to ride hard in the early morning when it is cool, and then sit down at a table or counter to order lunch, before completing the ride when it is warmer.

We camped on the outskirts of Trois Rivieres, a city of 134,000 inhabitants with the motto "Deus nobiscum quis contra."  "If God is with us, who can be against us."  I felt good riding today and arrived at Trois Rivieres in time to do laundry before dinner.  Hmmmmm.  The faucets in the washrooms here are colored red for hot and green for cold.  Could have been a challenge for a red/green color blind person like myself.

See the continuation of our saga tomorrow when you visit again!