Day 62 St. Damase, QC to Atholville, New Brunswick

 100.3 miles, 3,100 ft ascent

 

Our route through Quebec and into New Brunswick followed the Matapedia River downstream.  The Matapedia is a world class fly fishing destination, and the canoes they use here are a distinctive New Brunswick design. 

 

 

When we crossed into New Brunswick, we entered the Atlantic Time Zone, and our watches moved forward one hour.  New Brunswick is the first of the Maritime Provinces we have entered.  In New Brunswick we also got our first sighting of the Atlantic Ocean.  I suddenly had a craving for shellfish.

I should clarify that reaching the Atlantic in New Brunswick is far from completing  the Tour du Canada.  Our final destination is St. John's, Newfoundland, and we still have many miles to pedal before we reach St. John's, riding through both New Brunswick, and across Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia before we reach Newfoundland.

 

 

I chatted with Louis, our French speaking cyclist from Montreal, about how much I will miss the friendly people of Quebec.  In our conversation I related that the French in Paris can be quite rude to a non-French speaker, but I experienced no such poor manners in Quebec.  Louis told me that he is also treated rudely by Parisians when visiting there, due to his speaking Quebec French, rather than Parisian French.  However, when he visits France in areas other than Paris, his Quebec French is widely accepted and the locals treat him kindly.  By the way, in the other provinces of Canada, Parisian French rather than Quebec French, is taught in the schools.  It is no wonder that non-Quebec Canadians told me that Americans are treated better in Quebec than they are.  Regardless, should you choose to visit Quebec, the people will treat you well and their friendliness will shine.  Of course, it helps if you bring with you the basic French s'il vous plait, merci beaucoup, au revoir, etc.

While riding we came upon this farmhouse art including a bicycle and train.  The windmill is functioning art that is part of the arrangment.

 

Pedaling across the Gaspe Peninsula, I took this shot looking north into the upper regions of the Gaspe that we bypassed.  It would be easy to spend an entire week or more cycling the Gaspe.

Frontal and rear view of the St. Moise Church.  St. Moise is a tiny town with a population of 577 inhabitants.

Lac Matapedia is a huge, picturesque lake. 

Notre Dame in Val Brillant.  Another small town with a population of only 899.

The Catholic churches are exceptional, considering the relatively small population in the towns where they are located.  I discussed this fact with the Canadian cyclists.  They said that there was no Canadian federal or Quebec provincial government support for the churches.  The money to build them must have come from people in the local towns out of civic pride and because the church is a central highlight of the town.  There is also the possibility that these churches were originally built by money from the Catholic Church at large as the communities were being developed, and the local community maintains them.

A shot of the famous Matapedia River, known world wide for its fly fishing.  The primary fishing target is the Atlantic Salmon.

 

We pedaled by this statue paying respect to the Atlantic Salmon which give the Matapedia River its world renowned reputation among fishing enthusiasts.

 

 

We were encouraged greatly by our first sighting of the Atlantic Ocean as seen here in Atholville, NB.

Large fresh fish display at the Atlantic Superstore, a grocery/superstore chain in the Maritime Provinces similar to Wal-Mart.

Here is another ski area, this time in New Brunswick.  Slopes do not look terribly difficult, but perhaps there are runs not visible from this perspective.  I was surprised to find a ski area within 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, but there is a high ridge between the ski area and the ocean.

A logging and sawmill operation in Causapscal, population 2,458.

This is the lovely Causapscal Church.  Again a beautiful church in an area with a small population.

All told, today was a nice day to ride.  The predicted rain never materialized, and temperatures rose into the 80sF in the afternoon.  We had a headwind.  

A note on the constant wind is in order here.  Most days of the tour, we ride in the same direction all day.  Thus, we usually have a headwind with an additional crosswind, or a tailwind with an additional crosswind.  Therefore the wind is either really good, or very bad.  My usual rides at home are usually in a loop, departing, then returning home.  In such rides, the rider deals with either a headwind going out and a tailwind returning, or the opposite.  

Our journey continues tomorrow, when we will get back in the saddle and pedal further into New Brunswick. Come back for more stories in our adventure.