Gordon: While I was discreetly cooking breakfast over a backpacking stove set up outside the door of our hotel room - probably the only one doing so in the upscale establishment- we were treated to a great natural show on our last morning in Percé. Presumably feeding on a large school of fish in the bay, hundreds of gannets were diving into the sea. It ...
Ruth: We cycled to Percé from Gaspé on our wettest day yet. We were fortunate enough to find a cafe serving up waffles to wait out the worst of the rainstorms. By the time we made it to Percé we were wet and exhausted and our motel had no record of our reservation. Everything in Percé was fully booked. After a dark moment I found ...
Gordon: The first 25 kms of our ride yesterday was pure bliss. The road followed the edge of the sea, snaking around the headlands and charging into the bays. Traffic was light, the road was pancake flat, and we were generally within a few feet of the water. A pod of whales was easily spotted by the plumes of mist from their breathing. Ruth was ...
Ruth: It doesn't get better than this. After a couple of moderate hills the cycling today flattened out into a ribbon of asphalt snaking its way around several headlands and beaches. Add to that three separate sightings of minke whales and a lovely camping spot at the end of the day. Perfect. The landscape is changing quickly. The villages out on barren points are now being ...
Gordon: We had the quintessential Canadian day today: pancakes with real maple syrup for breakfast, followed by a morning clubbing the seals. Just kidding, we had bread and jam for breakfast.We have been fortunate to see a number of interesting wild animals in recent days. This morning we were cycling along the coast with a rock garden just offshore. For several kilometres most of the rocks ...
Ruth: Now that Gord has lost his shopping privileges things are going much better. I choked down the pea soup last night, but I don't plan on eating that again. For the record I have always respected the fact that Gord's mother regected the gender expectations of the 1950's and wasn't into domestic arts like cooking. Tonight's dinner kicked things up a notch with brown beans ...
Gordon: We lose weight on many days when we are touring, but then there are the days when we have poutine for breakfast. Today was one of those days. On the recommendation of the Tourist Office, we went to a popular local restaurant for second breakfast around 10 am. We were hungry, so the "poutine du matin", which frequentply appears on menus, was very appealing. ...
Ruth: A new chapter of our trip began when we took the ferry across the St. Laurence from Quebec City. We are now heading up to the Gaspé peninsula through beautiful towns and countryside. Just mentioning the word Gaspé terrifies and excites me. All conversations include praise for the beauty and warnings about the hills. We have had a few tastes of rural Quebec roads ...
Ruth: Tonight will be our third night within the walls of city of Quebec. This is definitely the closest Canada comes to being European, and yet we are still very much in the new world. Bear skin rugs, and signs for poutine, remind us of that. I think that long-distance cyclists and marathon runners are really the only people who can safely consume poutine. "Rest" ...
Ruth: With all the beautiful places in Quebec, Gord wanted to go to Asbestos. Not one to deny him this dream, we spent much of the day taking side roads up to the giant town-swallowing hole. I am not exaggerating, the rock seam they were mining ran towards town and as the hole grew they had to move or abandon much of the town. In ...