Yesterday, Thursday, June 13th, after checking to make sure all the windows were closed, that the garbage was put out, etc we packed all our cycling gear on our bikes and were just about to set off for Orleans at 1:15 when the postman showed up with our new passports which we had applied for on Monday. Wow 3 days for the passport office to deliver our passports. That must be some kind of record!!!
We cycled to Hog's Back and followed the bike path along the Rideau River to Sussex Drive. Once there we followed the Ottawa River bike path to Orleans. We stopped in at the Orleans Villa, where Bev works, to say hello to the residents who were very curious about our bikes and all the gear we carried for our trip. We also stopped in to say goodbye to my grandchildren and son and daughter-in-law who live on Grenoble. Then it was off to Beaucourt Court where we spent the night with Marilyn, Eric and their son Sebastien. Marilyn had prepared a delicious spaghetti dinner and salad to go with it and after a quick shower we sat down for dinner and tucked in.
After dinner I helped Erid load our bikes in the back of his Toyota pickup truck or "Big Red" as Sebastien likes to refer to it. Eric had offered to drive us to Trois Rivieres on his way to the Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean region to visit his family and do some fishing there. While cycling to Orleans I was having a lot of trouble with my rear derailleur. As we were leaving my son's home on Grenoble I checked my rear cog and found a piece of bent wire there that I had fashioned to hold my chain in place while I removed the quick link. It had fallen off and disappeared. Unfortunately that didn't resolve my rear derailleur problem./ After unloading my panniers, etc I went for a ride around the block at Beaucourt and the shifting seemed to be somewhat better. I thought one of my panniers must have been resting on the cable and had been messing with my shifting.
We were all up bright and early Friday morning (5:45) and after some final packing set off for Trois Rivieres at 6:30 AM. But first we had to stop at Tim Horton's for coffee and breakfast. While waiting to pull in to the Timmy's car lot we saw a skunk being harrassed by a Red Winged Black Bird. The skunk would lift his tail and the bird would scoot away only to return again. We quickly got our breakfast at the drive through window and set off for the highway to Hawksbury.
Our drive to T-R went off without any incidents and we only ran into roadworks when passing by Montreal. We arrived at our destination (where we had left off last year) at 10:10 AM. Eric wasted no time unloading our gear and our bikes as he still had a long way to go before getting to his "fishing hole" in Northern Quebec.
After loading our gear on our bikes I noticed that my rear wheel was binding as we were about to set off. A quick check revealed that my rear wheel had come loose. I quickly sorted out this problem and we set off for Portneuf at 10:40. Shifting was much smoother. No more chain skipping all over the place. Must have been cycling with a loose wheel yesterday all the way from Nepean to Orleans. Yikes!!!
It was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies and in spite of a nasty cross head wind we arrived in Portneuf at 4:00 PM. I had made a booking at La Maison du Capitaine a B&B just off the 138 with a great view of the St. Lawrence River. After putting our bikes in the spacious garage the manager showed us our room on the 2nd floor. After a refreshing shower we went out on the terrace and had a cold beer. ($3 ea.). The manager also offered to prepare dinner for us which turned out to be spaghetti with a large meat ball, bread and butter and a small glass of red wine ($20 for two). Dessert was Queen Elizabeth cake with a Caramel sauce ($2 ea.). Breakfast is included. Hopefully there won't be anymore extras. Oh, did I forget to mention the B&B is $85/night.
Bev has already settled in for the night and I'm going to join her shortly as the head wind really beat us up today. Hopefully the wind gods will be more kind to us tomorrow as we head for Quebec City.
Roly and Bev, La Maison du Capitaine, Portneuf, QC
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