Bienvenue À Quebec

When we last left our hero (that would be me), I was spending the night in a “casse-croute” still under construction. I think I finally called it a night around 11:00pm and settled in for a blissful night’s sleep. By the way, did I mention this location was about 50 metres from railway tracks? Well, it was. And still is. Fortunately I had noticed the tracks earlier in the evening so I wasn’t surprised by the first train that went through – blowing its horn about 10 times. But really, who doesn’t like a nice french horn? (Ok, I’m not proud of that line but I had to use it at some point). Anyway, perspective is a fascinating thing. A few hours earlier I was standing in the rain, tired, hungry, and with no real prospects for accommodations. But here I was, with a solid roof over my head, a solid floor to sleep on, and food in my stomach – with that kind of perspective, a roaring train is hardly worth fretting over. By the time the second train came through I barely even noticed it – after all, the first train confirmed that, despite the volume of said train, my home for the evening wasn’t built directly ON the tracks. I think I fell back asleep before it finished passing through. If there was a third train, I didn’t notice it.

I woke up pretty early this morning. As much as I appreciated my accommodations I also didn’t want to overstay my welcome. In the event there was to be construction done today I wanted to be gone before that happened. I was packed up and on the road by about 7:30am. With Quebec City only 70km away, I was hopeful this would turn out to be a short day. (SPOILER ALERT: It was.)

There were really only two issues on the day – well, three if you count the desperate search for a washroom first thing this morning (but clearly that would fall into the “too much information” category, so let’s just stick with the two issues).

The first issue was the weather – and even that wasn’t TOO bad. While I did have to pedal through some prolonged sections in the rain, it was generally light and really only started to pick up as I was approaching the hostel – the destination of choice for tonight, and as it happens, a nice segue into the second issue of the day.

Of the things you DON’T want to see as you’re cycling up a big hill towards your evening’s accommodation, in the now heavy rain, is a “No Vacancy” sign in the window. And for the record, while many things sound better in French than English (like “enchante” vs “Nice to meet you”). “No Vacancy” and “Complet” are equally unpleasant. It was yesterday all over again. Standing in the rain, tired, hungry, and no place to go. Ok, maybe it wasn’t as desperate as yesterday. It was only 1:00pm so I went into the hostel to inquire about other hostels in the area. Fortunately, there were two. And the first one had vacancies. Maybe the second did too but I didn’t feel compelled to find out.

So, I am now in Quebec City for the first time since Grade 8 – and yes, that was a LONG time ago. Apparently there’s a big music festival on which would explain the limited vacancies in the area. Unlike the Jazz Festival in Montreal, this one requires a $72 pass – and I don’t see me buying one. I mean, I can buy quite a bit of poutine for $72!

I realized today that I’m a bit ahead of “schedule” so I think I’ll stay an extra night and rest up a little – and yes, eat some more poutine.

Today’s Totals:

Distance Travelled: 68.15 km
Time on bike (actually moving, i.e. not waiting at the infinite red lights I hit going through Quebec): 3:45:32
Average speed: 18.11 km/h