That Was Easy

My attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night didn’t go exactly as hoped as I struggled into the night to maintain a connection with the campsite’s WiFi. I moved from spot to spot and the connection would come and go. By the end I was sitting outside the office with literally dozens of mosquitos constantly at my face. It was not pleasant. Looking back, I’m actually not sure if it was the WiFi or my blog hosting provider. Either way, I wasn’t impressed. If it’s the latter then I guess I’ll have to look into switching providers (I’m open to suggestions).

Sunrise in Baie-Trinité.

So, after a late night my morning started with a crow clearly determined to get me out of bed at 5:00. Given the volume, I initially thought it was right inside my tent – it was 5:00, I wasn’t thinking clearly. Once I realized that the crow likely wouldn’t have the ability to open the tent zipper I concluded it was sitting in a tree right next to my tent. And it cawed. And cawed. And cawed. Sometimes nature is slightly less than amazing. Of course, once I looked outside and saw the sun rising over the river I retracted that thought. Nature. Still amazing.

At 5:15 I got up as I could take no more and accepted that my day was officially underway. By 5:16 the crow had moved on.

Of all days to start early, this certainly didn’t need to be one of them. I had another short day planned – 71km to Port-Cartier. I actually had a backup plan where I would continue on to Sept-Îles if I was making good time. But I certainly didn’t need to get to Sept-Îles today.

I suspected there wouldn’t be many opportunities to stop for food along the way today so I wanted to make sure I had breakfast before I headed out. Unfortunately, the restaurant didn’t open until 8:00. So, I used the extra hours to charge up my laptop and camera while I leisurely packed up my gear.

Breakfast came and went – I had an omelette (in case you were wondering) and by 9:00 I was on the road.

Easy Rider.

From what I could tell from Google Maps, today’s ride had the makings of a pretty easy one. A few big hills, but mostly flat terrain. Google was right. By 9:50 I had put in my first 20km and so I stopped for a break (I thought I’d try to get into the habit of stopping every 20km). I even opened up the package of beef jerky that I’d forgotten I had. Whoever invented beef jerky was a genius. I maintained my 20km/break routine and by noon I was on pace for a 1:00 arrival in Port-Cartier. The only challenge of the day was dealing with the temperature swings. When I left the campsite is was 24 degrees. Five minutes later (that’s not an exaggeration) it was 16 degrees.

At the 50th parallel.

Oh, I guess the most interesting – or least unexpected – part of the ride was when I saw a sign indicating that I was crossing the 50th Parallel. I can’t be sure but I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve crossed a parallel on my bike. Of course, I took a picture.

I was greeted in Port-Cartier by a Tim Hortons, so I again stopped in for food and WiFi. I’m not a coffee drinker so I’ve never looked at the coffee prices but the more meals I eat at Tim’s the more I realize that they are more than a bit of a ripoff. It’s funny, before this trip I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to a Tim Hortons in the past ten years. Now it’s become a lifeline. Although, not as much as at the beginning of the trip.

I used the WiFi to track down the nearest campground and, as luck would have it, it was only about 3.5km away. English wasn’t much of an option so I once again endeavoured to impress the woman in the office with my French du jour. I’m not sure if it was my sophisticated use of the language or the sad face I made when she told me it was $25/night, but she gave me the site for $20. We attempted to converse a bit more until we had used up the words we knew.

I set up my tent and decided to cycle back into town to see some of the sites. There aren’t a LOT of sites to see in Port-Cartier but they do have the remains of a ship that ran aground back in 1977. And several rivers and waterfalls that have come to embody the scenery of past few days.

Lady Era Shipwreck (1977)

As I was making my way through town I ended up passing by the Tim Hortons again. This time I noticed another bike loaded up with gear. I decided to pedal over to investigate. Turns out the cyclist in question is a young woman on her first cycling tour – Quebec City to Havre-St-Pierre (via Rimouski). Her English was good enough to allow us to discuss our trips for a bit before parting company. As we’re both heading the same direction, we’ll see if our paths cross again.

Back at the campsite, I was talking to someone else who was part of a group that had just finished a cycling trip up to Natashquan (from Saint-Siméon). They had a car following them along the way (presumably carrying their gear). Apparently the roads leading to Natashquan are generally in good shape with paved shoulders for about 90% of the trip. Definitely good news.

Today’s Totals:
Distance travelled: 90.72km (75.04km to Port-Cartier)
Time on bike: 4:32:17
Maximum speed: 55.98 km/h
Average speed: 19.98 km/h