The Road to Baie-Comeau

In my last update I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I’d go all the way to Baie-Comeau today or not. Well, the final result is in. I didn’t. But then I did. And now again, I didn’t.

Today’s ride was very similar to yesterday’s ride – a few big but manageable hills, but generally a level ride. The big difference between the ride from Tadoussac to Forestville and Forestville to Baie-Comeau is that there’s really NOTHING between Forestville and Baie-Comeau. Really. Nothing. At least not on the main highway. At one point I even took a Google-endorsed detour that would see me go through Colombier. Well, the two things I learned from that detour is that there is NOTHING in Colombier and that the creators of Google Maps have never ridden a fully loaded bicycle because if they had they would never send you on that bumpy of a road. Sure, it was paved. But so are the streets in Toronto but that doesn’t mean you want to ride your bike on them! On the upside, once I returned to Highway 138 I appreciated the wide, smooth shoulder even more.

So, with the lack of towns along the way you’d probably assume that my eating habits on the day weren’t that great. You’d be right. Somewhat. For breakfast I did have a “12 pouces” egg and cheese sub at Subway and then also ordered another “12 pouces” sub for the road – hmmmm … I just realized, the other half is still in my bag! Anyway, with no towns along the way I ended up pedalling for about 50km before I decided I should stop to eat. But where, oh where would I stop? I kept looking for a guard rail along the road against which I could lean my bike and have some food. But the guard rails never showed up. Then I saw a sign for a restaurant – 4km ahead. Perfect. I figured I could stop there. Except there was no restaurant – or maybe I missed a sign. Either way, I was still pedalling and was still hungry and still no closer to finding a place to stop. Yes, I realize I could’ve stopped at any moment but really, that’s hardly my way.

At around the 60km mark I passed over a bridge with another river/waterfall. On the far side of the bridge was a parking lot and a lookout section. Finally. Lunch would be had here. As it turns out it was a very nice spot for a break. Although, I probably should’ve stayed in the shade to get a break from all the sun I’ve been getting. But it’s cooler in the shade and the mosquitos like it in there so I opted for lunch by the waterfall. All things considered, not a bad choice. Lunch was a fairly short break and I soon found myself back on the road with only 40km to go to Baie-Comeau.

Once again, there was NOTHING between my current location and Baie-Comeau – at least not until I was 11km from Baie-Comeau. For the first time in about 80km I was actually approaching something that actually resembled a town. Ragueneau. Coincidentally, my cycle-computer was starting to fade in and out at that time so I stopped at the Tourist Information Centre to swap out the batteries. With that task complete, I went inside to inquire about the camping options there were in the area. I came away from the Tourist centre with camping info and even a container of souvenir sand. It’s “La Route des Plages” after all. This area was also recommended to me by Guillaume back in Montreal so I figured that it would be my new destination for the day. So, I didn’t make it to Baie-Comeau – but only by about 5km – and ended up at Camp St-Paul at Rivière-aux-Outardes.

As you might imagine, this site doesn’t quite have the stellar location that last night’s did. In fact, I’m not even on the water. Well, I COULD be – but apparently the water levels have been getting pretty high overnight so if I camped at the riverside there’s a good chance I would actually be ON the water by morning. That didn’t seem like a good option.

So, getting back to where all this started regarding my proximity to Baie-Comeau … as I mentioned, Baie-Comeau is still about 5km down the road so technically I didn’t make it there today. Sort of. I was sitting at my picnic table organizing some things when my (only) camping neighbours came over (a couple from Belgium, and their young son). They were about to make a trip into Baie-Comeau to get groceries and seeing my mode of transportation offered to drive me into town if there was anything I needed. I was planning on just eating whatever I still had left (I had forgotten about the sub) but making a grocery run seemed like a good idea. So, I ended up in Baie-Comeau after all. Of course, we then returned to outside Baie-Comeau so the visit was short-lived.

Most of my campsites so far have been facing east but tonight’s is facing west so I’m seeing very nice sunset at the moment. Of course, my camera is in my tent – and I’m not in my tent as I type this. The camera on my phone will have to suffice – but I have to say, as sunsets go, this one is pretty nice.

Today’s Totals:
Distance travelled: 95.41km
Time on bike (actually moving): 4:31:55
Maximum speed: 52.20 km/h
Average speed: 21.03 km/h