It was a rough crossing during the night from Chandler to les Īles. Gravol for Barbara.
A foggy morning greeted us as we had our first sightings of the islands. A rainbow (our second one on trip) cheered us.
The fog lifted gradually and we were all on deck to watch our approach to Cap-aux-Meules. Bill was pleased to see some gannets close to the ship.
We docked.
This was our first day of biking on les Īles. We met our guide, Olivier, who explained the 27 km route south to Havre Aubert to our small group of "English" cyclists. The "French" group was very large. A bus would bring both groups to our ship at the end of the day. The wind would be at our backs. Good news - we each got an amazing lunch to bring with us.
We unloaded our bikes on shore and soon we were off on our adventure... Sam would ride behind Maman on a tandem bike and David would alternate resting in his chariot and sitting on a child's bike seat.
Well, it wasn't long before we had a mishap. Bill glanced across the road to look at some berry pickers (Olivier had told us this was good spot for picking strawberries and blueberries). He didn't see that Kirk/chariot and Karine/trailer bike had stopped. He slammed on his brakes and veered to avoid Sam on the trailer bike. A crash sent him rolling into a ditch. We all focused on helping him, assisted by a concerned driver and a cyclist (interestingly, we met both these people later in the week and they came right over to ask Bill how he was). A nearby homeowner asked if he could call for help. Discussing his injuries with Karine, Bill decided there wasn't much medical attention that would help him. Although he had internal bleeding in his arm and thought he may have cracked a rib, he was keen to keep biking with us. Barbara applied a few bandages to his bleeding elbow and off we went.
We biked a very busy stretch of highway along a causeway. The wide bike lanes beside the highway were super. Bill revived to bird along the way.
We stopped at a windy beach for our picnic lunch. Sam and Karine loved the big waves. Bill loved the shorebirds and gulls. There were Great Black-backed and Bonaparte's Gulls, Commen Terns, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Sanderlings. We had this amazing beach all to ourselves.
We cycled on to Baie du Havre-aux-Basques where we watched some fast kite surfing and passed some Short-billed Dowitchers in a pond.
We arrived at our destination, Havre Aubert, mid-afternoon. This gave the boys time to enjoy a ship play structure and for Bill to do some birding. He saw a Great Blue Heron catch a snake and a Savannah Sparrow in the field across the road.
Bikes loaded up, we took our bus back to our ship. Tonight we ate in an Italian restaurant close to the ship - it was a busy venue and a long wait for hungry bikers. Bill was able to pour us some wine with his injured arm? Soon we would be tucked in our beds to energize ourselves for another day of biking.
