Ottawa to Fredericton - Day 6

Wednesday, September 12 - Saint-Paul-de-Montminy - 103 km

It poured rain most of last night. A few thunder crashes woke me up occasionally. Nevertheless, I got a pretty good sleep. Got up to a light drizzle while it was still dark. I did the usual morning routine, cooking breakfast while packing up camp. Got on the road around 06:30 to another dreary day. The descent into Beauceville was crazy steep for about 2 km. At the bottom of this was traffic lights so the brakes got a good workout. Stopped at a depanneur to restock granola bars and AA batteries for the flashlight. Then I turned off east onto a side road into the mountains. The hills were long and very steep all day. There is no such thing as a cut or fill here. All roads go straight up the side of whatever hill happens to be in the way. I passed many small farms and sugar bushes. Traffic was almost non-existent. It was cold and drizzly so when I got to Saint Leon-de-Standon I looked for a restaurant and and a grocery store. Biked through the entire town without finding either. Finally there was a small grocery just as I was leaving town. I rode off onto some more side roads to get to Sainte-Nazaire-de-Dorchester (why do these towns have such complicated names?) and climbed another extremely steep and long hill. It was now cold enough to see my breath. Again I looked for a restaurant, coffee shop, or whatever to warm up, but with no luck I rode out of town and then to the top of the next mountain where I piled on a bunch more clothing and ate my lunch in the shelter of a sugar bush. It now had gotten extremely windy. Fortunately it was blowing my way. The next descent was very steep and I exceeded 75 km/h on the way down. The wind now was helpful on the climbs and made the descents scary fast. I forgot to mention, riding through Saint-Naizaire-de_Dorchester was very eerie. The wind was howling and I was the only thing moving in the entire town. Not a car, nor person, nor dog... nothing. I felt like I was in a Stephen King movie set. Anyway, I was getting very tired. My body is needing a day of rest soon. I rode by a campground by St. Pilemon, but with the wind blowing the away as it was, I really did not relish sleeping in an open field. I continued on to Saint-Paul-de-Montminy where shorly after I found a skidoo trail that went deep into the woods. I followed it for several hundred meters, and then turned off trail until I found a suitable spot. It has started raining again, so I am holed up in the tent for the time being.

Test your brakes!!!

And I try to save the world by avoiding plastic grocery bags...

Mmmm... The inspiration for the Unibroue beer.

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