Today was beautiful and relaxing. It didn't feel like we biked almost 130km. We started with a few hills that we had to go up and then fly down which was fine, the tailwind definitely helped. The first rest stop came very quickly, or so it seemed. It was at La Maison de Mon Pere (My Father's House). It is an outreach ministry associated with local churches. It is in a renovated church. We had a latte at their cafe and then continued on. We started on a bike path right along the St. Lawrence. We were at sea level and could see the river and smell the salt water. At times the wind became very cool as well it was also flat for the whole time on the river, 30km!!! We stopped for pictures of a submarine and a lighthouse, and to kiss a fish! 😜That entire stretch was pure bliss. A strong tailwind, quiet roads and beautiful sights. Brigitte was riding with us today as she was taking it easy, after her fall. She said she was feeling pretty good today. We were biking along, when all of a sudden, something hit my helmet hard and then bounced off and landed on my sleeve. Then I felt a sharp sting, it was a bee! It really stung for a while. After the second rest stop which Christine deHaas was at (Yes, she's back!!!She and her husband Ian were with us from White Rock to Winnipeg and now they are back.), we started our climbing. We had one hill in particular that had us inching along but I made it up without stopping. In the way down one of the hills, something hit my lip really hard and then I felt the sharp sting from a bee, again!!! My lip swelled a bit, so I had a fat lip for the rest of the ride. How bizarre is that!?! Getting stung twice in a day! We continued to enjoy a nice tailwind, which was appreciated, giving us momentum to get started on hills. I find that hills are becoming so much easier, or maybe less daunting (or both!). It is really nice. At one point we came across George who had had a flat tire that needed a large patch, Sara happened to have one thankfully, so we stayed until he had fixed it. Shortly after we turned off of the 132, and faced a few sections of headwinds and crosswinds. It wasn't terrible; they were only short sections. We kept our eyes open to see the solar eclipse that had been talked about for weeks, but it was only supposed to be 50% coverage here and we didn't ever notice it. We arrived at the Amqui Community centre. We get to sleep inside!!!! We had ice cream sundaes for dessert because it is Peter & Marja Slofstra's 47th wedding anniversary. Sitting here blogging now, I'm very glad we are inside; it just started raining and we are on a thunderstorm watch.
129.7km
5h 49m
22.3km/h
951m elevation