In which we reach the coast and magnificent coastal scapes
We gathered for breakfast in the morning and had an interesting spread from oatmeal to French toast made with oatmeal bread coated with oats, scrambled eggs (bacon/sausage for those inclined) and yoghurt to a background accompaniement of Celtic music. An eclectic end to the stay at this interesting inn!
While adjusting kit for today’s ride we compared insect bites from the no-seeums yesterday – they did considerable damage and several people have significant reactions to the bites. Croquet was not without cost!
As usual we left before scheduled time, most of us interested in doing the bulk of the ride before the heat hit. Although it was forecast to be only 23C high on the coast and 27C inland, it feels more like 30C and up, especially toiling up hills. As I had a small area of burn where I’d obviously missed applying sunscreen yesterday, on the back of my arm, I was very generous today and felt quite sticky all day – better than more burns though. The insects weren’t active in the morning as we bid adieu and gave thanks to the lovely staff (especially Jack the nephew who was helping everywhere!).
We retraced our steps to the main road, and followed it for some km. It was a better surface than yesterday, but still no shoulder – fortunately not very busy at that time. Once we got off the road onto a secondary, parallel road, we all relaxed and were more able to enjoy the scenery.
We rode alongside this river, and up and down through a couple of valleys towards the coast.
There was very little traffic at the beginning, becoming a little busier by the time we rejoined the highway about 20 km later. Some ups and downs – it was amusing to see what rates as a “hill” on the mapped route. We were promised 4 officially on the GPS but some of the undulations were not easy, and few of them were configured well enough to make it down and up the other side. But it was lovely, and we encountered only a few dogwalkers out on the shoulders.
Going up some of the exposed undulations began getting warm..
fortunately though prime mosquito breeding territory, they didn’t bother us. Most of the time we had a tail cross wind, which helped (and was appreciated after some of the head winds we’ve been dealing with!)
Taking care to keep fuelled
Eventually we rejoined the main road, and soon got our first glimpses of the coast
just before rejoining the main route- more civilization than we’d seen for some time!
the two riders going uphill in the background are from our group.
coastal road – no shoulders, again surface breaking down (much worse in parts). Again, most drivers were conscientious about passing at the crest of a hill, and courteous, but there are always the jerks who roar past without seeing beyond us
looking south
a rare downhill stretch
we discovered this on a gravel side road that I pulled off onto to get a picture of the harbour at St. Joseph du Moine
Unfortunately the art gallery we were going to stop at was closed; many other things were, as apparently Monday and Tuesday are days when stores and services shut. Odd, during tourist season; there were lots of cars passing us on the road, so plenty around! It also meant, sadly, that the coffee shop we’d marked had to be passed by as it too was shut, and the same was found in Cheticamps when we arrived there (our inn for tonight is “Silver Linings”). Most of us had our rooms already ready, except for Jill and Henry so we went off to find coffee (just across the road in an eclectic shop/coffee bar) – yahoo, good coffee!! Our next stop was lunch (we made it our main meal) with a lovely view. I enjoyed fresh local scallops (another tickbox) and we admired the photos on the wall of Cheticamps many decades ago.
About half of the group chose to go for a hike and the van left at 2 p.m. to take them to the top of the first hill we are climbing tomorrow for the trail. The rest of us elected to do chores (groceries, bank, laundry, washing hair on my part) and chill for the afternoon. We have a fiercesome day tomorrow with two big hills plus several other punchy ones first, so we are hoping to save some energy for that! Fingers crossed that it isn’t as hot tomorrow as we toil up the bigger hills.
Henry holds the profile for tomorrow and tells us “it’s going to be fine”….
Highlights of the day: the coastal road