Chicoutimi, June 2

I was excited to be in Chicoutimi, more because I would get to Arvida again, and see where I was born. And today was the day. The day began cloudy and a bit cool, but that's not so bad for biking. We had a great breakfast at the B&B, with Glen and Dennis from the previous evening, and said our good-byes to those two as they began their trip over to Lac St-Jean. They were taking all their stuff on their bikes, so had a much harder time of it than we did.

We started to get ready, but Nancy was not feeling well, and decided to stay at the Château. Barry and I got set and began our trip by heading downhill at a rather steep declination. We thought about the difficulty of getting back up again, but that was in the future. For the present, we were on a paved, smooth Piste Cyclable, and it was great. At least until we went uphill, past the "Petite Maison Blanche" which had survived the floods of the mid-1990's and still rested on its isolated foundation. Then onto a lovely Piste through the wooded areas of Chicoutimi and into Jonquière. The day was grey and a bit cool, but otherwise okay. And we made a few false starts, but eventually found what had been the Saguenay Inn, and is now the Manoir du Saguenay, and used for continuing education of the Alcan (now owned by Rio Tinto) executives. So there was no way we could stay there, but the nice lady on the reception desk gave me a brochure about it, which I will read and treasure.

Also took some pictures of the Brittany Row housing, and tried again to find the house on Radden Row (they have changed the names of the streets, so I don't know if we found one which was correct or not).

I had wanted to try and find the trail that my Dad and I took down to the River from the Inn, and Barry and I found one, and took it with our bikes. In the end, we did not go right down to the river, but up and along to the Aluminum Bridge, taking our chances on some of the steep downhills on the trail, and pushing our way up the steep uphills. It was an experience all right.

From there, we took the road back to Jonquiere, and tried to find the old Police Station (which had been the hospital I was born in. No luck. I may try again, by going to the Arvida Library. But that will be another time.

In the meantime, we started back to Chicoutimi, and it began to rain, then it rained hard, and we got wetter and wetter, even with our rain gear. It was miserable! We tried to take a short-cut across the town, only to find ourselves on an enormous hill, going literally upstream against the water flowing hard down the street. And my glasses steamed and my eyes were burning from sweat, so I was not at all a happy camper.

Back to the Château and a hot shower and dry clothes made a significant difference in mood, and a bit of food at a Peruvian Restaurant called Sud helped a lot as well.

Darlene was to arrive by plane at Bagotville at 5:20, so I had to be there. Barry and Nancy had left for a walk back from the Restaurant (the weather having improved a lot), and were not back in time for me to leave. So I was able to take Barry's car and head off in the appropriate direction, meet my wife at the appointed time (five minutes late, though), and drive back to the Château.

Darlene had brought some hats that one of her patients had made, all embroidered with the logo of the Véloroute, and looking quite smart. We all wore them with pride.

We went back to the Sud for supper, and had a grand time there, eating lots of good food which we mostly recognized. Imagine finding a Peruvian Restaurant in Chicoutimi! The evening was fine and the time was good. We went home satisfied and ready for bed.

We had biked almost 37 km.