Péribonka, June 3

Today was to be our first day around the Lac St Jean, Véloroute des Bleuets. We had decided to drive, rather than ride, to Alma, and start from there. And I'm glad that we did. When we got to the Info Centre for the route, the staff there were very excited to see the hats, and also very interested that we had come so far, and that I had their "app" on my iPhone. I pointed out that it did not work in English, but did in French, and they assured me this was not intended and would be remedied. They assured us that the better way to travel was counter-clockwise, so that is the way we decided to go. After a short lesson for Darlene on how to drive the Lexus, she headed off to buy us lunch and meet us. We headed off on a wonderful path, all set out on paths, and side roads, and sometimes on highway shoulders, and all for cyclists.

The road was relatively easy, and we put 30 km behind us with little difficulty. Even the highway part, with big trucks zooming by, was not too bad with the wide and paved shoulders. We got to the Parc National de Pointe-Taillon, and cycled around the Pointe for a while before heading across it through spruce, balsam and birch forests.

As planned, Darlene met us at the distal end of the Parc, with lots of yummy food. Unfortunately, the bugs also thought of us as food, so we left in a bit of a hurry, and cycled on to our resting place near Sainte-Monique. And one of the places we cycled over was a long (400 or so metres) boardwalk over some swampy areas, done solely for cyclists.

Darlene had gone ahead and reserved some spots at a local Auberge, actually more like a campsite, but with cabins. There was a communal kitchen, as well as a restaurant. And they were quite bike-friendly (in fact, we have found everyone to be wonderful around bikes; even one guy who almost cut me off with his car, was friendly with a wave and a big smile of apology when I yelled. And they all seem to want to help make this Véloroute successful. If only there was something like this in Ontario!) We were by the edge of the Péribonka River, which at this point is almost as big as a lake. And there was a sandy beach and a bright sunny sky as well, so we were all happy.

We had biked over 45 km.