Day 93: Rimouski - Matane

km today: 94.83
Total km: 6371.0

After re-considering last nights accommodation situation, we’ve decided that our in-town location was so far from sneaky that it was slap in the face obvious. First there was their the janitor still cleaning as we set up and made dinner, and then there was the arrival of the employees this morning both before and during our pack up. Fortunately no one seemed to mind. The grounds keepers even took a liking to us, taking a break from mowing around us to chat as we packed up the last of our gear.

Looks kind of like a giant yellow turtle.

Not wanting to disturb the peace any further, we headed off to find a place to buy coffee and eat our breakfast. The shell station more than sufficed, as it not only had coffee, but an in store bakery that was pretty good. We added fresh apple streudels and hot coffee to our breakfast of left over ground pork pasta, “Sweet Morning” chocolate oatmeal bars and yogurt. We’re beginning to really enjoy the randomness of our breakfasts.



Jardins des Metis are said to be a must see attraction. They are 40 acres of immaculately manicured gardens that have been growing for almost 100 years. We took the detour, rode up to the entrance gate, discovered it was $12 per person and that we couldn’t by the attendant and so decided to just eat lunch in the parking lot instead. It was a very nice parking lot though, and there were many other people eating their lunch there as well.

After lunch we continued our beautiful ride to Matane, hugging the Saint Lawrence “river” (it looks and smells more like the ocean now, as the other side is barely visible and the shoreline is laden with mussels and seagull - but we can’t officially celebrate until we reach Cap Chat tomorrow) the entire way. Needless to say, we went quite slowly due the many necessary stops for jaw dropping picture opportunities.

Brandon thinks the reason he breaks spokes on his front wheel (instead of the usual more heavily burdened back wheel) is because he's "so frickin hardcore" (by the way, if you can't tell he's doing a killer wheelie).

These are actually a common sight on the Gaspe Peninsula

The sprawling St. Lawrence "river."

A nice little waterfront house.

Certainly looks like an ocean to us.

By the time we arrived in Matane it was already nearing six, which meant that the sun was setting and it was getting chillier by the minute. We were ready to find a camp ground. The combination of terrain and frequency of villages means that squatting is becoming increasingly difficult in these areas (as last nights experience should illustrate). We were more than willing to shill out the big bucks for a campground. But the only campground within range, we found out, is now closed. A local suggested that we just go camp there anyway, a proposal that we were more than willing to accept. However, after a few turns of the wheels, the bitter cold wind coming off the adjacent river got the best of us, and we plonked ourselves down right there, approximately 100m later.

B&K