What a great trip!

August 22, 2020

Today was our last day! We finished the epic entirety of the Veloroute du Fjord!

We started off quite early to avoid the traffic. Bouncing along, we relished the feeling of biking without panniers. Or, at least, until the first big hill. Then the sore muscles and overall exhaustion from 6 massive days in the saddle began to kick in.

It was a bit of a slog to get to the ferry. However, it was beautiful, the sun was shining and the birds circling, and the road was blessedly quiet.

Eventually we made it all the way to the ferry. We managed to sneak on just before it set off. One wind whipped ride later, we were on the very last climb of the trip. Cheered on by tourists, we huffed in a hurry all the way to our car. Victory!

Lunch was eaten in the shadow of a towering sand dune and served with a side of severe judgement. We tsked as trucks attempted, pathetically, to drive up the dunes. One by one they gave up and left and we packed up our picnic. Driving back to the campsite where we had left our stuff, we were amazed by the climbing we’d managed to do earlier that same day. Before we got all the way back, we stopped at a casse-croute for a well-deserved treat of towering soft serve and greasy onion rings.

What an incredible trip!

Animals spotted:

Too many seagulls to count

Zero mosquitoes

One hare

One hummingbird

Several unidentified circling birds of prey

Many wave whales

One plump porcupine

Two families of ruffed grouse

One owl that was in hindsight probably just a seagull

One pod of porpoises

Four pileated woodpeckers

One family of snow geese

Three mallard ducks

Two families of belugas

One thousand, two hundred, twenty-three crickets

Plat come Le Floride…

August 21 2020

Today was another day marked by hills, wildlife sightings and strong tailwinds.

Munching on perfectly fried eggs, local wild blueberries and the last juicy pear, we rubbed the sleep from our eyes and prepared for an early start. On the way to brush my teeth, I passed a birch tree silhouetted by crisp morning sunlight. High up the trunk, three pileated woodpeckers were duking it out for prime grub real estate.

The first order of business after we set off at 7:40 am was to climb the massive hill we’d flown down the day before. Once that was finished we all felt quite accomplished and ready to pat ourselves on the back and be done for the day. There was still many a mile to go that day, however.

Once we had made quick work of the thirteen kms back to the highway, backtracked into town, bought groceries and fussed with our layers multiple times, we set off for good. I was trundling uphill when I passed an old man walking along the shoulder. A twinkle in his eye, he informed me encouragingly that I just had to make it up this “cote” and then it would be “plat come le Floride”. Or, at least, that’s what my hill muddled brain made out before I puffed upwards and he continued with his stroll.

The hills that followed were distinctly un-Floridian. I got chased by a whole herd of cows. Jasper streaked ahead and the hills, though leg-aching, passed quickly in the midmorning sunshine.

The gentle morning sunshine turned harsher as the hours ticked by. Uphills seemed to stretch longer and longer. Jazzy, usually bounding ahead of the pack, began to lag further and further behind. I tried belting out “The Littlest Worm” but it only got us so far. The road stretched further. Pedal Strokes slowed. Mama put her foot down and we pulled off of the road to eat lunch in someone’s driveway.

A few kms after our picnic, we spotted several shady spots by still, glimmering lakes and swiftly burbling streams.

Our worries blew away as the road dipped downhill. We zoomed along, in awe of the swampy moose country framed by dramatic cliffs. Some clearly weren’t satisfied with the views. Our breath caught as we spied tiny figures clinging to a Via Ferrata ladder as it swung in the wind. We were satisfied however, and we continued to fly down, down, down. No moose were spotted but we did see a pileated woodpecker swooping over the swift flowing stream.

Exhilarated by the downhills and full of the taste of our treats, we made short work of the last couple of uphills into St Simeon. A quaint town bordered by endless blue, it was a fitting end to another great, big ride.

Grocery shopping that afternoon was mostly successful save for a cherry mishap. If it weren’t for Mama’s quick calculations, we may have spent 22 dollars on a single box of fruit. We did manage to get some plums though, which were scrumptious.

The campground where we stayed was lovely. Full of friends such as a girl and her dog, the very sweet Emmanuelle and Martin and a Habs fan from Lille. We also met an incredibly enthusiastic teeneager at the campground lookout. He led us straight to a pair of porpoises!

Birthday Biking!

Aug 20th 2020

Today was Mama’s birthday!

After presents, a speedy pack up and goodbyes to all of our new friends, we pedalled up out of the campground. Barely a handful of minutes into our first climb, Dad spotted the spiky brown bum of a porcupine waddling along in a ditch.

Breathless and thoroughly warm (after quite a chilly morning), we pulled into the Marche back in town. While it was quite small, we did manage to scrounge up some fixins for a little picnic.

Fabulous campsite, with a great view

Leaving town, the trail climbed ever upwards. Feeling sore but exceedingly strong, we summited what was basically a small mountain pass. Views of distant soft blue peaks greeted us as we quickly picked up speed. Jasper reached light speed for sure.

At the bottom of a decadent downhill, we pulled into Anse St Jean. It was 10 oclock but our stomachs declared lunchtime. Mama selected a picnic bench right on the banks of a pebbly riviere de saumon and we tucked into our feast.

The very next climb turned out to be, as Dad put it, “a very exciting hill”. There was a cyclist who picked us off one by one and then, as soon as he had gotten ahead of Jazzy who was leading the charge, he turned around and went back down the hill. A walker was cheerfully trudging up the shoulder and called out ‘c’est dure a montee, hein” as I slowly rolled past. On top of those two, several groups of hikers zoomed past in the opposite direction.

At the beach

In the next town we stopped for special groceries. It was long, and stressful and we almost forgot eggs and almost forgot oil. However, we were eventually able to set off once more, teetering under our heavy loads. Partway up the hill out of town, another cyclist skipped silently by us. We reached the turnoff for our campground, Village Vacances, where we were staying, and followed the cyclist off of the highway. Our relief at a respite from the uphill was short lived as we passed the cyclist who seemed to have become our friendly stalker and were faced with a wall of hill.

At the top of several such walls was a quiet road that wove between soft sandy soil. We passed a blueberry picking field but the birthday girl was determined to push on. Jazzy zipped ahead, leaving everyone in his dust and making friends while he leant against mailboxes for AGES.

“Stranded”

The last graded downhill of the day (11 percent but we could swear it was more like 15) led us nearly to the campsite. We climbed up yet another uphill, encouraged by signs getting the trees to say things such as “finalement des amis” and “ souriez pour la photo…synthese” all the way to camp.

Mama confirmed our site booking in French like a boss. The rest of us stared gobsmacked at the view and tried not to eat our arms off.

Pulling into our campsite, we were gobsmacked once more. Somehow we had snagged one of the few sites with a panoramic fjord view. After spying on several groups of people with binos brought for beluga spotting, we headed to the beach. (See pics above for the campsite and beach shots)

The tide was just coming in as we arrived. Watching as islands of sand were swallowed by the surf leaving families with waves lapping at their beach blankets, we marveled at the audacity of the water and the plants who dared grow at its mercy. While quite chilly, the water was soft and slightly salty. All but Mama did a quick dunk.

Happy kiddo

Sopping, shivering and sleepy, we meandered back to our campsite. A pesky gang of grouse had taken control of our territory and knocked all of the garbage into the forest. The temptation to grab one was great.

I returned from a lovely (free!) shower and everyone was mucking around camp. A flash of white on the water. I dashed for the binos. Surely it wasn’t? No way! Several more flashes in quick succession. I barely made out a tail as it dipped below the surface. BELUGAS! I called everyone over, spellbound. We crowded around the binos, taking turns marveling as these creatures played in the water. And then they were gone. We were all in awe, near incredulous. We’d spotted real live whales.

The rest of the night passed in true camping birthday party fashion. We ate fried cake mix pancakes, played cards and waved around some sparklers. Just as we were heading off to sleep, the stars winked awake.

Yellow rain pants

August 19th 2020

I would say that the motto for today should be: “you think that was steep? Bah, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

We set off dark and late from camping Jardin de mon pere after some significant logistical calculations and a stop for bright yellow rain pants for Jazzy. As soon as we finished buying the rain pants, the rain stopped. This would be an ongoing theme throughout the day. Putting on our raingear seemed to trigger clear skies no matter how torrentiel the downpour had been moments before.

The road leaving La Baie hugged the coast for a short while. Soon though, we turned off of the highway and veered inland. The beginning of a massive climb was marked by a field fluffy with baa-ing sheep. Up and up we rode, pulling our bikes upwards with sheer brute strength as we zigzagged back and forth. It was lung bursting and leg shredding but before long we had reached the summit. Or…sorry, a tree was blocking my view; the road kept climbing. And climbing. And climbing. And, oh, maybe the summit? Nevermind, still climbing. And climbing and…whee, we flew down, down, down, with endless views of the fjord far, far below us.

At the bottom of the hill we stopped for another scrumptious picnic lunch. We could see the road snaking upwards through the trees as we munched our subs. Indeed, legs screaming awake, we continued up.

Many “pentes raide” later, we reached a plateau covered in farmland and carpeted by wildflowers. The forest-south facing- we was remarkably deciduous for the region. Crows cackled their displeasure at our interrupting their mischief so we hustled onwards.

A friendly pair of road riders pedaled past us seeming to blur as their bikes floated up the hills. The road soon spat us back out onto the highway. Playfully fierce, our tailwind whipped us around corners and across a pretty flat bit.

The sign for the town limit of Riviere Eternite announced a sudden dip downwards. We flew all the way into town. Off to the side of the road, we happened upon an artists’ park. Marching along in a row beside a packed dirt path were a series of nativity scenes made with all sorts of materials from wood to metal to carved marble.

A sudden downpour and we found ourselves huddling with Mary and Joseph. Another family did the same and we locked eyes through the driving rain. Once the clouds parted leaving only puddles, we set off to the campground in the Baie Eternite section of the Saguenay Fjord national park (du quebec). Our tent site was smack dab in the middle of a field surrounded by tall tree-tufted cliffs. We were meant to get a different Bienvenue Cyclistes site but they were given to car campers (GASP!)

The evening activities involved making many friends, playing cards in a covered area and visiting the discovery center for a mini hike and to pick up some (last minute) birthday presents. The friends that we made included a very sweet couple who lived in our neighborhood in Ottawa and were kind to us partly out of worry for their bike travelling kids. We also met a fellow bike traveler who was training to be a teacher in Sherbrooke. He was incredibly friendly and very intrigued by us from our year long trip to our family president (asshole) tournament.

After rigging the food to the rafters and locking up our bikes, we snuggled into our sleeping bags and fell asleep to the pitter patter of rain.

You think THAT hill was steep?!

August 18 2020

Always bring a tarp!

Today was incredibly hilly. It was stunning too but the landscape seems to blur when you are either struggling to maneuver your beast of a bike up endless climbs or flying downhill at teeth rattling speeds.

We started our climb up out of the tiny town as rain-misted, fog-blurred green hills used for grazing cows and reenacting historical viking battles. One flat and one family photograph from a karate instructor Jasper had befriended later, we had hit the highway and continued to climb.

Marked red or “sportif” on the map, this part of the veloroute certainly lived up to its clarification. We flew down and trundled up, over and over again. Here and there, small alpine lakes were scattered like paint splattered over the pine covered hills. It was fully breathtaking.

After stopping to fix yet another flat and polishing off the last of the LaraBars, the food situation began to verge on dire. A few tears of frustration and stress were shed. Soon though, the rolling hills gave way to a massive downhill that delivered us all the way to the fjord at dizzying speeds.

We followed some salt flats for a little ways before climbing a France steep hill into the little town of St Fulgence sur le Fjord de Saguenay. It’s main attraction was a house being sawed in half. We were even more excited by a grocery store spotting.

A quick feast and we were on our way once more. The stretch of road to Chicoutimi was luckily relatively flat and we made speedy work of it.

As we entered the city, we stopped to put our rain gear on and were passed by two bike travelers. One torrential downpour later, we crossed an old train bridge that had been converted for cyclists and pedestrians and stopped to talk with them.

When we parted ways we headed up a ludicrously steep hill to a bike shop and they continued toward a Canadian Tire and Lac St-Jean. Mama bought some new gleaming sapphire pedals and Dad picked up a mittful of tubes, in short supply on account of the many, many flats. Jasper and I made friends with a paramedic picking up bike gear while on shift and a guy with young kids who hoped to go on adventures like ours one day.

Naturally, the road out of Chicoutimi involved a bike path with a grade that was imperceptibly less than 90 degrees. Once we reached the top however, the rest of the ride meandered through beautiful farmland. We even passed the Boivin farm, whose cheese we have been snarfing down all trip. We didn’t stop though. It was on a downhill, what can I say?

A few kms later, we did stop at a farmstand to pick up some glistening wild blueberries and fresh veggies. After that, it was wee, wee, wee, all the way down to the La Baie. A sculpted port in La Baie des Ha! Ha! for both tourists and industrial barges, La Baie had beautiful bike paths along the sand flats and a myriad of options for windy strolls.

After picking up what seemed like an alarming amount of food-but would later prove to be just enough for four hungry bikers-we climbed our last hill of the day.

This night we were staying at Camping dans le jardin de mon père. Guess what? There were hot showers and mini golf and laundry.

After a thrilling evening of cleanliness and hole-in-ones, we fell into bed, completely exhausted.

Sea foam whales

August 17th 2020

We’ve already had our first whale sighting! It is barely seven in the morning.

The whales turned out to be blobs of sea foam but they certainly caused quite an uproar. We tumbled down the trail with our binos and though there were truly no whales to be seen, we were rewarded by a fresh view of our swim spot at low tide.

Twins!

What a wild ride! After several arm-aching trips up to our bikes and a visit from a family of grouse, we set off down the gravel trail. Or…that’s not quite how it worked out. Mama and I both had flats (this was the third time Mama had had to fix her wheel). Plus, Jasper had a massive, head over handlebars crash while he was riding Mama’s bike down for her. He smashed her brakes and gashed his leg. So here I am, writing this down outside of the hardware store as Dad attempts to jerry-rig the broken brakes and Jazzy hunts for sunglasses so he doesn’t have to steal Mama’s. Unfortunately the bike repair possibilities are looking a little iffy so we’ll have to see…

Bad news…there were no sunglasses. A crochet hook sufficed to repair the bike though so at least Mama does have brakes.

After refilling our water bottles and stuffing every single one of my panniers so full with hefty cans of beans and soup, we finally set off for good. The road curved and dipped. We pedalled along, relishing the soft sun and the steep downhills. Dipping into a valley, the road nuzzled the sparkling waters of a mountain river. On and on we pedaled, nested between round green hills. I huffed up every hill, struggling to keep up with the boy’s boundless energy on my beast of a bike. Every time I got a second wind and went to pass Jazzy, he would immediately zoom right past me and disappear over the crest of the hill. We eventually stopped for lunch at a fishing spot. The water’s icy tendrils gripped and tugged at our feet before dancing over the rocks downstream. Another tasty lunch filled us right up (the sugar snap peas were a big hit!)

Clouds gathered as we set off once more. Surely it wouldn’t rain? It had been intensely sunny just moments before. One drop easily dismissed plinked onto a helmet. And the skies opened up. We were passed by a fellow bike traveler just as we were finishing tugging on our rain gear. He was rather morose. Mama declared that he was biking as though someone was forcing him to do it. We leapfrogged several times as jackets were put on, taken off, put on again. Not once did he say hello but he had the same panniers as Mama so we declared him our friend.

After a serious downpour, the rain abated and onward we went. The kilometers ticked by slowly and when a massive loomed, some members of the party threatened mutiny. However, we all made it up that hill, and the next, and the next. Before long we were descending straight to the fjord. A tiny town hugged the shoreline. It was filled with quaint B&Bs and little gardens. Our campground, called Descente des Femmes for some mysterious reason we have yet to uncover, was gorgeous. Though there were no showers and the situation was verging on desperate. A walk down to the pier after dinner rewarded Jasper with onion rings and mini packets of honey, and everyone with more breathtaking vistas.

Later we would play cards and nestle into our little tent, exhausted and perfectly content.

Ps. One of the campervans at our site were hanging out with a cat on a leash

Anna Sierra’s Trip Journal: August, 2020: Fjords de Saugenay

August 16th, 2020

Happy travellers. We are now officially “Biking with Teens”. This means less weight in Kathleen’s panniers and chasing the kids up hills!

We set off from our site, me teetering on my bike with panniers stuffed full of all the heaviest gear that I had begged, bartered and stole from the rest of the family.

Great parking at a Velo Route stop.

It was barely nine o’clock and it seemed that we’d get an early start as we trailed Dad in the car, buffeted by crisp morning air. It was nearly 10 o’clock by the time we’d located groceries and pulled out of the tourist town of Tadoussac. We found ourselves staring down a massive, gargantuan, disgustingly enormous hill. By the time we had huffed all the way to the top, I was beginning to question my light choices (i.e. all of the gear that I had surreptitiously stowed in my panniers).

However, the rest of the route was remarkably flat. We made good time as we zipped past quaint farmhouses amid fields of wildflowers and northern needled forests. After about 25km, we made it to a little rest stop for lunch. Baguettes, baba ganoush, cheese, peppers, tomatoes (unfortunately not as tasty as the beefsteak Mama had eaten like an apple for breakfast) and beef jerky were all on the menu.

Lunch stop

After lunch we made our way to the campground where we were considering staying. A stand of gnarled apple trees served as the arena for a heated discussion about whether to push onwards or stop after quite a short day. I’m sure you can guess who voted for what.

Heading down to our special camp site.

As it turned out though, the campground had some special backcountry sites a good 10 km away. We set off toward the wavy waters of the fjord, passing blueberry fields and an aerial bubble campground. Soon we came to a gravel road, soft and rutted, sprinkled liberally with loose pebbles and soft sand.

Walking up to the bike mechanics.

Pop, Mama quickly got a flat. Jazzy and I scouted onwards. Slipping and sliding, we careened downwards. A sign at the bottom directed us to continue to the right… straight up a wall of a hill.

Everyone began to seriously question our lodging decisions as we muscled our beastly bikes up and up corkscrew hills and steep dips. There were glittering scarlet gems scattered up and down the trail and we munched happily even as our bikes threatened to send us straight back down the trail. At long last, we made it to the turn-off for our site, took one look at the massive downhill and took off our panniers to tumble down the trail.

A half collapsed slide of a pathled us off the main trail to our tent platform. The site that greeted us snatched our breath and dashed it against the coarsely cut boulders far below. Evergreen spiked hills knelt in the lapping waters of the Saguenay Fjord, sparkled white from sunlight, whitecaps and wave whales.

Worth the ride!

It wasn’t long before we were dipping fingers into the water (salty!), taking way too many pictures (for the gram obv) and clambering onto boulders.

Wow!

Can you see the tent platforms in the trees?

After quite an interesting bike ride-no walk-we were awestruck by the beauty of the campsite. A tiny hummingbird investigated our mysterious happenings, hawks circled and an evening hike came with a hare spotting. No whales yet though.

Perfect finish to a great day.

Sparkly water and cool feet.

Dinner with a view.

Jazzie chilling on the rocks.

Happy D

All set to sleep under the stars

Good morning! Beautiful view for morning coffee.

What a day! It was all topped off by a night under the stars, waves crashing far below our little wooden platform.

Happy Summer 2021!

We send all our best wishes to everyone and hope that you’re ok and that you’ve got some great plans for summer adventures. I hope you get a chance to spend time outside and that you get to reconnect with all your special people.

When the COVID case load in Ottawa and Quebec was low last summer (August 2020) we had a fabulous bike trip in the Saguenay. Anna Sierra kept a journal and we’ll share it here, starting in the next post.

These first pics are of our July 2021 visit to Algonquin Park, where Anna Sierra is working at Mew Lake Campground this summer! We are so excited for her and we miss her lots, so we jumped on the first opportunity to visit.

At Canoe Lake, after an awesome, epic paddle. Kathleen, Jazzie and Anna Sierra

Anna Sierra, hard at work at Mew Lake Campground

Patiently checking in her family.

Siblings reunited

On the lake. We followed part of the route out of Canoe Lake that Derek and I took on our honeymoon paddle TWENTY years ago.

Jasper’s a canoe-head

Just finishing the trip: Derek, Jazzie and Anna Sierra.

Veloroute des Bluets and beyond!

We have been having a fabulous week, biking on the Veloroute des Bluets, around Lac St.Jean. It’s one of the more famous short routes through Quebec and we’d wanted to check it out for years. It’s a mix of separated bike paths, quiet shared routes with cars and some wide paved shoulders on 90km highways. The route is divided into sections marked ‘family’ that is separated paths, quiet roads and not too much change in elevation and ‘recreational’ which includes the paved shoulders and more hills. Now that the kids are almost 15 and newly minted 12, they are both on their own bikes, with stuffed panniers…which means less weight for us!Because the route circles Lac St. Jean, we often got some water time in. We planned to stop and swim during the days, but we were usually so excited to keep going that our stops were brief.The weather was really hot this week, so we were always looking for shade.The paved paths were our favourites. The kids could ride ahead together, laughing and chatting. Jasper loved jumping on the wheel of any fast racing cyclist who passed us. He made a lot of friends that way. You can’t see it in these pictures, but the route is marked by either a broken or a solid yellow line so you know when it is safe to pass cyclists.

We had been thinking of riding the Fjords after, but learned that almost all the riding would be beside highways. That’s okay for short stretches, but not the whole day.After tossing around various ideas – like taking a ferry through the fjords – for what to do during the few days we had left of our trip, we decided to go paddling in Jacques Cartier Park, just north of Quebec City.

As you can see, it’s like the fjords only suits the people in our family who like to be in charge of their own adventures .We has a blast in the rapids – class l and class ll. It was also awesome using rental boats when we bumped into a rock or two on the way down.

Our next stop was Quebec City and Levis, a short ferry ride across the St. Lawrence. Here’s an example of the incredible infrastructure in Levis. The path to the right is for pedestrians, totally separate from the bidirectional cycling path. We are really bursting at the seams with our river paths in Ottawa and it’s no longer comfortable to go for a casual walk on the path during bike rush hour. There are plans to twin some of the busier sections, like this. I can’t wait! It is so nice to ride by parents walking with their kids and not need to sing at them. Lunch is a great time for lounging! The wind picked up on our ferry crossing, and was really gusting when we set off, so we had to cut our ride short, but we still had an amazing day and look forward to coming back soon.Unicycling buskers!I love the arrows to help with following the route.More fun by the Old Port!It is so great to be back on our bikes again, touring as a family. The only thing we found challenging – apart from managing the heat this week as it was a heat wave – was having just a week for the adventure. It’s totally normal and awesome to have a week holiday. Having had a whole year to wander, we had to adjust to choosing just a few things to do. This meant leaving the Laurentian Mountains behind after just driving through them between Alma (the route des bluets) and Jacques Cartier Park. And this meant sleeping in a campground outside Trois Rivière without checking out any of the bike routes.

But we had a blast. It was so good to be all together and we have lots of ideas for our next adventure!

Happy cycling!

Kathleen

Paid in Full!

We officially paid off our line of credit from the trip this morning.

I’m excited we’ll be starting 2017 debt free and will now be ready for new adventures. Like saving for retirement, supplementing post-secondary savings for the kids and starting a new savings account for more trips!

Our pre- and post- trip expenses were higher than we originally budgeted because we did some home renos before leaving including: new windows, a new front door, new eavestroughs, attic insulation, electrical improvements and squirrel removal. When we came home we had some more big expenses including property taxes, a new sofa and a full year of home and car insurance.

Fortunately we also had some big lump sums to offset these expenses including our tax returns and our child tax benefit which we received once we filed.

I’m including these expense details because they are part of the ‘how much does it cost to go away for a year’ discussion. And I hope to offer anyone who is planning to fund their own dream adventure a realistic idea of how to do it and what it costs. Because making stuff happen is a lot easier when you know how much it costs.

Here we are with Jasper’s new selfie stick, enjoying our cozy kitchen.

We have been having a great time connecting with friends and family and colleagues and classmates and neighbours.

Over the holidays we are excited about visiting with our beautiful family and playing in the snow.

Wishing all of you the most wonderful 2017,

Kathleen