July 20 – Bainsville to Joliette (PQ)

Bike log: 170.0km, 616m of vertical, avg. speed 27.6 km/h

At last – we are into Quebec! If I sound excited about that, it is partly due to finally getting through Ontario. I have mentioned before that there is a noticable change at the border, and this was definetly no exception! Obviously the signage and language was a bit tipoff. The condition of the roads was noticably worse as well – perhaps Quebec will be challenging Manitoba for the worst roads yet. We will see!

As planned, we headed north from our campground last night along some back roads towards Hawksbury. There was a bit of zigging and zagging involved, and at one point we came to…the provinicial border! Kind of unexpected, but we crossed into the “horn of Quebec” which is the bit of land south of the Ottawa river, west of Montreal, and north of the St. Lawrence but still in Quebec. Kind of a unique way to enter the province for the trip – and it was such a nice road that it made a good photo op. We exited the province not long after and proceeded along our course, crossing in at the bridge in Hawksbury.