August 12 – Moncton to St. Andre (just west of Riviere-du-Loup)

Bike log: 53km, 123m of vertical, avg. speed 32.5 km/h

Bike log? Yep! Moncton to Montreal is too long for 1 comfortable day of driving, so we split it into 2 medium days. It was about 6 hours of driving, and so we got here at a comfortable 4:30PM – plenty of time for a good bike ride! I snacked and was on the road in about 10 minutes and made it to Kamouraska and back.

It was great to be back on the bike again, after 4 days off. I also enjoyed the fact that this was not part of the trip, so I could go as hard as I wanted without worrying about getting a cramp or burning myself out or wearing my legs out for tomorrow.

Our campsite last night was near “Magnetic Hill”. It is a tourist trap where giant magnets suck all the change out of your pocket if go in. We avoided it like the plague.

The drive was pretty standard fare for the Trans-Canada. At the end of the day we passed the spot where we backtracked, so essentially today we saw what we missed. I am glad we took the route we did, this way was not very scenic, and of course it was very busy, being the Trans-Canada. There were some secondary roads that followed more closely to the St. John river, I bet they would have been nicer (essential in some places since there were 2 bridges that forbade bikes), but still I liked the parts of the New Brunswick coast that we saw more, as well as the more scenic route north of Riviere-du-Loup and cutting across the Gaspe. However, there is an unpaved bike trail (old railbed) that parallels much of the route we took today. No doubt nice grades and decent scenery. It would not have worked for us since we like to take the identical route, but it would be the way to go if you were cycling alone.

Along the way we passed the world’s longest covered bridge, over 1200 feet. Why is the cover so important? I don’t know.