Sunday, January 12, 2014

St. Damase to Atholville, 146km: Downhill to New Brunswick



We were leaving Québec and entering New Brunswick, meaning, another province down and only 4 more to go!

As a reward for accomplishing the climb up the north side of the Gaspé Peninsula we would be going downhill for the majority of the day as we followed the Matapedia River downstream. However, unlike yesterday where we had the wind in our backs, today we had a headwind. It was an odd feeling having to pedal with effort even though I was going downhill. But I was happy for that downhill because it reduced the challenge of the headwind.

The route took us through some quiet and beautiful side roads to give us a break from cycling on Route 132.

One road took us through a small village called Val Brillant. Right before we reached the village we came across a sunflower field. Louise and I decided to stop and take a photo in the field. That was the first time I ever saw of field of sunflowers, it was gorgeous. 




As we were cycling along Route 132 we came across a wood-deck bridge which was also a first for me. There we met Dan, Joyce, Mike, and Alain and took some photos by the bridge. 


 As we continued our way to New Brunswick the Matapedia River gave us company. The river is a world class fly fishing destination. It was nice to look upon as we cycled down Route 132.


Finally we were at the bridge which would take us across the Ristigouche River, which the Matapedia River flows into, and into New Brunswick. It was amazing crossing that bridge and entering New Brunswick. Now it definitely felt like we were getting closer and closer to our end goal. 


On our direction sheet it had said that to reach camp we had to turn off Route 11 onto Sugar Loaf Mountain Road. The turn was not well marked but the sheet said it was just before the Dairy Queen. Throughout the tour Dan was notorious for making Dairy Queen stops. Since the sheet explicitly said there was a Dairy Queen a group of us decided to join Dan at Dairy Queen and celebrate our accomplishment in making it to New Brunswick. Myself, Mike, Louise, Mary, Alain, Erik, Michel, Dan and Joyce all met up at Dairy Queen and enjoyed some ice cream. It was an awesome end to the day :)

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