17th August: Trois-Rivières to Neuville
Odometer: 95 km, Start: 9.15am, Finish: 3.30pm, Avg: 23.7 km/h,
Weather: Sunny AM, heavy showers PM, Temp: 19-25°C
Road Conditions: La Route Verte 5 (all on #138), 1.5m paved shoulder, very light traffic. Plenty of stops. Ascent: 120m/120m.
I spent another day tracking the Fleuve Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence River) as the #138 continued to closely follow it’s north shore. The sun was out during the morning and showed the river and surroundings off nicely.
I had a strong tailwind to help me along the way, but I’m still having to deal with very sore calves from my “hike” in Montreal. It makes riding slightly uncomfortable. So despite the fast riding conditions, I felt like I was somehow struggling. Hopefully the calf muscles will ease soon.
I met another Trans-Canada cyclist today just outside Trois-Rivières. Duncan’s from Vancouver and is riding from his home town to St. John’s the same as me. He’s a bit faster and travelling a little further each day, but started around the same time. I suppose he must have longer breaks off the bike?
There were some very nice small towns by the river, especially Champlain and Batiscan early on. At Batiscan there was a good example of the same iron bridge structure I’ve seen several times around here. The town of Deschambault was also nice. I had lunch there in the excellent Cafe Resto.
Storm clouds gathered during the afternoon and I got a good drenching from a heavy thunder storm around 3pm. I could see further storms lining up behind me and didn’t fancy riding on after spotting a picturesque restaurant avec chambres right on the river in Neuville. I had a nice meal in their conservatoire later on, looking out over the St. Lawrence and watching the rain pelting down on the river.
The chambres here are themed and my room is sort of “medieval”. I’m typing this being overlooked by a full suit of armour and there’s a large and heavy wrought iron candelabra right over the bed. It’s all ever so slightly scary…
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