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Friday, May 21: Topsham, Maine
to Levis, QC (249 miles)
| We packed up our bikes this morning at the
Wilson's home in Topsham, Maine. We had trailered our bike from
Cleveland to Maine, saving our butts for the beautiful scenery and
interesting roads from here on. |
Paul and Linda...
Elaine and me...
The ride north through Maine on U.S. 201 was
spectacular in places -- mountainous, curves and hills, swift flowing
rivers and occasional lakes. I'm sorry I didn't stop to take any photos.
It is definitely a road worth riding again, and I won't forget it...
We crossed the border north of Jackman, ME without
incident, after following our usual routine of visiting the duty free
shop to stock up on spirits for the trip. This time it was Chevis Regal,
and Skyy vodka.
The ride through southern Quebec province was
interesting also - we took secondary roads for the most part. We arrived
at Au Gré du Vent B
& B (below) in Old Leviś (#2
on the map) by late afternoon and settled in. It was a lovely restored
mansion, one of many in this section of Leviś.
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We ate dinner at the Intimiste restaurant in in Old Leviś,
and enjoyed a really fine meal! After dinner we walked across the
street to a chocolate shop that had a long line of people (local folks
who know) standing in line for their specialty -- soft ice cream cones
dipped in their special hand made dark chocolate. The locals definitely
know the real deal when they taste it. The chocolate took several
minutes to harden into a thick covering of rich, dark chocolate
enveloping the creamy, melting soft ice cream. Très
bien! |
| Back at the B&B, we strolled across the street to
a little park from which we had a spectacular view of Old Quebec city across the St. Lawrence
River, featuring the beautiful old Chateau Frontenac off to the right. |
Saturday,
May 22: Levis, QC to Tadoussac, QC (132 miles)
| This morning we took the ferry below our B&B across the St. Lawrence
River to Old Quebec City and rode east along the shore. |
The road to Tadoussac (#3 on map) was dramatic, reminiscent of the south shore of
the St. Lawrence that we rode several years ago when we toured the Gaspé
Peninsula. Below, the road descends from the cliffs to meet the shore. The
St. Lawrence becomes wider and wider as we ride eastward. Up in the
mountains away from the shore the temperature was in the 70's;
down near the shore it was in the low 60's - more comfortable for riding
with all the gear on! |
Our second ferry for the day took us across the Saguenay River to
Tadoussac. The lady who checked us in at our hotel for the evening said
the whales were here already and we could see them at 18:00 if we took a
hike behind our hotel to a fjord on the Saguenay. We declined, expecting
to see whales along the St. Lawrence and on the ferry to Blanc-Sablon. |
Tomorrow we will ride to Baie-Comeau (#4
on map).
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