Clouds, clouds and more clouds.....

This short vacation trip - one week - along the St Lawrence river, may turn out to be a study in "clouds." Yes, it was warm and sunny, when we left Toronto and nine hours later, it was still warm and sunny in Quebec city. It was great to sit outside for dinner at a wonderful French restaurant in the classic "old town." The next day, however, the wind changed. A cold front decided to blow in some icy rain on one of our "biking days."

What to do? Well, we had decided that this was to be an exploratory trip to find a few biking trails that we had seen from the highway on our trips through Quebec to the east coast. Once out of the urban sprawl of Quebec city, we got off Highway 20 and onto the scenic route. I have to believe that Quebecers are given a tax break to keep their homes and villages not just tidy, but beautiful. St Villiers was exquisite, as was Berthier Sur Mer and a few other places along the way, all show casing pristine homes both big and small with classic gables, porches, white railings and masses of flowers everywhere. We located the bike path, we had seen from the highway and decided, we would come back another time, when it was warmer, with less wind and more blue sky :)

Wind surfing in the rain!

Keeping to the scenic route and battling the wind and rain, we passed through several other pretty enclaves, all looking out to the mighty St. Lawrence, which brooded miserably on our left. At one point, after pushing our way through a curtain of fog, we arrive at St. Andre´ and found another bike trail on a tiny strip of dune edging the river. This, no doubt, would be a heathy ride for another day. Fitness is to preserve life, not to end it, in an icy gale, if you know what I mean!!

Finally, we reached our destination for the day - Notre Dame du Portage - a very small village with a 7.5km road that was off the main road and probably one of the most beautiful places on earth!! We were staying at the Auberge du Notre Dame du Portage for two nights and could bike a circular route through the town, which gave us 15kms of the best of Better Homes and Gardens only in French. What's not to love, especially now that the sun was shining!!

More next post!!