Quebec City to La Pocatière, Quebec

Yesterday I flew from Edmonton to Quebec City, arriving late in the afternoon.

My plan is to ride to Moncton over the next week.

I picked up a rental car from the airport and drove my boxed bicycle to my motel, where I re-assembled my bike outside my door.

Frustratingly, I realized I had forgotten my pump on the floor of my girlfriend Diana's garage, so I had to drive over to a gas station to fill the tires.  I would have liked to buy a pump for my ride, but apparently places close early on Saturday and open late on Sunday in Quebec City, so I started out without it.

This morning I dropped the car in downtown Quebec City, and coasted down the streets of Old Quebec and through the city walls.

I rode down to the Gare du Palais, where I had ended my ride from Montreal back in 2009.  

From there I skirted the cliffs towards the river.

I purchased a ticket for the ferry to cross the Saint Lawrence River and queued to board.

Once on, I was only one of many cyclists!

It was a grey, damp day, but even so I enjoyed the 12 minute crossing with its views up and down the river.  I got to the other side around 10:45.

Immediately off the ferry, the cycle route was just beautiful--possibly the nicest cycling infrastructure I have ever ridden on.

Once out of Lévis, Quebec's cycling Route Verte 1 joins Route 132 and most of my day's 120 kilometres were along the highway.  The highway was mostly quiet, with good shoulders, and I had few complaints about the route.  The highlights, however, were not the highway, but the occasional detours/shortcuts Route Verte 1 takes into little villages. 

The weather forecast for today had been terrible yesterday, with a heavy rainfall warning.

The forecast had improved overnight, but it was still supposed to rain, and I was waiting for it to come all day.  Somehow, however, I got lucky; certainly there was a lot of moisture in the air, but it really did not rain at all.  

Still, despite a good route and decent weather, I was much slower than I would have liked to be.  I was having an issue with my internal hubbed-rear wheel--it seems to be moving around a little bit and the hub is leaking fluid, so I ended up rigging the brakes with a bungee to avoid them rubbing.  

Certainly this is not ideal, but it actually does not seem to be slowing me down.  I guess I was just slow without any good excuses.  I averaged just 21.5 kmph, and it was after 16:30 once I got to my destination, La Pocatière.

My accommodation for the night was the Motel Cap Martin, which certainly has seen better days, but was perfectly adequate for my circumstances.

The motel did not have guest laundry, and it was far enough away from the town that I did not want to bother with a laundromat, so I washed my clothes in the bathtub and dried them on hangers.

Worse than the no laundry was the fact that the motel's restaurant was closed for the night, and the only available food immediately in the area was at an Esso.  I bought some snacks and showered, ate, and rested, but eventually I walked into town to an IGA.