It’s really sad that our journey through Quebec was so short. While it was a challenging province for me, having not really extensively communicated in French since grade 11, it was the kind of challenge I enjoyed. It’s hard to believe, but save talking to Jon, I was speaking French for over a week!
After mentally noting that a Quebec-centric trip has to happen in the future, we rolled on and made it to our seventh province — New Brunswick! New Brunswick is the only province in the confederation that has both French and English as official languages, with about 33% of the population being French-speaking. Given that fact, we were very uncertain which language to address people in when we first arrived!
With Quebec behind us, let’s see how the stats of changed (the bolded ones have seen an update since last time):
- Distance covered: 7788 km
- Vertical distance climbed: 50,125 m
- Number of flats: 6 (2 for Jon, 2 for Glen, and 2 for BOB the trailer)
- Number of broken spokes: 7(5 for Glen, 2 for Jon)
- Number of wheels replaced: 4 (2 for Glen, 2 for Jon)
- Number of wheels broken: 2 (1 for Glen, 1 for Jon)
- Number of tires replaced: 4 (2 for Glen, 2 for Jon)
- Number of chains replaced: 4 (2 for Glen, 2 for Jon)
- Number of rear cassettes replaced: 1 (Glen)
- Number of cranks replaced: 1 (Glen)
- Jars of peanut butter consumed: 3
- Bottles of sunscreen used up: 6
- Number of times we’ve stayed with strangers (sorry Moms!): 4
- Number of ferries we’ve taken: 2
Day 76: Québec, QC to La Pocatière, QC
Despite the cloudy and generally dreary weather, our day started off with some excitement! Instead of riding an extra 10km to a bridge over the St. Lawrence River, we paid $3.25 and took the ferry to Lévis. Our second ferry of the trip, it lasted maybe 10 minutes, but really gave us a nice parting view of Québec.
As we pedalled off the ferry and on to a river-side path, we heard music. Distant at first, it grew louder as we pedalled… and then became recognizable — it was the Mission: Impossible theme song. Somehow it felt like the music was meant for us; whether as a soundtrack to our journey, or just to inspire us in that moment, I don’t know. Oh wait, cancel that — the band and bystanders were all facing the river, watching some swimming event. Sigh. Well, they can’t stop us from pretending that it was meant to be for us!
As the sun started to set and we were near our destination, Jon was riding a little distracted. He complained of hearing a weird sound from his bike — which we are always, always weary of at this point in the game — and was trying to isolate it by holding his bags, bending over weirdly, and other such crazy things. Despite not hearing the sound that he claimed to hear, I rode up behind him to see if I could see anything drastically wrong.
Sure enough, we had a major problem — Jon had broken a spoke! With his wheel dancing a hula dance (click here to see an example of this), we had to press on to town and hope there was a bike shop nearby.
After stopping to get groceries, we were standing in front of the grocery store trying to figure out what to do. The campground we were supposed to go to was still another 14km ride, but there was a bike shop in town. It would be too risky to ride 28km (to the campground, and then back in the morning) on the wheel in its state, but there was nowhere closer to camp.
That’s when a stranger, Martin, stepped in to help. He had just bought groceries and noticed that we looked distressed. So, all in French, he asked if we were looking for a place to sleep. After we explained our predicament to him (thankfully Jon is much better at speaking than I am), he didn’t hesitate to offer his back yard to us. And, in a major stroke of luck, he even had a bike rack for two bikes on his vehicle.
So, with the sun already set and no other options in sight, we accepted.
Once we arrived at Martin’s house, he told us to wait by the car while he went in to tell his wife, Noémie, that he had brought home more than just groceries. Thankfully, she was okay with it, and Martin lead us into the backyard.
After setting up our tents, and eating dinner, Martin and Noémie joined us in the backyard. We talked for a couple of hours, with many grammatical mistakes and things lost in translation. But, despite the imperfection of it all, we were, at a fundamental level, communicating! That’s what language is all about — but it’s so easy to get caught up in the minutiae of grammar and perfect pronunciation.
For me, it was a very difficult night, as it was my first time really having a conversation in French in years. But, even as the night wore on, I noticed myself being able to understand more and more. At least until that moment when my brain realized how exhausted it was and just shut down.
Day 77: La Pocatière, QC to Rivière Du Loup, QC
In the morning, we packed up our tents and joined Martin and Noémie at the breakfast table to eat and talk some more. With their three children awake, though, it was a little more chaotic, including highlights such as Noémie becoming a human jungle gym.
After breakfast, we said our goodbyes, and then Martin drove us to the bike shop in town. Unfortunately, it was Sunday, and they didn’t have any bike mechanics working. So, as a last ditch effort, Martin drove us to the hardware store, a place that he had heard could do bike repairs.
At the hardware store, they assured us they could fix the wheel. So, onto the bike stand went Jon’s bike. Thirty minutes later, his wheel had a new spoke and was as good as new!
With Jon’s bike back in form, we profusely thanked Martin again for all his help — without which, we would have probably been stuck until the next day waiting for a bike mechanic. Then, it was time to say goodbye and hop back onto the bikes.
I would just like to say again a very heart-felt thanks to Martin and Noémie for giving us a place to stay and making it possible to get Jon’s wheel fixed and get us back on the road. Thank you!
With our late start, owing to the broken spoke, we had to stop short at Rivière Du Loup (Wolf River) for the night. Jon was pretty pleased, as he believes that his spirit animal is the wolf. He wasn’t so pleased, however, when he saw that we were camping right across from Noël au Château, a year-round Christmas themed exhibition. In all honesty, it was pretty terrible, as they were playing Christmas music loud enough to be heard across the street. Luckily, our campsite was far enough away to preserve Jon’s sanity.
Now, we don’t mean to imply we dislike Christmas or Christmas music — quite the contrary. However, it is something that must be enjoyed in its proper season. I honestly believe that if I worked at a year-round Christmas store or exhibition, Christmas would be ruined forever and I would be driven insane!
Day 78: Rivière Du Loup, QC to Edmundston, NB
After wolfing (teehee) down breakfast, we headed for the Petit-Témis trail to make our way towards Edmundston.
The Petit-Témis trail is a really cool concept. Simply put, it is a 135km inter-provincial bike trail that connects Rivière Du Loup, QC to Edmundston, NB. But, more than that, it has free camping spots along its length, water stations, and even several cafés — essentially it’s a cyclo-venturists’ dream! Well, save for the gravel — we found we could only average around 15km/h on the trail (vs. 20km/h on roads).
We rode for 30+km on the Petit-Témis trail, as we thought it was such a great idea and really wanted to give it a chance to prove itself. In the end, however, we abandoned it for the highway because it was making our progress too slow; the gravel on the trail offers too much resistance.
After finally crossing into New Brunswick, we quickly made our way into Edmundston. There, we ate dinner, picked up groceries, and were about to head to a campground 5km away when I noticed that the Wal-Mart parking lot looked like a campground with all the RVs parked there.
Turns out that it essentially was — they let people RV camp there for free. So, after inquiring inside, we pitched our tent on the giant grass field beside Wal-Mart. Not the classiest of joints, but the price was right! And it was a great introduction to how laid back and nice people are in New Brunswick.
Day 79: Edmundston, NB to Florenceville, NB
The day started off on a bit of a scary note: as I was wheeling my bike (and BOB the trailer, by extension) over a curb, BOB’s wheel fell off! I remember noticing that the quick release looked a little loose the day before, but never got around to checking. Thankfully the wheel fell off before we got started — if that had happened when going 60km/h down a hill, I don’t even want to imagine how it would turn out…
As we came into New Brunswick, we really didn’t know what to expect for languages. Where were the French-speaking areas? And how would we know which language to address people in?
It turns out that it was pretty easy. In French-speaking areas, the signs are in French, for the most part. But, one interesting thing to observe was how quickly the language transition was made. As we entered New Brunswick, we encountered only French towns. And then suddenly, without warning, the towns were all English; there was no gradual fade or blending between the two as we had expected.
When we reached Florenceville in the evening, we again weren’t as far as we’d hoped to reach. But we have essentially sworn off of night riding, so we decided to stay put. With that decision made, we asked some locals if there was anywhere to camp for free.
Without hesitation, they told us that people often camp on a patch of grass behind the Tim Horton’s. So, that’s what we did! It was a pretty nice spot — we could even get Tim Horton’s wifi from our tents! Such luxury!
Day 80: Florenceville, NB to Fredericton, NB
Heading out in the morning, we were excited to finally reach Fredericton. More than just looking forward to seeing the capital of New Brunswick, we were excited because we had a place to stay!
As we got ready to leave, we used google maps and my Garmin GPS device to plan routes — they always have interesting disparities. Google maps showed us a route that was supposed to be marginally shorter than the route Garmin had come up with. So, despite having been burned by Google bike directions before, we set off on that route. That was our first mistake…
After following the turn onto a small road that Google had indicated, we rode up a 6km long hill. And then the road suddenly turned into a really narrow, loose-gravel path that for all intents and purposes was a dead end. Well, thanks Google! We decided to turn back, rather than pressing on through whatever evil lurked ahead on that road.
So, Garmin’s route it is! Oops, that was our second mistake — never take Garmin’s route on blind faith.
For a long while, the Garmin route was perfectly reasonable, and we were making decent time, despite the dizzingly steep hills and the 35C temperatures. But, then it had us turn left off the highway we were on, making us climb, climb, climb! You know you’re in for it when you see signs pointing towards ski hills and you are going in the direction they’re pointing!
After some crazy climbing, we descended down a pothole-riddled road that was in the process of being patched. So, all sorts of loose paving material was being thrown up my our tires — we were literally being pelted by tiny rocks!
But, even worse, the road we were on — which Garmin told us to take, I feel I must reiterate — suddenly stopped being paved. Well, it basically stopped being a road. It was pockmarked with giant mud-filled puddles. It was covered in loose gravel. It even had the occasional tree laying across it. Basically, this was way more of a mountain bike trail than a road… and our bikes were definitely not meant for it!
With each passing pothole that I hit, with each puddle I had to go through, and with each tree trunk I had to ride over, I was hoping with every fibre of my being that my bike would hold together; to break a spoke on this path would be devastating! As if the road itself was hearing my hopes, it gradually became less pot-holed, and the trees thinned out, and then… we were back on pavement! We survived the evil mountain bike trail of doom!
As we emerged from that horrible road, we passed by a farmer in the fields. He looked at us in utter shock and bewilderment — it is clear things do not normally emerge from that path!
Then, as we continued on, the Garmin route added a little insult to injury — we turned BACK ON to the highway that we had been on before turning off for the hills and off-roading. So, not only was this diversion hard on our bodies and bikes, but it also added distance, and was completely unnecessary and pointless. Thanks, Garmin!
Thankfully, the rest of the ride into Fredericton was uneventful. As we arrived at our destination, Maxime, who was hosting us, warmly welcomed us into his home. Such great hospitality here in New Brunswick!
Day 81: Rest day in Fredericton, NB
As is usual for our rest days, we got some errands done, took in a bit of the local culture, and explored the city a bit. Despite being pretty small, Fredericton is quite nice. And they even have a Smoke’s Poutinerie!
Ahhhh, New Brunswick! So mysterious, so hilly… but at least summer finally seems to have arrived for us here! It was great getting an introduction to the hospitality here, seeing a cross-section of the culture and language here, and just getting to know the province a little bit better. We’ve still got a few days left here, but next week will bring our exciting crossing into PEI via the Confederation Bridge, so time is unfortunately limited.
What is the province you know least about? Would you consider visiting it to learn more about it? Let us know in the comments below!
The Daily Adventures of Glen 
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