Canada by Bike

I ended up taking a short cut and heading towards Ottawa via Quebec. The bridge through Portage du Fort was awesome. There are lots of little islands and the river is quite wide here.

I had fun riding through French villages, we even visited one of the dairy farms and had a tour. At the end of the day I made it all the way to Gatineau and spent a night at Marysia's who invited us to stay.

Today was a short ride, only 48 km however it was quite eventful. I got lost in Ottawa and it took me a while to find my way back. I find it is a lot easier to ride on major highways than bike paths. The paths can go in circles and often have dead ends. Once I got to Cumberland, we were invited by Czesia Kwiatkowska to have lunch, and afterwards, Marius and I headed to the best spa in Canada, Le Nordik! I loved it there.

The two nights spend at Czesia's were unforgettable. Despite her age, she is so full of life and so much fun to be around. We laughed a lot and it was hard to say goodbye.<br>Today I'm leaving Ontario for good. This will be my second time entering Quebec. This time for real.<br>I made it all the way to Vaudreuil-Dorion where I got invited to stay with another polish family, Ania and Rysiek Beben. I really enjoyed riding today, the country roads are so beautiful and peaceful. Today was the last day with Marius, he had to head back to Toronto. I felt sad as he made me laugh a lot and helped me forget about the difficulty of this trip.

I made it to Quebec City, where I stayed at Doug's place. We met via facebook as he was following my trip. I love this city and I love the French. It is definitely the nicest city in Canada and I love visiting here.

I look forward to the days off. My butt really hurts now and I cannot make the pain go away. I have difficulty walking now as I spend most of my day riding. Because of these challenges, I decided to relax at the spa. This place is cute, with lots of little hot pools, hanging chairs, hammocks all situated in the forest.

Quebec City is a cycling paradise! It has so many bike paths and every road is bike friendly. I was quite surprised how many people bike here. I really enjoyed riding in this city as it was beautiful and adventurous at the same time.<br>Once I crossed the river, everything changed. The air felt different, the wind was slowing me down and the clouds were letting me know that rain was on its way. I ended up riding 120 km until I had no more energy. There were no motels nearby and I ended up camping at the rest spot. It is not legal to do so, but we left early in the morning and never bothered anyone. We also witnessed a gorgeous sunset.

It was raining all day today. Luckily we cleared the campsite before it started to come down. I had to stop at Rimuski to buy rain gear as I didn't anticipate such heavy rainfall. I also got new pads as the other ones were done. Only 80km today but it felt like 200. Rain and wind are not fun to ride in especially when you wear so much plastic on your skin. I was soaking wet, inside and out. On the bright side, I made it to St. Joli and decided not to camp tonight.