Well, another big province behind me. Only three more ahead, assuming I make it to PEI.
Here's my reflections and results from La Belle Province.
Days spent in Quebec: 17
Days spent on the bike: 17, no rest days for this machine
Distance pedalled: ~ 1650 km
Elevation gained: no idea but over 13 000 m for sure
Patisseries visited: innumerable
Beers drank: many
Best beer: some saison I bought at a depanneur in Montreal that I can't even remember the brewery of.
Best pastry: Chacun son Pain; Beaupre
Best coffee: Cafe British; Aylmer
Favourite grocery store: IGA for sure
Favourite town/city: tough call, probably Montreal
Least favourite town/city: Riviere du Loup
Best riding: along Highway 138 from Montreal to Quebec, take me back to those days please
Worst riding: toss up between the day from the fjords to Saint Simeon and the last day from New Richmond to New Brunswick
Positive vibes: So so many. Quebec was the best province so far. Only BC comes anywhere close. The highways are wonderful to cycle. Wide, smooth shoulders and bike lanes abound. A rest stop with water every 25 km or so. Beautiful scenery and historic towns with great local character.
Roadside produce stands are more common than Tim Hortons, which is easily found as well, should your inclinations lie that way.
The little gas stations and depanneurs have a wonderful selection of snacks and always have a section devoted to craft beers.
Speaking of craft beers, why not grab one or two at the local IGA, as you pick up fresh, local food for dinner?
All the bad aspects I was warned of: crazy drivers, snooty francophone elitism, etc never came to pass. Drivers were more respectful than anywhere else in Canada and often extremely psyched to cheer me on as they went by. People were friendly and keen to bridge the gap between our respective French-English skills.
In short, Quebec was wonderful.
The harsh vibes:
There were a few. It wasn't totally sunshine and happiness and pastry.
First one up is the hills. In Quebec, there are some unspeakable monsters of hills. The use of switchbacks or face cuts to lessen slope does not factor into Quebec road planning, so the road will almost always go up the side of a hill at the steepest possible angle. In the Laurentians and on Gaspesie, this means that you will be more likely the find gradients of 10 - 15% than anything else, and gradients of 15 - 20+ % are not unheard of. Also, consider that between these two regions I did over 10 000 meters of climbing in 10 days, whereas crossing the Rockies took a similar length of time but only required about 6000 m of climbing.
The camping is also quite expensive in Quebec, though not as bad as in Ontario. Expect to pay about 25 - 35$/night for basic tent camping.
Also, I was unable to find a single good donut in Quebec. I have come to the conclusion that the French simply cannot make donuts. This is more than made up for by the abundance of patisserie though. Especially mille fueille, which I despair of ever finding again at the quality I have become accustomed.
General things: The Route Verte, which I was first enthusiastic about, soon proved to be not as great as I anticipated. It had the unfortunate habit of leading you away from wide, smooth highway shoulders and onto rough, potholed side roads where you will rub elbows with traffic.
I found it much better to just follow highways than to trust the Route Verte.
Important and useful things you should be able to say in French if you want to bike in Quebec:
"Bonjour"
"Je parlez un petite Francais seulement"
"Oui, c'est tout"
"C'est bien"
"Merci beaucoup"
These 4 phrases comprised the bulk of my spoken French and basically cover everything you need to say at checkout counters and to passing people who express an interest in you.
Anyways, bon voyage to Quebec. I will be back one day.
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