The North Shore. Language warning.

 Day 15: Saturday September 14, 2025

Distance traveled: 434.6 km

Cumulative distance: 774.0 km

Temperature range: 15-18

Maximum speed: 110 kph

We were up at 7 with a view to getting organized in good time to make a hasty escape. In-house coffee was a sad representation of the Glorious Bean. Not even any plastic cream to mask the flavour. However, by the time I had walked to the parking garage and retrieved Andelska, parked in front of the hotel and went to see if Nan was ready for a latte, our favourite coffee shop was just about ready to open. In fact, I went over early and there were already people milling about drinking their coffees and lattes. Nice to see a place not so strict with the time that they have to wait until the appointed hour to admit paying customers. And it is a Saturday morning; not like people are rushing to work. There seems to be a following here.

Saw this poster on the way to collect the bike. Apparently, there are still some separatists here. When we stayed with Joy, her partner had cautioned us about flying our Canadian flag from the bike while in Quebec City (I suspect he was really thinking Quebec in general). This was painful for me because I fly the flag proudly - especially these days - but decided that maybe it is better to be safe than sorry. A broken flag could also have meant a broken top case, which would have been a lot more serious.

Translation courtesy of Google Translate.

This allowed us some time to organize our belongings to pack. We have the same amount of stuff as when we left Joy's. A few things were ditched there as it was just a little too tight. Plus, we had had our "dress up in Quebec" dinner so our "good" clothes needed to be laid out flat so that when they get compressed in our panniers, they won't come out looking like they we rolled by a steam roller while still wet. But somehow, we had a hard time to pack our panniers. 

We had been for dinner at a bougie restaurant that had received rave reviews on Google. I think the rave reviews were by people who were too intimidated to ask what they were eating. The restaurant served "small plates" so that they could manage their food costs and our waiter/restaurant co-owner recommended that we order five items and six if we were especially hungry. We opted for four with two being meatless and the other two being tempura eel and cold (by design) halibut that was like a poke bowl, though the halibut was cooked. We didn't mind the vegetarian plates but the fish plates were just plain odd and took some effort. Plus, it was extremely loud in the restaurant, despite the fact that it wasn't that busy. Nan and I had to speak in ASL. And we still shouted. After moving our chairs closer to the table.

Somehow, we managed to get all our stuff back in the panniers though I had to sneak my sandles into the top case, and then we were off by about a quarter to 10. Being a Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised by the quietness of the streets, especially after the zoo from yesterday's bike race. I half expected to see a lot of revelers still out carousing from the prior night. However, before getting very far, I had my suspicions about Google Maps as a route finder and we pulled off our intended route to make sure we were going the right way. My biggest fear was the Google was trying to take us across river which would have added a few hours to our expected travel time and given it was already expected to be a long day, no scenic route for us.  Fortunately, by stopping to check, I was confident that we were on course, notwithstanding that we had to navigate some hilly terrain in order to find safe place to stop. 

The ride to Baie-Comeau was pretty much a straight out slab ride. No real twisties and not much in terms of interesting motorcycle riding. It was even a long time before we got to see the St. Lawrence River after exiting Quebec City, which occurred somewhere around La Malbaie, where we stopped for coffee and other non-related things. Once that occurred, the view got quite a bit more interesting inclulding at Tadoussac, where we took a ferry across the Saguenay River. A fellow passenger, a motorcycle rider who had just passed us before getting on the ferry, told me that if we were lucky we might see a beluga whale in the river but apparently we were having the wrong kind of luck. Still far from the best of the trip so far, though it got "interesting" in a different way by the time we were in the Baie-Comeau area as the weather was threatening and we wondered if we were going to get wet. We were also finding it on the chilly side; Nan at least had had the wherewithal to wear her "winter" gloves and we both had sufficient layers though we probably would have both been happier if we had each been wearing one more layer. Tomorrow we have a 2 1/2 hour ferry crossing to the South Shore so we will be better prepared. 

When we checked into our hotel around 4:30, we were pleased and quickly changed our shoes and were at dinner at 5:00 pm. We stood at the hostess stand and when attended, we were asked if we had a reservation. In Baie-Comeau, I thought? You have to be kidding but she told us we could sit at the bar, which we in fact do not mind. I was surprised to see an hour later that the place was just about packed and I wondered if it was all hotel guests or if Baie-Comeau residents were out for their "nice dinner out" of the month. 

At the end of the hall from our room is the "Mulroney Suite". In case it has slipped your memory, Baie-Comeau was the home of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Saturday morning market on our street in Quebec City.

Bridge to Orleans Island.

Montmorency Falls.