We arrived in Trois Rivieres early enough in the day to get some things done. First thing up was my bike. I seemed to have developed a wobble in the front wheel and was anxious to get it looked at before biking again. So, as we crossed over the St. Lawrence (one of the three rivers) into town, I found a bike shop and let Google lead us there. In a little neighbourhood we found Laferte Bicycles where the mechanic was great and told me he would have my bike back to me by early afternoon – perfect! Next, we needed to do some laundry and what do you know? Google found us a little laundromat and coffee shop all in one and within walking distance of the bike shop! Le Bucafin is the most perfect place to do laundry I have ever seen. A few washers and dryers, but not too many as to be just a laundromat. A coffee shop with great coffee right there and nice cosy furniture to sit at while your clothes get clean. We enjoyed our time there, reading and listening to the quiet jazz in the background and before we knew it, our clothes were done! Amazing!!! We dropped them back at the van and went in to see if my bike was done. It was indeed – perfect timing. It turns out that although my tires have tons of tread left, they seem to be wearing in an odd way, which is causing the wobble. The mechanic checked to make sure everything was true and corrected for this as best he could. He assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem for now, which is great, but eventually I guess I will have to replace the tire. These are Shchwalbe Marathon Plus tires, so they aren’t cheap. But, they have served us well on our travels so I will stick with them when the time comes to replace this one.
Bike fixed, laundry done, we needed to look for a place to stay and then hopefully go for a quick afternoon ride. We checked out the Walmart where we picked up a few groceries, but it was in a pretty noisy area so we decided to look further. Lucky thing we did! On iOverlander we found a little campground that was attached to the Sanctuaire Norte Dame du Cap – a lovely Catholic Church right on the St. Lawrence. We drove over and found the people who run it to be very friendly. The cost per night is a suggested $15.00 donation to the church, which fits in our budget so we pulled in and parked the van under some trees and along a sweet little canal. What a great spot for the night! Having some of the afternoon left, we took the bikes off the van and rode out along the 138/rue de Norte Dame for a while. This is part of the Route Verte, which we have finally figured out, is just the Quebec name for all the bike routes in the province, some off road and some, like this one, on the road. Although it is a secondary road, we found it pretty busy. As with our ride yesterday, we rode along the river but only caught glimpses through the properties that line it. Must be nice to own a house along here!!! We did find a little empty spot to stop for a break where I discovered once again that my Garmin is having some issues. Again it thought we had gone about 57 kms in 20 minutes! I wish!!! I think I am not giving it enough time to calibrate before taking off, so next time I’ll give it more time to catch up.
Our short ride done, we spent some quiet time reading before dinner. What a relaxing little place. We will spend another night here before heading up to Quebec City. Hopefully we can find some off-road trails to ride tomorrow.
Day Deux in Trois
Well, so much for well laid plans! The forecast for this day was rain and we awoke to very overcast skies. Not wanting to be caught far out on a ride when the rain hit, we opted for a day in the library to catch up on blogs, etc. These days actually turn out to be very good for us as. Since we are travelling long term, we need to remember that we are actually living and not being perpetual tourists, meaning that every day cannot be about wandering and seeing new things. At least once a week, we need to settle down and relax, spending a day doing nothing but what we might do at home. So, in the course of our travels so far, we have found many libraries to be our home away from home – a place to sit in the quiet comfort they provide and catch up on things, plan, or simply use the wifi to watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad (we, of course, did not watch it when it was running. Someday I’m sure we will watch Game of Thrones, lol!). All in all, these days provide us with much needed down time. And so, our last day in Trois Rivieres was spent enjoying their lovely library. Later in the day, when the rain had past, we did manage to head downtown for coffee and a bit of a wander along the waterfront. It looked like a lovely place to spend some time. The downtown area seemed busy enough, with cafes open onto the street, but it lacked the vibrancy of Montreal for us, like it was a place waiting to become busy but not quite there yet.
When we returned to our sweet camping spot by the river, we cooked our dinner and were just cleaning up when the skies really opened up. We jumped into the van and settled in for our nightly movie. It was wonderful to be so warm and dry while the storm raged outside. Later in the evening, as we were settling down to sleep, we were treated to a massive lightening storm much to the north of us. We didn’t hear any thunder, but the lightening was almost continuous for about 20 minutes it seemed. After this excitement died down, we settled in for our last sleep in this delightfully peaceful location. Tomorrow we will leave and head north to see what Quebec City has to offer us. The plan again, is to find a place to park, find out what the cycling is like and, of course, explore this very famous and old city.
