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Québec Bicycle Vacation - Day 5
Sep. 16th, 2008 03:00 pmThe next day dawned with beautiful clear sky. It was chilly, around 43 or so when we woke up. The moon was still hanging over the river. I got two really awesome pictures. In full size, the boat one has so many beautiful color variations in it.
We had another big satisfying breakfast. I had French toast with maple syrup.
The days ride was on the books at 48 km (about 30 miles), again an easy ride for us. We were routed along back roads and out away from the river and then back. There was an ancient inactive volcano.
We hiked up to a waterfall.
I represented Vermont.
And there were views, views, and more views.
We ate lunch in a little park next to the church in Saint-Germain. It was a Freewheeling Adventures lunch,
and if you've never traveled with them, you don't know. These lunches are legendary for quantity and quality of food. Ian outdid himself. We had fresh raw oysters and a lesson in shucking. He steamed some mussels. There were cold cuts, cheeses, spreads, dips, chutneys. To finish, we had some walnut bars that reminded me of the topping for German Chocolate Cake and some really tasty hazelnut chocolate truffles. Freewheeling also prides itself on the coffee. They hand-grind espresso beans and make wicked-good coffee to end the lunch. And by the end of the food fest, you really do need a caffeine kick-start. (And if you missed the implicit commercial: Take a Freewheeling trip already!)
There was a microbrewery, Breughel, on the route and we had seen their beers in the store in Kamouraska, so we wanted to stop. It was maybe 3 km from the lunch place and the whole thing was downhill so we were there in an instant. But being the troopers were are, we went ahead and got a 5 beer tasting sampler. After we ordered we wandered around and saw some ducks and tried to warn them about foie gras and confit, but they wouldn't listen.
The beers were tasty and we were also intrigued by the beers they brew using wine grapes, but we were very full and had to ride more. So we'll save those for another trip.
Most of the afternoon riding was down near the river. We reached our destination, the Auberge du Portage in Notre-Dame-du-Portage.
It's a small village between the river and the main road, dominated by this huge spa hotel. When we arrived there were people everywhere: around tables on the lawn, on balconies, at the pool, on the boardwalk, going to and from cars. And everyone was wearing white bathrobes. Of course they were the robes from the hotel and spa, but it was unusual to see everyone in the robes. So we commented on it to Ian and he interpreted it that we were struck by the unclothedness of them. We explained that it was more like it was some sort of religious cult. He got it then. And then it became sort of a running joke for the rest of the trip. We envisioned that after dark, they all came out in those robes, grabbed someone not in a robe, chanted "one of us, one of us" as they took him down to the center of town, did some sort of ritual, and then slit his throat and sent him out into the river in a flimsy canoe, to appease the river gods. (I swear, the next morning at breakfast, some people were wearing the robes over their street clothes. It was downright odd.)
They had property on both sides of the road and up the hill and boardwalks and paths. We explored all over and walked through the little town. There wasn't much else going on there besides the hotel. We showered and dressed for dinner and then enjoyed the best sunset of the entire trip.
Dinner was all together, the whole group, in the dining room at the hotel. B had salmon, lamb, and raspberry cake. I had lamb terrine, a "light spa creation" of scallops with zucchini and cheese, and then coconut pie. It was good food and the place was hopping busy.
We had another big satisfying breakfast. I had French toast with maple syrup.
The days ride was on the books at 48 km (about 30 miles), again an easy ride for us. We were routed along back roads and out away from the river and then back. There was an ancient inactive volcano.
We hiked up to a waterfall.
I represented Vermont.
And there were views, views, and more views.
We ate lunch in a little park next to the church in Saint-Germain. It was a Freewheeling Adventures lunch,
and if you've never traveled with them, you don't know. These lunches are legendary for quantity and quality of food. Ian outdid himself. We had fresh raw oysters and a lesson in shucking. He steamed some mussels. There were cold cuts, cheeses, spreads, dips, chutneys. To finish, we had some walnut bars that reminded me of the topping for German Chocolate Cake and some really tasty hazelnut chocolate truffles. Freewheeling also prides itself on the coffee. They hand-grind espresso beans and make wicked-good coffee to end the lunch. And by the end of the food fest, you really do need a caffeine kick-start. (And if you missed the implicit commercial: Take a Freewheeling trip already!)
There was a microbrewery, Breughel, on the route and we had seen their beers in the store in Kamouraska, so we wanted to stop. It was maybe 3 km from the lunch place and the whole thing was downhill so we were there in an instant. But being the troopers were are, we went ahead and got a 5 beer tasting sampler. After we ordered we wandered around and saw some ducks and tried to warn them about foie gras and confit, but they wouldn't listen.
The beers were tasty and we were also intrigued by the beers they brew using wine grapes, but we were very full and had to ride more. So we'll save those for another trip.
Most of the afternoon riding was down near the river. We reached our destination, the Auberge du Portage in Notre-Dame-du-Portage.
It's a small village between the river and the main road, dominated by this huge spa hotel. When we arrived there were people everywhere: around tables on the lawn, on balconies, at the pool, on the boardwalk, going to and from cars. And everyone was wearing white bathrobes. Of course they were the robes from the hotel and spa, but it was unusual to see everyone in the robes. So we commented on it to Ian and he interpreted it that we were struck by the unclothedness of them. We explained that it was more like it was some sort of religious cult. He got it then. And then it became sort of a running joke for the rest of the trip. We envisioned that after dark, they all came out in those robes, grabbed someone not in a robe, chanted "one of us, one of us" as they took him down to the center of town, did some sort of ritual, and then slit his throat and sent him out into the river in a flimsy canoe, to appease the river gods. (I swear, the next morning at breakfast, some people were wearing the robes over their street clothes. It was downright odd.)
They had property on both sides of the road and up the hill and boardwalks and paths. We explored all over and walked through the little town. There wasn't much else going on there besides the hotel. We showered and dressed for dinner and then enjoyed the best sunset of the entire trip.
Dinner was all together, the whole group, in the dining room at the hotel. B had salmon, lamb, and raspberry cake. I had lamb terrine, a "light spa creation" of scallops with zucchini and cheese, and then coconut pie. It was good food and the place was hopping busy.
