Eastward to "The Rock"!: Day 10 - Pointe-au-Pic to La Malbaie

7.6 km - Total so far 679.7 km

RWGPS: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/14941468
Relive: No relive since we did not pedal at least 10 kms

See the 'Where we are map' at the bottom of the page

After nine days of pedalling with most days heading into a northeasterly wind, we decided to take a day off. As soon as we left the campground this morning, we realized what a wise decision we made stopping when we did. From the campground, we dropped from 250 metres in altitude to 9 metres in the space of three kilometres. The descents were very steep with most rated at 10% and two at 15% and winding. That would have been a scream on our road bicycles but on loaded touring bikes with trailers, not so.

Campground with a "window" on the Saint Lawrence River

The view as we started our decent to La Malbaie
(where the tree line and near sea shore meet on the left)

In La Malbaie we made a quick stop at the park by the river. We were approached by a couple who asked if we were climbing the hill outside Baie St Paul yesterday, 'Yes, that was us', I quickly replied. They brought up how hard it must have been to climb the hill at Ste-Irénée (starts at km 34 on Day 9 - RWGPS).

Hélène decided it was time to make her first stop at the 'Visitor Information Office' for this trip. You will remember how much she enjoyed terrorizing the people behind the counter on our first trip, It did not happen this time. The office was staffed by two very knowledgeable people who answered each of our questions about the local area and even ones about St-John's, Newfoundland. Turns out the young lady lived in St-John's for one year.

When I enquired about the route to St-Simeon and asked if we would encounter another climb like Ste-Irénée, the gentleman bowed his head and mumbled an answer. He looked up and said no but stated that there is a nice climb at St-Fidèle.

We found out from the locals that no one likes the hill at Ste-Irénée as it is very steep, very narrow road, a sharp 90-degree turn and vehicles get awful close to each other. I can't for the life of me figure out how they manage that hill in the winter.

Within minutes of checking into the hotel, it started raining very hard, We even saw a guy building a very large boat. It is still raining and we hope it stops soon so we can go for a walk, It will be nice to have a walk that does not involve pushing our bikes uphill.

It did finally stop raining so out the door we went.