Day 93- Bulrushes and a bull !

Day 93 Monday, August 9, 2010 Distance 57.52 km. Time 3 hr. 47 min. Total so far 6553.93 km. We had a little bit of rain overnight and some high winds at our little stealth campsite at Halte Lac Chamard. The trail is nicely protected most of the time from the winds which is a bonus. Today as we went past the lake, I thought to myself that I should get Dave to take a photo of me by the bulrushes but he was up ahead setting the pace. As we passed by a farm, Dave came to a sudden stop because there in the middle of our trail was a bull who had escaped the pen where all the other cows and bulls were gathered together. With all our color and flags on our bicycles, we wanted to be careful because we didn't want him charging. Dave started approaching slowly but the bull looked at him and then walked farther ahead on the path. Dave tried that a few times. Then we thought we would go back on the trail a ways and see if the bull would walk back to the herd. While we waited, I saw some bulrushes there so we did a photo of me. Then I took a photo of the other cows. Well Mr. bull didn’t move. Dave decided to ride a little faster behind him this time. That was cute for me to watch because he started to jog in front of Dave. Have you ever seen a bull jog? I rode on my bicycle behind and tried to take a little video . All this went on for a good two hundred meters and I was wondering when this bull would get tired. Finally there was an opening on the left side of the trail, and he was smart enough to jog off the trail and into that field. I hope the poor farmer finds this bull by the end of the day. He certainly made our morning interesting. We continued on at a good pace past St. Honore and St. Antonin and finally came to the end of the rail part of the trail at the outskirts of Riviere du Loup. The trail going into that city became soft and hilly and I had to be real careful as I could feel the rear wheel sliding around. We made our way to the visitor center to get maps and then proceeded to the post office to send a package to the grandchildren and one package of clothes back home to our neighbour who is nice enough to receive our parcels. At IGA we had a nice lunch. All these activities take time away from the riding day. Now we were following La Route Verte 1 which has most of it on the shoulder of Hwy. 132. We were now heading southwest along the St. Lawrence which is like a big sea here as you can’t see the other side. The wind, at about 40%, was extremely strong right in our faces. I guess it sweeps down the river and all the land that has been cleared for farming. In some areas it is noticeable now that they are growing rows of trees between each strip of land to act as windbreaks. We went off the Hwy and through Notre Dame du Portage at one point to avoid a hill climb. All these towns were established years ago as resort places for the wealthy. The homes are beautiful and well kept. The tide along the river was out and the smell is like along the Bay of Fundy. The shore was very grassy. We met Ann ( I apologize if this isn't the correct name but from now on will write them down right away) She is a teacher from BC and was visiting in Montreal and got bored so she went out and bought her bicycle, put on the panniers that she already owned and is travelling and visiting all the islands of the St. Lawrence. We continued into the fierce wind past St. Andre where we thought the campground was but landed up having to push on for 5 more kilometers to SEBKA, a center for hiking, kayaking and camping. Our main purpose in coming here was that the brochure said they had internet so I could do some catchup work. They gave us site 31 but there was a trailer on it. Then after Dave went up and down the hill to the office,we got site 32 but it had no picnic table and no internet. Finally, I went there and complained and got a site closer to their office where we could connect to internet. Then, we had to buy a big jug of water because so far, everywhere we have been in Quebec, the water has not been good for drinking. We're wondering if they have some special partnership with the water bottle companies. We setup, used the lodge to recharge batteries and I got some work done. I also found some nice bulrushes by their fence to finish the “Bullish" day that we experienced.