September 11, 2014. Perce to Gaspe, Quebec. 44 Miles

We walked out to breakfast, checked the weather report, and lined up for the last pre-ride photo of this trip. Here we are on the boardwalk with Perce Rock behind us: Dianne, Barbara, Tom, Diana, Stan, me, Fred and Otis.

We saw construction ahead of us, so took a small detour. It did not get us past any of the construction, but we got to see a moose sculpture! Stan and Barbara liked it a lot.

 

When we got back on Hwy 132, the construction area was imminent. And so was the big hill we had seen from the boat yesterday. At the time we decided it could not possibly be that steep, but it was. This is the first time I have ever seen Tom and Fred walk up a hill!

 

 

The view from the hill was pretty impressive! This was taken where I got off the bike. I was holding my own, thought I could make it to the top, and then a truck came down the hill in my lane. Construction equipment was in the other lane. I hesitated just long enough to lose momentum and I was done. I walked my bike up the sidewalk the rest of the way to the top.

 

Dianne, Barbara and Otis were walking their bikes up, as was Diana.

 

Below is the machine that was in the left lane when a truck came down the hill in the right lane; that's when I got off the bike.

Stan was the only one to make it up the hill without walking. When we saw that it was a 17% incline, I asked him to stand by the sign and look triumphant.

 

 



There were several other climbs and descents, up to 12% incline on those. That was bad enough!

 



 

 

We had a morning rest stop at a veterans' park and walked down the hill to the restroom. This was really a day of hills!  I carried my rain gear on the bike all day today; rain was supposed to start in the afternoon and it was chilly enough that I did not want to get caught without it. It was quite windy too, but it was at our backs most of the day.

We had another construction area near the end of the ride. No one was working but there was no pavement! Here are Dianne and Otis riding through the stones.

We had a lunch stop about 11 miles before the end of the ride. It started sprinkling about then, but the real rain held off until most of us were at the B&B. Dianne and I had our bikes loaded on the trailer, had showered, and were playing Scrabble by the time Otis, Barbara and Stan arrived. We sat around the living room drinking wine and telling stories until it was time to go out to dinner, which took hours. Now it's quiet time and tomorrow we start the long journey home.