After having breakfast at the hotel, it was time to explore the city. The old part of the city (Vieux Quebec) is the only walled city in North America and is a major tourist attraction. Unfortunately, motorcycles are not allowed in this part of town so I had to find parking just outside. It is a nice place to stroll around for a while, look at the wonderful old houses and gaze over the St Lawrence river on the huge boardwalk in front of the Château Frontenac. The river was named ‘kebec’ by the natives so that explains the name of the city and province.
When I got back to my motorcycle, I found a piece of paper and envelope placed between my throttle cables. Only 3 days on the road and already a parking ticket. I had seen the sign saying something about motorcycles and parking on this street but I figured there was not going to be any police around on this quiet street on a monday morning. Wrong! "Interdit moto dans cette rue".
On my way out of the city, I stopped by Gaétan Moto because I needed some gloves. 'Parlez-vous anglais?", I said hopefull to the girl that helped me. "A leetle beet" she answered like she was really sorry she wasn't fluent. I told her I was looking for gloves and pointed at my hands. "Mais oui, les gands!". I found some summer gloves and also bought a pair for colder weather because they were 50% off. Good deal. That's always the fun thing to do when you don't speak a language very well. As long as you try to speak the local language, people will always try to help the best they can.
Heading a little bit south and then east, I first followed the highway which is not very exciting. Route 132 follows the shore of the St. Lawrence river and is so much more scenic. All the way, the river lays deep below, trying to find its way to the ocean. There are many beautifull homes and quaint churches along the way which gives the idea of riding through the French countryside. The smell of flowers and fresh-cut grass was rolling down from the hillside meadows and collided with the sweet salty smell of the river. It's always surprising how many different scents you experience on a motorcycle.
I was going to stop in Rivière-du-Loup but was not really impressed with the town to spend the night there. So I decided to head to Trois-Pistoles, named after a a silver goblet worth three pistoles which was lost by a French sailor here a long time ago. The lady at the Motel La Seigneurie was friendly and, conveniently, spoke very good English.
The weather forecast was not looking for the next day. The remainder of a hurricane decided to travel north from Florida to dump some rain on Quebec. In denial, I thought it probably wasn't going to be too bad. After a day of sunshine and high temperatures, it was hard to believe the weather forecast of rain and 18C/64F.
Day 4 - Rimouski, Quebec - 53 miles / 85 km
But the forecasters were right. I woke up with the sound of rain hitting the window. It looked like I was stuck in Trois-Pistoles for the day.
Besides its interesting name, there is not much to do in this town so I decided to try out my new rain-suit. The manufacturer claims its 100% waterproof so I might as well take them up on their promise. When I was leaving the motel parking lot, someone else just pulled in on exactly the same blue V-Strom (even with identical luggage cases). His friend was a bit behind and must have been confused when he saw me leaving. Pretty funny.
When I was on the road for about 30 minutes, I found out that a) the manufacturer was right about their 100% waterproof claim, b) my luggage cases are waterproof as well and c) it is still not fun riding in the rain with a good suit. Because the rain was going to be there all day, I decided not to push any further and called it a day around noon. Rimouski is not a very interesting town but has many comfortable business hotels. Perfect for a day of napping, watching tv and enjoying the swimming pool. In the evening, the rain stopped and the salty fog rolled in from the river. The grey clouds were so low that it seemed you could almost touch them. I was hoping the weather would clear up by morning.
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