My son and I rode from Montreal to Perce through Matane in Sept/Oct 98 (not tourist season). We
stayed on the Southern side of the St Lawrence from Trois Pistoles on. I can't recall ever having a
bike lane after Quebec City, but there was usually a good shoulder, and motorists were well
mannered. Between my Son and I, over a 1000 miles, we had one flat - that gives you an idea of the
conditions.
The fall colours were really pretty, and the riding was a good mix of flats and hills. The length
and grade of the more severe hills surprised us, as we expected from our maps that this portion of
the route would follow along the river. If there was a wind, it always seemed to be in our face,
coming from the Atlantic. Most of the towns were separated by hills, with the towns themselves at
the waters edge.
At St Anne de Monts, we detoured into the Parc de la Gaspesie, and treated ourselves to a nite at
Gite Mont Albert, which has an excellent gourmet restaurant that specializes in local fare (e.g.
moose, salmon). I am no gourmet, nor am I a big wild game fan, but this ranks as the best meal I
have ever had, even correcting for the cycling induced hunger. Also served an amazing local beer.
After mid september things really slow down for the tourism "industry," and many campgrounds and
snack bars are closed. We never had a problem finding a place to stay, but didn't get to camp
much after Oct 1. Lots of good, inexpensive eateries, most serving the local specialty junk
food, poutine.
I found it all quite beautiful, and it got especially grand at "Land's End" at Forillon Park, and at
Perce Rock. In Forillon, We took a "short cut" and actually traversed up a steep mountain path, the
only portion of the tour where we walked our fully loaded tourers up the very steep grade.
We got bike boxes from VIA in Gaspe and trained back to Levis, and spent the last few days of our
Holiday in Quebec City, which was marvelous.
All in all, a great trip, friendly people, good food, beautiful scenery.
Good Luck-
Jed
NYRides wrote:
> I'm a New Yorker who was up in Matane, Quebec on business last week. The whole place was blanketed
> in snow and ice, but it looks like an awesome place to ride in the summer. Can anybody tell me
> anything about riding along Rt. 132 between, say, Mont Joli and Matane during the tourist season?
>
> www.geocities.com/NYRides
