Godbout to Matane - Riding the south side of the St. Lawrence

The 2 1/2 hour ferry ride from Godbout to Matane was smooth sailing and rather pleasant. We paid on board during the crossing, $8.75/person and the bikes were free, and had to show our ticket as we exited the boat. We arrived in Matane around 4:30pm and headed directly to Walmart in hopes of finding new stakes. The day we dried all of our gear out in Havre-St. Pierre, we forgot our bag of tent stakes when they were put out in the sun at the last minuted to dry. Ryan has had to improvise the past few nights, from using sticks to big heavy rocks. Nevertheless, we have sufficed, but not going on a hunt each night is preferable.

We are not big Walmart shoppers, so this was almost a first for us. Holy cow are things cheap. The store closed at 5pm (what? On a Saturday??? Who does that?), so we quickly grabbed a few items (crackers, peanut butter and chocolate) and no stakes before the store closed. No luck. Hitting Subway on our way out of town, we unfortunately had to ride directly into the sun at 6pm. These moments feel so unsafe and we can't wait to get off the road as overtaking drivers have a harder time seeing us. Heading west in the evening or heading east in the morning are risky... The south side of the St. Lawrence river is much flatter than the north, making for easy riding, minus the wind in our face, but nothing new there.

Mantane is a very developed town with farms and houses sprawled west. No luck finding camping. Much of the road is fenced off with barbed wire or private property signs nailed to the trees. We rode until the sun set, pulling on our down jackets because the temperature quickly dropped with the sun. There were not any clusters of trees on any public land. This is when stealth camping becomes tricky, but something always works out, right? That is exactly what we said as the dark set in and we couldn't find a home. Off to the left was a steep gravel road. Unsure of what it led to, it couldn't have been any more difficult up there to find a space than along route 132. Up we went and rode along the road for a few kilometers. Again, nothing. We even desperately searched along the railroad tracks for a small spot, the there was only a trail encased with tall grass on either side. Ugh! What are we going to do? When we first got up the hill, we saw a man standing on the porch of his small trailer home. Unlucky for him, since he was the only one outside, we waved him down and gestured with our hands if there was a place to camp. Nope. Not the most desirable spot to be in, we decided we would have to camp on private property and be out bright and early. This is something we do not like to do and have very rarely done. Just as we were getting back on our bikes, he called to us in French and jogged down his driveway at us. He gestured for us to follow him and said we could camp on his property. Thank you kind stranger! I am not sure if he thought we didn't have a tent, but he made the universal sign for sleeping by resting his head on his hand and pointed for us to stay in his tiny tear drop trailer that holds only a bed for two. It was absolutely perfect! He ran an extension cord from his home for a bit of inside light, offered us coffee, a beer and food. We declined on all offers, but he gave us pre-packaged sweet cakes that we have only heard about in Quebec. Yummy. If you are ever offered sweet cake, eat it. It is delicious.

A few laughs with both parties trying to communicate, mostly with hand gestures, we curled up in our bubble and went fast asleep. I was so thankful to be inside because it was probably our coldest night yet. We woke to a yard full of white bunnies, chickens in a coop with a rooster for an alarm clock and a note on our bikes inviting us in for coffee, eggs, toast and potatoes. This man, Mario, did not have much in means of possessions, so we only enjoyed a cup of instant coffee before getting on our bikes to continue west. These moments make our travels worthwhile.

We rode for an hour and a half before finding Cafe sur mer in the town of Matis de Sur. What a find. We were looking for a full breakfast and they only offered croissants, cookies and pastries until lunch. The owner was a small, energetic woman named Janice. She asked where we were coming from and could not get over my response, "This leg started in Minnesota, up to Newfoundland and now down to here." Her jaw dropped and with wide eyes asked, "This leg? Where else have you been?" I gave a brief overview of our riding adventure and she called her sister Debbie up from downstairs and said Ryan and I were staying with them for the night. We happily accepted and thus began a day and evening spent with amazing people ranging from an older couple who have been together for 67 years, Nancy and Chris Molson (yes, as in Molson beer), and topped off with Janice, Debbie and their two friends Val and Louise. We had an amazing day hopping from people to people, sharing stories and soaking up the Canadian people. There is quite an amazing story about the history behind the cafe, but I am afraid it will take up too much time rambling by me. I guess you will just have to visit for yourself and ask Janice or Debbie. They are marvelous people who live in an absolutely beautiful part of Canada for the warm months before spending the winters in Kingston, Ontario.