113 km (70 miles) – Total so far: 1,694 km (1,053 miles)
First job his morning was to get a new back tyre. Looked closely last night at it and discovered half centimetre gash in the wall. I feared there would be nowhere until Rivière and would need to try and get by with covering it with tape, but some top guys in the auto tyre place helped me. One ld chap drove me to the sports shop, and the other two stood and watched, occasionally murmuring encouragement. I had suspected a problem after the last explosive puncture.
That done, the day’s riding was a pleasure. Almost completely on Route Verde 8, 106 kilometres on that track from Degelis, off- road and no cars at all. The surface varies, between Degelis and Cabano on the shores of Lake Temiscouata the track is busy with cyclists and joggers, and so much use has cleared much of the shingle and made it quite fast. After Cabano it climbs up to 450 metres over about 20 km and is much less used. It is quite hard going in the shale. After a brief rest at St Honore de Temiscouata it is pretty much all downhill.
These trails are an excellent way to see Quebec and clearly very popular. Trail 8 has great scenery and passes a village with a cafe or shop every 20 km or so. They are as good trails as I have seen anywhere; Otago Rail Trail, Spain’s Via Verde’s and our own long distance routes in England. These are maintained so any bike can ride on them though, and that clearly adds to their popularity.
I’m not impressed right now by Rivière du Loup. It’s much bigger than I expected, and key as it receives the ferries from Saint Simeon. It seems full of malls and burger joints, but expensive with it. For the stats, it is the furthest north I will be of this trip, heading south tomorrow.
Quite a tough day, particularly of the shale going uphill this morning. I shall ty and find some Unibrou beer and chill out.
Distance 113 kilometres Max Speed 58.2 km / hr Ride Time 6 hrs 12 mins Average Speed 18.0 km / hr Departed 10:20 am Arrived 4:30 pm
New back tyre – gash in the side wall
Route Verde 8 – at Lake Temiscouata
The strangely named village of St Louis de Ha! Ha!
The name of the village comes from an old French word “haha” meaning a road that ends abruptly – nothing funny about that
Regular cafes and shops, every 20 km or so, for those with some time
And campsites
This is pretty much the high point of the route
Drink stop at St Honore
The sort of car you would expect to see in a place like this
Rivière du Loup and the St Lawrence river
Safe Return Doubtful 
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