March 5
It was after 1am before I got to bed. I have potentially exciting news regarding getting my YouTube Channel running and am also working on some new content for my website. If people realized how much time is spent uploading, downloading, photo editing, blog and documenting on the level I do they would never believe it. I also got an email regarding a meeting I was hoping to secure with One Tree Planted for tomorrow. Very excited about that.
When I finally did get moving/awake in the morning I was responding to messages from people in Montreal that would like to meet. I want to make myself available to anyone wishing to meet but it is very challenging in a city when there are potentially 5 people that want to meet. I have not figured out how to plan this better but I plan to do a better job going through the next city.
Pascal Longhi
When I was finally up and around Pascal Longhi showed up at the hostel and we did a 4 hour walking tour up to Mount Royal and around Montreal. I had a great time and am so glad he reached out.
March 6
Another evening that had me working on the computer until after 1am. When I did finally rise this morning I received an email that the meeting I was hoping for was being pushed until Monday. This is frustrating as I was hoping to be moving on from Montreal by Sunday morning.
Cathedrale Christ Church
In the afternoon I decided to do a solo walking tour to see if I could find any cathedrals with open doors for photographing. I was able to photograph inside Chapelle Notre Dame de Bon Secours and Cathedrale Christ Church along with a many other photos taken around the city.
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
March 7
Pedal: 24.5 km’s
My nights are even getting later behind the computer and I ended up sleeping in until 11:30am. So this morning was a bit of a scramble to get myself checked out of the hostel. Tonight I have a host only about 15 km’s away. I ended up pedaling about an extra 10 km’s around the downtown for some GoPro footage. Looks like things are moving forward with making something out of my YouTube channel.
Staying with Andre and Claire Cournoyer for the next few days. During our conversations I learned that they have lived for sometime in the Yukon and were quite familiar with the Yukon and Northern BC and Alaska. They brought to my attention the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system. I am happy to say that I have found and alternate route through Northern BC and I will be seeing a lot more of Alaska than I previously thought.
Andre and Claire Cournoyer
March 8
My evenings continue to go into the early mornings in front of the computer. Therefore my mornings continue to be spent sleeping in. Not too much exciting happened today other then more computer work.
March 9
I took the Montreal subway or as it is called the Metro to downtown for my meeting with One Tree Planted. They are located in the We Work offices in the downtown. I had a really good sit down with Taviana Mcleod and Caitlin. Our conversation last about an hour and am excited to see about turning our conversation into a blog post. After our meeting I decided to see if I could find anymore cathedrals with open doors. I was able to photograph inside the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral and Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes Chapel. I was also able to catch the subway back to my hosts without getting lost. Which is actually pretty incredible.
Down in the Metro
March 10
Should be on the road but they were calling for rain all day. Another day in front of the computer. Not going to lie, I would like to be on the road and give the laptop a bit of a break. I feel like I am productive on my computer but when working on a never ending job it feels like I must be working in circles some days.
March 11
Pedal: 75 km’s
Destination: Rigaud, QU
Weather: Today started out sunny but definitely below zero degrees. It seemed like the coldest day in a week. But by afternoon things warmed up. It was about 30-35 kilometers to get out of the greater Montreal area and to the bridge off the island. There simply is nothing enjoyable about pedalling through populated areas.
That being said I had a most enjoyable lunch waiting for me in Ile-Perrot at Smoke Meat Pete. Richard Arlen who has been following me for sometime reached out and made sure to take me out to lunch on my way out of town. It was great to meet and hang out with Richard. Richard also helped me with my routing to Ottawa and when I leave Ottawa towards Kingston.
Richard Arlen
I am following the Ottawa River along the south shore. It is a pretty good route through pretty well to do neighbourhoods. The roads are a little bit rough but traffic was pretty light. Glad to be back on the road and glad that I will be entering Ontario tomorrow while we are still in the winter season. Today I also finally reached 2000 Safari Arie Facebook fans.
March 12
Pedal: 11 km’s to Ontario
Destination: Ottawa
Weather: Last night was a low of -7 and the noise that came from the highway never stopped. I tried to listen to podcasts to put me to sleep. In the end I don’t know if I slept a wink. The day was sunny but cold in the morning. I only had 11 kilometers to pedal through to the Ontario borer. Pick up the rest of the story in the next blog piece.
Rigaud, QU – Tim Horton’s behind the sign
Summary
What can I say about Quebec? Quebec had its challenges just like any province. The headwinds off the St Lawrence River as I headed west from Riviere-du-Loup were pretty relentless. That being said I was very lucky weather wise. I have driven this way in a truck and northern New Brunswick into Quebec can be deadly.
I enjoyed Quebec City but I think I enjoyed Montreal even more. I definitely took a lot of photos of Quebec City and Montreal. Getting into Montreal I started having more of the local interactions that I had so enjoyed in Atlantic Canada. Quebec is made up of a heck of a lot of farm land.
By The Numbers
729 km’s total / 20 days / average 36.5 km’s a day
Nine down days. I really did try to cut as many down days as possible. I only actually stopped in 2 cities in Quebec: Quebec City and Montreal. Obviously I wanted to spend some time in these cities to tour about a little bit. Quebec City I was held up by 2 days because a pretty big snow storm came through. I [technically] spent way too much time in Montreal. It was really important to me to meet and have a meeting with One Tree Planted. I originally had a meeting scheduled for Friday March 6 that was postponed until Monday March 9. And then the Tuesday was rain all day. I am glad I stuck around for the meeting. On a positive I was fairly productive on my down days and I spent a lot of time checking out Montreal.
Quebec was a little bit more expensive than the other provinces mainly because I spent a total of 6 nights in hostels for a total of $198.66. Quebec was an interesting province in staying in 2 fairly big cities. Staying in the hostels was a good idea but my host in Montreal also saved me some good dollars.
I spent $3.65 taking the Levis ferry to Quebec City and I spent $6.20 to take the bus to Montmorency Falls. I also tipped the Quebec City tour guide $15.00. I replaced my broken GoPro tripod for $68.97 and had an additional $11 in miscellaneous expense.
My food expenses for Quebec were $461.61 divide by the 20 days = $23.08 per day. I finally used up my last Tim Horton’s gift card in Quebec City and was able to save some money by cooking many of my meals when I stayed in the hostels.
