Hospitality along the Acadian Peninsula

Wild flowers and long views to the Gaspe Penninsula dominated our day of riding on the Acadian Penninsula

Day 59
July 11, 2018
The morning dawns sunny and clear with almost no wind.  The temperatures are supposed to be mild and it’s a perfect day for riding.  We meet with Janine who is in charge of tourism for the Chaleur region and have a very quick interview about what brought us to the area and what we like about this part of Canada.  I guess we are an anomaly traveling by bicycle in this very motor sport obsessed area.  She is going to use our picture for a tourism brochure or an instagram post or something.  

The New Brunswick rivers and mountains and the bay lend themselves to healthy outdoor pursuits and are all here in great abundance.  Kayaking, trekking, snowshoeing, and mountain biking are all a natural fit and I hope the area sees more people pursuing these healthy sports in the coming seasons.  

Our route takes us to Bathurst and then up the Acadian Peninsula to Grand Anse.  We aren’t sure we will make it that far because we have planned a stop in Clifton to say hello to some folks we haven’t yet met.  An employee of Tom’s has in-laws who live right along the road we are taking.  She encouraged us to stop and says they have been following the blog and cannot believe we can bike so far.  Especially with the WIND.  We probably should have sought out their local knowledge before we planned this route.  

I am pretty sure if we lived closer, we'd be sipping tea and swapping recipes 

We are so glad we get to spend time with the Knowles.

The view looking west from the bluff

They are a fun couple and have deep roots in the region.  Mr. Knowles grew up right across the street from where he built his family home.  His property sits on a bluff 100 feet above the bay and his view is straight across to the Gaspé peninsula.  It is breathtaking.  We look across at all the towns we traveled through last week.  We do get some more warnings about Newfoundland from him since he used to be a long distance trucker and drove across that province many many times and in all kinds of weather.  

We can’t refuse dinner so we share a meal and get to know each other a bit better.  We hear about the winters here and it doesn’t sound like something I want to experience.  Mr. Knowles is prepared, though.  He actually has wood cut and split and stacked to last through the winter of 2020.  And, he has more logs drying for later!

The woodpile enjoys a stunning view across the bay

This is a guy who knows how to care for his family.  In the man vs. nature battle, he is the certain winner.

We continue to Grand Anse after saying our goodbyes.  As we are debating about where to stay, we spot a promising looking bluff for a night of stealth camping.  We are hanging out looking at our options when a man approaches and asks about our trip.  He is also a cyclist and he has come over specifically to offer the space behind his cottage as our tent spot for tonight.  His house is perched right on the edge of town overlooking the beach and the quai.  It’s an amazingly beautiful spot for a cottage.

The bay we can see from the lawn of the cottage

This guy is 70+ years old and just bought himself a fat tire bike so he can ride it on the rocky snowmobile trail that follows the old railway.  We mistakenly took this trail earlier today and it’s definitely not built for regular bikes.

Below are two maps for the day.  The first shows the ride from le Camping to the Knowles' home. The second map shows our ride after dinner to Grande Anse.