GNBR EastDay 15 - Québec City to Deschambault

48.9 miles, 1752’ climbing

Le Chavigny Motel, Deschambault

Sept 6, 2026

We woke up to sun this morning, a pleasant change. After yesterday’s crazy wind, we were also pleased that almost none was predicted for today. We had a croissant and coffee on Rue Saint-Jean, then packed up and headed west in the direction of  Montreal.

We wound thru neighborhoods to reach a bike path down to the banks of the Saint Lawrence river, making a few detours for the ubiquitous road closures and going through a couple of them. There were a number of cyclists and runners on the multi-use paths. We turned off on some small roads through beautiful residential neighborhoods on tree lined streets, passing parks and some bridges. We proceeded through some construction zones that were unattended on a Sunday morning, following the example of locals. Everything was pretty pleasant.

Most of our ride followed two lane roads or highways. In one area, small farms had fruit and vegetable stands with enticing local products. We picked up a couple of apples at one stand. We had lunch on the deck of a small sandwich shop and later an ice cream. We saw a number of cyclists who appeared to be touring who passed n the other direction, most with huge pannier bags. We saw a number of roadies and people on electric bikes our hybrids. This is a popular cycling area.

We had tried to make a reservation at several small gites and auberges, but they were either full or closed for the season. Ultimately we reserved a room at a hotel about a mile off our route. The room turned out to be spacious and comfortable, and it has an attached restaurant. Nearby is a convenience store for snacks and Gatorade, so we are all set.

GNBR East Days 13-14 - Quebec City

0 miles on bikes

We took two full days to explore Quebec City. We stayed in a hotel just outside of Old Quebec. It was cloudy and a little rainy both days, and on Saturday it was full of tourists in a zany way. It’s the shoulder season, so we guess visitors are mostly here on the weekends in September. On our second day it was extremely windy, the kind of wind you lean into and it blows has off.

While in the city we took two historic walking tours, enjoyed the public art and historic architecture, explored winding streets, took a ferry ride across to Levis for lunch, found excellent food on Rue Saint-Jean, saw a little music and dance going on at the local Fierté festival. We walked around the parliament building and looked at the statues. We walked along the old city walls. Quebec City reminds us of old cities in Europe with lots of cafes that have outdoor tables. We even walked to a local bike shop though we didn’t particularly need anything.

What we didn’t do: visit the Montmorency waterfalls or go whale watching. The waterfall sounds beautiful. We *really* wanted to see the many species of whales that are viewable at this time of year, but it’s 3 hours each way by bus to the place where you get on the boat. We just weren’t up for 6 hours on a bus. Next time!

GNBR East Day 12 - Saint Raymond to Quebec City

45.2 miles, 961’ climbing

Sept 3, 2026

Moose sightings: 0

Hilton Quebec

It rained a couple of centimeters overnight, and it was still coming down in the morning, so we took our time packing up. We had a continental breakfast in our hotel which consisted of toast, banana and coffee. Finally we put on the rain gear and headed out.

Today’s route was supposed to take us on some local singletrack which we were looking forward to. On the other hand, puddles and mud on loaded bikes didn’t sound fun. Finally we made the decision to skip the single track and roll into Quebec City on the rail trail. It continued to rain all morning, sometimes hard, so we probably made the right call for ourselves.

As we pulled onto the rail trail, we saw a plaque describing the 1915 visit of then ex-President Teddy Roosevelt to Saint Raymond. He was pictured with a moose. Today was probably our last chance to see one with the likelihood decreasing as we roll thru more urban areas, but we kept watching. The only wildlife we saw was a soggy and slightly befuddled grouse who was trailside.

After about 7 miles of forest, the rail trail passed beside a large lake. To our left were floating docks, and to our right were beautiful homes with terraced, landscaped paths leading down to the docks and the rail trail. There was more forest, then more and more neighborhoods on the outskirts of Quebec City. We passed a preserved train car from the old railway and afterwards rolled onto the paved path, Chemin des Cheminots, which may be part of the rail trail too. It was cold, and we stopped for lunch at a burger joint adjacent to the path. When we came out, the rain stopped and the sun came out. 

Because our bags and bikes were mud splattered, we made our way to a nearby self-service car wash to spray everything off. We would be on pavement the rest of the way. We didn’t book our hotel until 2 days ago, and the only place we could find we decided would be too nice for mud encrusted bikes.

We wound our way into town, first weaving our way through detours and road closures, then taking paths through parks alongside a canal. The route took us all the way to the waterfront at old Quebec. It turned out that our hotel was on top of the hill blocked by a cliff. We laughed when Google Maps directed us up a very long steep staircase to get there. Instead, we pedaled west and found a steep path up the hill, undoubtedly our biggest elevation gain of the day. At our hotel, we locked our bikes in storage for a few days while we explored the city a bit. The old city is very European looking and somewhat touristy with many shops, restaurants, old buildings, public art, and some old town walls. 

GNBR East Day 11 — Lac aux Sables to Saint Raymond

39.3 miles, 1775’ clmbing

Sept 2, 2026

Pub-Hotel Saint Alexis, Saint Raymond

Moose sightings: 0

Number of plaques describing the high moose population: 1

Our camp site was strangely and wonderfully free of mosquitos. The RV park was quiet when we packed up. It seems like the season is over, and most residents gone except for weekends. We pedaled away on a rolling paved road that slowly climbed. The shoulder was minimal but traffic was light.

After about 17 miles we detoured to a gas station / market for a coffee break. They had a small seating area which we took advantage of. Heading out, we were prepared to share the pavement with large trucks and other traffic. To our surprise and delight, we turned immediately off onto the Jaques Cartier Rail Trail, one of the “routes vertes” cycling paths in Quebec province.  It had a solid gravel surface and rolled through the woods away from roads. Every couple of miles there was a stop with some combination of informational plaques, Adirondack chairs, toilets, garbage receptacles, covered sitting shelters, and camping platforms.  One plaque described the very dense moose population in Quebec. We scanned the wetlands and lake shores, but we saw no moose.

The rail trail took us right to the small town of Saint Raymond where we stayed in a hotel attached to a pub and pizzeria, the only hotel in the small town. It was a bit like a hostel or backpackers lodge. We walked around and had an ice cream in the misting rain before retreating to our hotel. The pizza was good and the people friendly. We appreciated the excellent shower since the hot water at the campground last night hadn’t worked. 

GNBR Day 10 - Mattawin to Lac aux Sables

 44.7 miles, 2881’ climbing

Sept 1, 2026

Lac aux Sables Campground

Moose sightings: 0

It was nice not to need to pack up a sopping camp first thing in the morning. Instead we had a restaurant breakfast, and we headed out on the smooth paved shoulder of the highway alongside the wide and calm Rivière Saint Maurice. Mist was rising off the water. There were some big trucks on the highway, but the shoulder was wide enough that it wasn’t disturbing. The river was beautiful. The amount of water here is mind boggling to a southern Arizonan.

After 10 miles, we turned away from the Saint Maurice onto a smaller paved road and started climbing, you guessed it, next to a creek. There were some farms and homes, few cars and no huge trucks. In 6 miles we came to Mekinac (Trois Rives), where we stopped at a friendly market to pick up sandwiches and drink a Coke. From there we turned off onto dirt roads, all of it a little loose, but the scenery made up for it: lakes and creeks with enough of an open forest to see them, a few houses here and there. 

We climbed and then descended on a road with quite a loose surface. When we caught up to the road grader, we knew why, though the road beyond it was very good. Why grade it? Some lakes had large docks and more homes with amazing views. 

Heading down a hill, we were suddenly met with a road closure. Below us we could see a giant backhoe and other large equipment, apparently replacing a bridge over a creek, and way too busy to stop work for a couple of cyclists. We consulted maps and saw no roads whatsoever to get past the closure, and we were 30 miles into our ride. We looked around but it was too steep to bushwhack. Finally we knocked on the door of an adjacent house to ask if they knew how to bypass it. The darling lady of the house immediately understood our predicament and showed us a small path on her property leading down to a small bridge across the creek, upstream from the closure, and getting us back on our way. Most of the people of Quebec with whom we’ve interacted have been similarly wonderful. We’ve spent a lot of time in the woods with just the two of us, but when meeting people they’ve been great: warm, friendly, more than willing to work with our fractured French.

Almost right away the feel of the countryside changed. Instead of dense forests, we were riding thru large farms. We saw corn and soy beans, some apple trees next to homes. In the distance in our next town we saw a striking pair of towers from the town church. We pedaled into the beautiful town of Saint Thècle and stopped in front of the church of the same name. We ate our sandwiches and read placards describing the history. A lady stopped to offer more history, and another passer by patted Sarah warmly on her shoulder.  A man on an e-bike stopped to chat with Ed.

Leaving Saint Thècle, there were a lot of historic homes. Farms were integrated right into the edge of town. A few more miles took us into Lac aux Sables, our destination for the night. We shopped at the market, then rode to our campground which mainly caters to people who have a year round RV spot. Many have elaborate decks and outdoor spaces. We have a shady picnic table wand fire ring tucked in next to a creek, an outlet of the lake with its sandy beachfront just a minute away. We bought fire wood, made camp, did laundry, lit a fire, made dinner… a great evening with a peculiar absence of mosquitos (much appreciated).

GNBR East Day 9 - Riverside Camp to Mattawin

37.5 miles, 2388’ climbing

August 31, 2026

Moose Sightings: 0

It was cool, damp, and foggy this morning as we broke camp before the mosquitos woke up. Whoever parked a truck and trailer at the other end of the camp site didn’t make an appearance last night, so we had the camp site to ourselves. A squirrel came out and started chittering at us as we brushed off our drive trains. Maybe we woke it up? A few minutes later we saw it next to a tree with a long green pinecone looking deliriously happy, so we were forgotten. During our ride we saw several more squirrels with green pinecones, all looking pretty pleased with themselves, including one that ran right in front of us, requiring an emergency stop.

It was cold as we headed out. We were damp and gritty and a bit sluggish starting. We are almost over our colds, so hoping to feel a little more energetic soon. Around 9:30am the fog lifted and the sun came out. We road along the beautiful Rivière Mattawin which we camped next to. At one point we heard a roar and made our way out to the riverside where there were some dramatic rapids. 

After some rolling climbs, we found ourselves at the exit from the Reserve Faunique du Saint Maurice where there was a gated entrance and a visitor center. It was right by the confluence where the Rivière Mattawin flows into the even larger Rivière Saint Maurice. After a short pedal on pavement we arrived early at our hotel. The entire “town” is our hotel & restaurant and a gas station / quick mart across the highway. There was a sunny balcony facing the Rivière Saint Maurice where we were able to hang out soggy clothes and camping gear.