GNBR East Day 3 - Gracefield to Notre-Dame-du-Laus

 37.6 miles, 2641’ climbing

Gîte Bertrand, Notre Dame du Laus

August 25, 2026

It was a day of forests, lakes, and light rain showers today. We packed up and left the Pickanock campground, hopped on the nearby Veloroute des Draveurs, and rode back into Gracefield where we had a good breakfast at the eclectically decorated Milano Restaurant.

After breakfast, we hopped on a quiet paved road, crossed the river, and passed a few farms on our eastward route. Soon the road turned to good gravel with few cars, and the only houses seemed to be lakeside vacation homes. We rolled past many lakes, some we glimpsed thru the trees and some obscured by the thick forest. Knowing our ride was short today, we took the time to ride down to the shore in a few places. We rode in a light rain or mist for most of the day. We could often coast down a hill and half way up the next one as we wound around the lakes — fun bicycling. 

The forest is dense with ferns and other undergrowth. There are pines and fir trees, but they are in the minority. We spotted a large heron and a hawk and many birds that didn’t stick around long enough for us to identify them. Some wet areas had blooming water lilies. In spite of all the wetlands, we saw no moose.

We rode down a peninsula peppered with houses and glimpses of water on both sides as we approached our destination. We crossed a hydroelectric dam and were briefly stymied by a locked gate until we saw a nearby opening in the fence.

Because it was a couple of hours before check-in, we lingered at the park near the dam. The outflow from the dam was dramatic. We dried our tent, very wet from last night, talked to a fisherman, and relaxed until we could check in to our charming B&B. The owner spoke little English and our French is a work in progress, but all was overcome. It’s good to be indoors after such a wet night last night. Our bikes are safely stored in back of the house. Tomorrow we will have a homemade  breakfast before we ride through the Reserve Faunique Papineau Labelle, a wildlife reserve. Dinner was from the local market.