July 25 - Day 80 - Caplan 144km 963m

Path by the water…only lasted 2 km

In the town of Paspébiac I saw about 10 bikes…all painted up and decorated with flowers, on almost every street corner 

This says 132 West bound.  Nope…not headed home yet!  

 Wow….what a day.  I set out a big objective and met it.  9 hours in the saddle!  Sure glad to be off, but actually the body is holding up surprisingly well.  Must be because I’m going so slowly that I’m not stressing it.  

I was off around 0630, and was rewarded with some great views of Percé rock.  It drizzled for about 3 hours…not getting very wet….then heavy rain for 2 hrs, light rain for an hour….then the sun came out for the final few hours.  The top layers dried out nicely, but the inner layer stayed wet.  My shoes have not dried out…but if it stays sunny, they should dry out tomorrow.  

Most of the day was a bit away from the water….usually houses or trees between the highway and the water.  The highway is super busy too….Friday afternoon.  This past week and next week is holiday for anyone in construction.  I guess they just shut everything down for two weeks….but that’s the reason so many people are on the roads and the campsites are all booked up.  

The body of water between Québec and NB is called Bay de Chaleurs - which means warm.  I wonder if the water is really warm…or maybe just a bit warmer than elsewhere.  I’ll have to check it out tomorrow.  

A few nice views today, but for the most part I kept my head down…and moved as fast as I could to get the day done in daylight hours.  I grabbed food from the gas station for dinner,   My camp is set up, I’ve eaten, showered and now doing laundry and it’s already 9pm!  Another late night with an early start tomorrow.  

The plan is to get to Campbellton NB tomorrow to meet up with Patrick and Jarka.  That’s just over the border.  Likely only three full days in NB until I get to PEI!  Only 2 weeks till I get to the ferry for NL.  The end is approaching fast now….and I still have lots of ground to cover.  If the weather holds and I don’t lose any days, I should have time to make it to the îles de la Madeleine.  That’s still my plan, and hopefully it works out.