After months of planning, bike building, and training, it’s finally happening! We’re on our way on our Gaspésie bike tour!
We took our time getting ready this morning. We stopped and had lunch at around 1:00 before crossing the bridge and time zones from Campbellton in New Brunswick ultimately to Matapédia in Quebec.
We purposely planned a short ride (~15 miles)so that we didn’t feel too overwhelmed with too much mileage in a strange land while also being able to deal with bike problems if we had them.
We didn’t have any bike problems and the miles flew by. We arrived a little before 3:00 and set up camp.
Unfortunately the weather started getting colder then too. It was really windy and humid. The forecast said it was low 50s, but it feels colder.
I’ve been making due with my replacement clothes, but some of them aren’t as good as what I originally had. (Thanks, Southwest and TSA.)
I’ve added layers to the point I’m wearing nearly every piece of warm clothing I have. I bought some work gloves at the grocery nearby (to replace my lost silk glove liners) and to accompany ingredients for hot chocolate.
Once I had my rain jacket on over a fleece, merino wool long-sleeved shirt, tank top, and sports bra and drank a couple of cups of hot chocolate I quit shivering so much.
Then it started raining. Not hard, but enough that I’m writing this from the cover of my tent at 7:30 p.m. It feels better out of the wind.
You can see my mad camping style skills.
The chance of rain is supposed to decrease and temperatures are supposed to rise later in the week. Fingers crossed that we aren’t trapped in our tents each evening because of rain.
And since my cold weather gear is somewhat lacking, send some well wishes for slightly warmer temps!
So at the end of day 1, a little grumbling about the weather. But overall happy to be surrounded by such beauty, celebrating the wonders the my body can achieve.
Tomorrow we’ve got 50-ish miles in front of us to Amqui.