Tuesday, July 24 - Rimouski to Montreal, Quebec - 370 miles

Then our first task of the day was to wash the motorcycles.  They had been dirty from riding several days in the rain prior to the ferry trip, but had gotten extra dirty on the ferry.  The container they were in had a full wall on one side and one end, a partial wall on the other side, and an open wall on the other end, so it wasn't fully closed in.  Even though the container was somewhat protected from the ocean spray as it was positioned, the motorcycles did get some salt spray and a lot of dirty crud.  

The day started with fairly clear skies, then clouded up, and started raining just as we finished washing the bikes.  So, we put on our rain gear and started riding.

Our route would take us from Rimouski past Quebec City, and then to Montreal.  Going toward Quebec City, we rode right along the south shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and it was very pretty, in spite of the rain.  Soon the rain stopped, and we had high thin fog for the rest of the way.  

There are large and beautiful farms along the St. Lawrence valley, and we really enjoyed the green fields on the gently sloping sides of the very wide valley.  About half way to Quebec City we took an upper ridge route that paralleled the Seaway, from the advice of the two Montreal motorcycle riders we met on the ferry.  This gave us an upper view of the Seaway and the large beautiful farms.

Then back down to the lower road along the shore of the Seaway took us through very picturesque towns and villages.  As Norm said while riding, "If someone wants to see the real Quebec area, This is what it has looked like for a very long time".  There were antique shops and little gift shops of all kinds for one stretch.  We knew if we had our wives with us, we'd have never gotten out of  that section.

We didn't actually go into Quebec City, since this time we wanted to concentrate on visiting Montreal.  We had visited Quebec City two years ago on a prior Canada trip.  So with our time getting short, we departed the slower route for the Trans-Canada Highway (the equivalent of an interstate highway here) the rest of the way to Montreal.

About this time, the temperature started getting to us.  Here a few days ago in Labrador we were riding with everything on that we owned, and still cold at 45-50^o F or so, and all of a sudden it was 88^oF, hot and humid.  What a change!

The views along the Trans-Canada Highway were quite nice, running through heavy trees some the time, but widening out to show the very wide St. Lawrence valley at intervals.

When we got to Montreal, it was a mad rush on the freeways and expressways (Montreal has a population of a little over one million).  However, we found our motel and quit riding for the day.  Dinner at a nearby and good Italian restaurant finished the day nicely.

Back to Labrador Homepage