The Circle

Friday 7/25

It rained hard a few times overnight, but with very little wind along my rivers edge. During coffee, brief showers had me considering and starting multiple tent packing options. From inside the pitched fly, I wiped down the wet tent edges and packed up the dry tent separately. Then, I took down the poles, shook some water off the fly, and rolled it up wet. The wet fly and poncho (bike cover) went under the rear seat webbing.

I crossed the fjord via ferry without issue. And enjoyed a dry ride up the coast. I took a few photos, but a lot of great views occurred on hills with no place to pull off, and so remain uncaptured.

In the town of Forestville, I refueled, withdrew cash, lubed my chain, and had lunch at Restaurant chez Marie-Anne. I topped off my fuel again in Baie Comeau then headed North on Rt389 past Manic 2 and 5 dams. For 50miles above Manic 5 the road was gravel. It felt loose at first, but eventually, I was riding near the same speeds as the tar.

Turns out the fear of running out of gas seems misplaced. So far there is gas about every 150km. and I have stopped at each. My range is 300 - 400 km, so I could aford to skip one. But I had enough stuff on my rear seat to not want a 2gal bladder of fuel, and it hasn't seemed at all necessary. I had also calculated better milage at slower dirt speeds, but that didn't happen.

Using iOverlander I picked a lakeshore campsite just north of Relais-Gabriel. Turned out into be totaly free. It's also thick with black flies. The breeze kept them off, but the rocks and sand on the beach caused me to camp higher in the woods. More black flies and less wind. Re attaching the tent inside the pitched fly went smoothly. Possibly even fewer black flies under the fly.

While typing this in my tent I noticed the fly has abbrasion holes from todays journey. I used tent patching tape and covered the holes. Yes, that involved pulling the tape and tools from the bike and swatting more of the swarm. Even wearing my bug head net. Apparently 50 miles of gravel road at high speeds was just too much for my tent fly. Expensive lesson.

The bugs got me into the tent early. A wind and a few drops of rain make me think the patch was a good idea. Making an early night of it, just in case I need to get up and patch a leak.