Quebec Days 23 and 24

Day 23:

Start: Mont-Laurier
End: Maniwaki
Mileage/cumulative: 32.83 / 923.44
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 1,864’ / 33,095’ 
Weather: Start – Sunny 40 degrees / Finish – Sunny 51 degrees
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 7

Day 24:

Start: Maniwaki
End: Gatineau/Ottawa
Mileage/cumulative: 85.20 / 1,008.64
Elevation Ascended/cumulative: 2,352’ /  35447’
Weather: Start – Sunny 31 degrees / Finish – Sunny 61 degrees
Flat tires (entire group) day/cumulative: 0 / 7

We’re combining two days into one post because, well, Day 23 was just a short day necessitated by geography. Leaving Mont-Laurier and headed to Ottawa, the town of Maniwaki was the only place to stay within a reasonable distance and there was pretty much nothing to see or make note of. On a positive note, because we were only riding 32 miles, we had the luxury of waiting until 11:00am to roll out, when the temperature climbed to a balmy 40 degrees.

Looking ahead to Day 24 was causing a fair amount of angst among the group. At 88 miles, it would be the longest day of the trip and with morning temperatures hovering around freezing, we would be riding in uncomfortably cold conditions for the first few hours. Over the course of the day, layers of clothing would be shed and tucked into handlebar bags and jersey pockets as temperatures climbed into the low-60s.

In the end, the longest day of the trip turned out to be one of the best. We prefer the longer mileage days on these trips, giving us more cycling time and less “down time” at hotels, so Day 24 was a treat. The route can best be described as three distinct sections. The first piece was on a brand new bike path through the woods and along the Gatineau River, quiet and peaceful in the cold, early morning fog. The middle section was on a major road with a decent shoulder for most of it, so not particularly pleasant or scenic (some members of our group found an unpaved path to avoid a large portion of the highway). However, once we reached the charming town of Wakefield, we hopped onto another new recreational path of crushed gravel and rode along the river for twelve blissful miles before diverting onto one last paved bike path to reach our hotel in Gatineau, which sits just across the river from Ottawa. One of the riders from our group aptly described the day as “glorious”.