Nominigue to Saint-Jovite

For several weeks, now, I've been waking up early. And I mean early.

It's not usually because I need to go to the bathroom, but I'll stir, slowly open my eyes, and check the time. I'll wake up at 3:00, or 4, or 5. Most of the time, I'll just close my eyes and try to fall back asleep. But if there's light outside, I'm up.

At about 4:30 on the second morning of our Petit Train du Nord trip, I awoke and saw the very first traces of light in the sky and I could hear birds singing. Not wanting to wake DW, I lay still, wondering if we were going to get wet on our second leg of the trail.

I checked the weather and, just as it predicted the night before, no rain was expected until the afternoon, though it was supposed to be cooler than it had been just yesterday.

DW was awake about a half hour later and asked if I wanted to go bird-nerding. We brought our telephoto lenses, just in case we spotted anything along our route. I said yes but I wanted to rest a little longer in bed—just because my brain was awake didn't mean my body was ready to get up.

When we did get up, about 45 minutes later, we dressed, grabbed our cameras, and quietly headed out via the third-floor balcony and stairs. But when I saw how beautiful it was outside, I went back for my drone to capture some video.

Sunrise at Chez Ignace.

We could hear the birds but they weren't showing themselves. And when they appeared from behind the curtain of leaves, they shot off like a bullet to trees in the distance. Neither of us were able to capture anything.

Breakfast at the Auberge Chez Ignace was served at 7:30 but coffee was ready at 7, so DW and I went back inside to help ourselves to a cup. We were met by our friend, Peter, who was preparing to take a cup to Wendy, in their room, he said they'd both be down before breakfast was served.

Breakfast was perfect, with fruit, yogurt, an omelette, crêpe (with maple syrup), ham, and cheese to give us the best mix of fuel for our ride. Thus fed, we changed into our cycling clothes, packed our bags, and checked out.

The weather forecast was wrong. We started out with sunshine and only a few scattered clouds. The temperature was in the upper teens and we had only a moderate breeze.

It was perfect cycling weather.

We had no problem reaching Rivière Rouge and clouds only started to build in as we reached Village du Labelle, where we stopped for lunch. As we sat at a picnic table near the old train station, only the fewest of sprinkles fell. They didn't even stop me from getting my drone in the air.

Labelle Station.

As we approached Saint-Jovite, we kept our eyes open for the 85-kilometre marker, when we knew we'd have to look for a road that would take us off the rail trail and onto a road that would lead us to our next destination, Le Pimbina B&B.

Though it's a couple of kilometres from the Petit Train du Nord trail and outside the town's core, this B&B was a worthwhile stop. The hosts, Patrick and Roxanne, made you feel at home in their spacious place. We had a secure garage for our bikes and a hot tub let us relax after our 59.75-km ride.

And though the B&B isn't close to town, it was a few steps away from a bus that got us there in no time. And the buses are free.

We dined in town at an Italian restaurant that is located in the original Saint-Jovite train station. The restaurant had great reviews but we found the quality of the food mediocre for what we paid.

While we ate, the rain came down. It changed from a downpour to a steady fall by the time we got outside, but it didn't stop us from wandering the town a bit.

The old station.

When we discovered that the return bus to the B&B wasn't going to come for almost two hours, we decided to walk back. We had stopped at a liquor store and picked up a couple of half-bottles of port, so we were able to relax at the B&B for the rest of the evening.

Breakfast, the next morning, was top-notch, and we were ready to face the next leg of our trip. It was going to be the shortest leg of the route but started with a steady climb. I'll share that story, tomorrow.

Happy Monday!