Planning Aug trip 2011

[Kenbike]

Hello gang
My wife and I are starting to map out a 2 up bike trip this summer the last week of Aug first week Sept.  Two years ago we did a trip to Vermont and used Burlington as our base and had a great time thanks to Blues for his travel advice!  My plan so far is to trailer to Burlington and leave the car and trailer on proceed on the bike towards the Gaspesie region.  Our goal is to explore the country, culture, and  whale watch.  We always stay in B & B's and like to find a good central location and make 200KM day trips for a few days and then move on.  We have never been in this region and I have reviewed all of the other post on this site and it sounds like a perfect trip!  Any suggestions would be great.

[Altitude]

Theres an awesome wahle tour in Taddoussac (sp) take the big boat its faster and they go into th fjord like inlet.4 hrs but well wort it.

[Blues]

Hey Ken,

Here's a couple thoughts to get you started.

Check out Baie Saint Paul which is on the North Coast east of Quebec City a couple hours. It's a small artsy town with great restaurants and interesting architecture and apparently the birth place of Cirque de Soliel. Very cool, I could live there. There is a ton of interesting stuff to see and do near by, including Tadoussac.

Quebec City is awesome but not bike friendly, Levis is directly across the river with a number of good B&Bs within walking distance of the ferry. The view across the river from Levis is stunning. For old world beauty and charm it's hard to beat Quebec City.

www.bbcanada.ca is a good source of info. If you find Baie Saint Paul interesting I have a ton of info on that region. Gaspesie might be better for a moving trip and is far more rustic. Montreal is also a great place but riding in town is not for the faint of heart.

Blues

[Kenbike]

Thanks Blues
I like the idea of staying across the river in Levis and taking the ferry across to Quebec city.  I assume it is easy to get around the city on public transportation or can you walk to most of the attractions in the old city from the ferry dock?

I will check out Baie Saint Paul, would you plan a few days before crossing to the south shore an moving east.  We are planning on ending in Gaspe but not sure how many days on the bike it would take to get back to Burlington, do you have any idea of the route to take back and how long it normally takes?    I will contact Jim and Lucy once I have our dates set to stay the first and last night of the trip.  We really enjoyed the stay and the great world breakfast.

[Blues]

Hi Ken,

From Burlington to the town of Gaspe is 600+ miles.

I'm not sure about public transportation in QC as I walked but the good stuff is right there where you get off the ferry.

A great source for local information is www.bonjourquebec.com and you can order booklets about the various regions, my stuff arrived in days, pretty cool. You'll want the ones for Gaspesie, QC, and Charlevoix which is where Baie-Saint-Paul is located.

Other than Montreal I don't know Quebec that well so take this for what it's worth. When I did a tour a couple years ago the 3 areas that I found most interesting where, Quebec City, Baie-St-Paul and Cap-des-rosiers ( which is near Gaspe ) and in between it seemed like many hours of just riding along.

QC is about a 5 hour drive from Burlington but you will feel like you are in Europe; beautiful, romantic, and lots of old world charm. Not to be missed.

Baie-St-paul, in addition to being quite nice there is tons to do in the area; great hiking, whale watching, the Saguenay Fjord ( 2nd largest in the world ), Isles aux Coudres and some funky little villages here and there. Tourism is important to the region so there is a ton of things to do like Kayak, sail, horse back riding and so forth. It's a very good place to base camp at a B&B, do day trips, and finish the day with a great meal in town ( my favorite is L'orange ).

Cap-des-rosiers is a long haul to get there but quite nice once you are out there. Parc Forllion is stunning and Pierce Rock is breath taking in person. Of course there are alot of boating related activities too, hiking, etc. It's much more roughing it and rustic in nature. I've got some great contacts out there, only wish it where closer.

Me? Well next time I will either do a QC/Baie-St-Paul trip or a Cap-des-Rosiers trip, but doing it all in one ride was a bit much for me.

Other stuff. High season is mid-July through Laborday Weekend and you will want to have reservations for sure. Most of the tourists are Quebecors and it will help to know a little French. Some basics expressions and a good attitude works well. And everyone will love you if you pay cash.

Good luck and let me know when your coming out this way, it would be fun to meet up.

Blues

BTW, congrats on the 990, great bike.

[Kenbike]

Thanks for the link, I will send for the information and check out the B & B's.  Sometimes I talk the owner into a garage space at night so I sleep much better!  Having the  KLR stolen would be a shame but with the 990 I would be really pissed!
With my schedule we will travel the last week in Aug so I will get out dates locked in and let you know the days we will be in Burlington. 

[Kenbike]

We have to move the trip to late September 9/24 -10/2.   I am wondering what the weather will be like that late in the season?   Any advice from the locals.
Thanks