Day 11: Berthier - Batsican

I could not get out of Berthier fast enough in the morning. I had initially thought I might go onto the Berthier Islands and bike around, but I figured I could see them from the shore and that was good enough. From Berthier I went through a number of small farming communities that were all charming: St Cuthbert, St Barthélemy, Maskinongé. All these towns were founded in the late 1600s or early 1700s, and had these classic farm houses with intricate woodwork and steelwork. 

I had intended to take a break in Louisville, but one wrong turn had me headed back to the main highway before I realized I missed it. This was the first time the Route-Verte had led me astray with improper signage, but I’d say it’s track record is still pretty good. At almost all forks or intersections, there are signs saying how far each destination is along the Route-Verte. It’s great. Anyways, I ended up having a snack on the side of a farmer’s field before getting back on track. 

As I was going through all these farming communities, I noticed how much the women were doing traditionally “men’s work.” I saw women driving lawn mowers and tractors, chipping and painting a front porch, and measuring a property line for a utility company. This is something I definitely didn’t see while biking through Ontario—it was all men on the John Deeres there. Go Quebec women! Doin it for themselves 💪. 

I made it to Trois-Rivières in the afternoon and had lunch at a park by the harbour there. As I was leaving this old man struck up a conversation with me asking where I was headed and then gave me his secret shortcut to avoid all the traffic when leaving 3-Rivières. Following this, I went in search of the beach. I had read there was one on the Ile St Quentin, which is in the middle of the St Maurice River at the mouth of the St Laurent. I hung out at the beach there for a bit which was so nice, it was very hard to motivate myself to leave. 

Once I finally did leave, it was not far to my final destination; about an hour and a half. From Trois-Rivières to Batiscan, the Route Vert was almost all along the water, which was amazing. Just outside Batiscan I stopped at a little fruit market and got some blueberries and a muffin, so I could finally have a breakfast that wasn’t instant oatmeal. It was forecast to rain, so I didn’t really want to cook anything for dinner outside, and the campground I was going to had a restaurant attached!

When I arrived at the Marina Village de Batiscan, the women who checked me in was so lovely. I was the only tent in the place, and was surrounded by RVs. When I got to my pad, I saw that each campsite had a storage closet! And some of the setups the RVs had were pretty luxe. 

After setting up camp I went to the restaurant for some pizza (with delicious cheese from a local fromagerie), and my waiter was so friendly. He saw me looking at maps and asked me about my trip, and started to tell me what was in the region worth checking out. Then the couple at the next table over heard and came to tell me the best places in Quebec as well. It seems like everyone is telling me to go to the Gaspesie, but it would add 5-6 days to my itinerary that I’d have to cut out of somewhere else, so I still haven’t decided. 

I narrowly missed the rainfall, getting to my tent after dinner just before it started to really come down. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Quebec City where I’m going to take a rest day to explore city. 

Total distance: 120 km

Total elevation: 296 m