Day 111 Louiseville to Batiscan, Quebec - Grampies on the Go Summer 2011 - CycleBlaze

August 19, 2011

Day 111 Louiseville to Batiscan, Quebec

This was a day for continuing down the Chemin du Roy, hitting the villages on the way one by one.

Chemin du Roy must be a big deal - it has its own pamphlet and map!
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We have now learned that the "Chemin du Roy" and the "Route Verte" folow highway 138 but with important variations. The Chemin du Roy hits every town and likes heritage sites. The Route Verte does the same, but avoids places the designers must have thought ugly or unsafe, whether historic or not. So when the three diverge we never know which to go with. There is no hard and fast rule, except that 138 will always be the fastest way.

Main street, Louiseville
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The two spire church of Louiseville.
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I took this just because Glenn (oldmanonabike) did too!
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The Route Verte pamphlet has something to say about the sights of each village, and it seems the red brick of Yamachiche must have a special story. Time and wifi could check that out, sometime.

A street of lovely brick buildings in Yamachiche
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The red brick of Yamachiche
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More houses of Yamachiche
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The red brick is famous
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To get to the mill at Pointe du Lac, you need to follow the Route Verte, turning North off 138. We did that because we love old mills. Inside the girl whose job it was to explain what you can see, and at what prices, went through the whole discussion with us in French. The next people were from Germany, and she detected that instantly, switching to English. Later we had some more questions for her and successfully used our tactic of explictly asking people to carry on in French. Unlike in some years past, everyone seems cool with that.

The seigneurial mill at Pointe du Lac near Trois Rivieres is open as a historic site
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The flour sifter on the second floor is exactly like the one at Upper Canada Village
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The mill was purchased for $18,000 near the beginning of last century by a religious order. On the third floor they have a weird scary display in which they appear as ghost like cardboard mannequins.
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The scary priests
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and a scary nun
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Some people were setting up for a wedding reception, also on the top floor. It was cramped and dusty, but unique.
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Water for the mill was brought by an impressive system of canals from a far off river. Pictured here is the overflow from the mill pond.
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Another view of the mill
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The mill pond
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Nearby was a health/addiction centre. If we read this right, it is the place for us. The sign advertises that they treat people for "jeu excessive". We can think of no other translation for this than "too much fun".
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We passed on going in to this church, only to learn later that it has a Casavant organ. Casavant was the
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We follow the Route Verte on the approaches to Trois Rivieres, only to be bored by boring suburbs.
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It's a good thing we are not going on this bridge!
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Approach to Trois Rivieres on 138 is not boring like Route Verte, it's ugly. We have to watch carefully as dozey drivers making left and right turns, leaving driveways etc. may not see us.
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This statue at the entrance to town is like statues we have seen in Mexican towns.
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This one, though, was blessed by the Pope.
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The only historic looking street we saw in Trois Rivieres
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We cross to Cap de la Madelaine
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Cap de la Madelaine is not too historic looking either
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But we do find a VIOLET house for Violet!
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That bridge is still scary even at this distance
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This point of interest mainly described a nearby mill that made pigment for red paint. It was here that the Sherwin Williams company got its start.
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Double spires in Champlain
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More Quebec architecture in Champlain.
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I have this crazy image of an ideal Quebec village. It has houses with the classical roof lines and stone walls, and a nice church. But importantly, it also has a bakery with wood oven, a cheese maker, a wood carver, etc. Yeah, it's a French Upper Canada Village. While I have found lots of nice houses and certainly churches, the bakery and other stores are lacking. In fact, some sizable villages have no stores at all. Lets look at Batiscan and see what we find:

Some promising houses
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This one is good too
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Plus a nice church
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And another good house
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One restaurant
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One snack bar
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One gas station plus one extra restaurant
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The bridge Glenn called "one dangerous bridge". It is not only narrow, but the deck is a metal grid work. On the grid, our bikes shifted many inches left and right at random.
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The Marina at the other side of the bridge has a number of obvious mobile homes in place, but only a small sign indicating camping. We went into the restaurant and found that a $20 bill just popped into the lady's hand gave us our choice of super spots near the river. The spots here are unique in that each is separated from the others by a cedar wall/structure that also offers the power and water. We moved our picnic table into the lee of one of these structures, and could sit comfortably while tapping the power.

The lady sent a young man with us, to show all the many spots we could choose from. He insisted on trying to practice his English, and we of course were gracious in not switching to French, too much!

Great camping at the Batiscan marina on the other side of the bridge.
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and a really good restaurant on site
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The restaurant, like the one yesterday, was unassuming but with excellent food. Looking at the terrifically well made pizzas at some other tables, I ordered one, while Dodie's table d'hote had brochette of chicken. It came with a starter of deep fried Brie, and ended with Creme Caramel. This is NOT Saskatchewan!

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 6,519 km (4,048 miles)

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