August 8, 2010
Bromptonville to North Hatley: Bees!
As usual, we left our accommodation determined to cover a lot of miles early in the day. However,the best parts of travel are most often the least expected and spontaneous moments. Thankfully we both feel this way. As the cliche goes, its the journey not the destination. We were following Route Verte before Sherbrooke and stopped to take a picture of a man tending to his bees. Before we knew it, the bee keeper, Robert O'Donnell invited us over and taught us all about bees and his hives. This led to an invitation to share lunch with Robert on his deck. He prepared an amazing omelette with eggs from his chickens, tomatoes from his garden and whatever else was in the frig...and for the crowning touch, ice cream with blueberries and as much honey as we could eat. We are so grateful that we stopped and got to know Robert as we felt such a warm kinship and generosity of spirit from him. He sent us on our way with a "bear" jar of his honey to enjoy. We benefitted from his knowledge of the area as he gave us good ideas for our route.
As proud Arkel pannier owners, we had planned to vist their showroom in Sherbrooke - but they are closed on Saturday..another trip!
The route around Sherbrooke is very pleasant. Arrived in North Hatley around suppertime and realized that we should have prebooked accomodation. This has not been a problem before in Quebec. North Hatley is a tourist destination, 900 people with about a dozen B&B's, all fully booked and no camping. We had no choice but to carry on into the dreaded hilly Magog region. The hill leaving N Hatley is fearsome and we decided as the hour was getting late that we should turn back and find a farmer`s field. Thankfully our tent is a colour that blends in and is easily camouflaged by hay bales. Our first attempt at wild camping has been successful. We discovered that Route Verte out of North Hatley is gravel, steep and difficult for a heavily loaded bike. We will proceed on the road and leave the trail behind for a while, plus it's 35 km shorter. Locals advised us that the road was more interesting.
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Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 921 km (572 miles)
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