Québec City to St-Michel-de-Bellechase   |   Campsite: 46.87768° N, 70.90807° W

Sleep last night was legendary. 4:00 I wake into the day and prepare for the upcoming walk. The pack is organized with all clean gear and clothing. The food purchased yesterday is portioned out into daily meals for the upcoming ten days of walking, planning, mapping, and forecasting of weather. By 7:42, I have everything I need to be prepared for the upcoming section of 189 km to the city of Rivière-du-Loup. By 9:45 the pack is organized, a final hot soak is enjoyed, and I am locking the door, walking my way through beautiful and historic Old Quebec City. I board the ferry which, in ten minutes, takes me to the south side of the St. Lawrence River. Quebec City is majestic, and the views of the city from the water as the ferry pulls out are incredible. Many photos are taken throughout the day, with every view worthy of being captured. At the ferry docks, all passengers exit, and I begin my first segment of walking eastward along the south side of the river. The terrain is just so damn pretty. The sun is bright in a light blue late spring / early summer sky, and everything around me is uncompromisingly alive. I walk 10 km on a wonderful multi-use trail and a fairly devastating uphill detour to Boul Guillaume-Couture (Highway 132) where I invest in a cold Labatt Bleu Dry and inhale the remains of a bag of potato chips purchased yesterday. By 12:30, I am walking east down Highway 132 when the trail ends. This road will carry me 166 km to the city of Rivière-du-Loup, which is what I am considering the starting point for the fourth leg of the walk. Leg 1 was Toronto to Kingston; leg 2 was Kingston to Montréal; leg 3 is Montréal to Rivière-du-Loup; and leg 4 will be Rivière-du-Loup to Fredericton. Once I clear the suburbs, the landscape opens up. Massive views of the St. Lawrence River and mountains of the Laurentides beyond are on full display for most of the day, visible in stunning magnitude. The road itself climbs 500 metres, descending into valleys of green before ascending again. The road is quite lovely, twisting and turning, rising and descending before settling into a four-kilometre straight stretch into the town of Beaumont where at 2:30 I stop for fruit, a pint, and some rest in the shade. So far I’ve walked 21 km. With the town of St-Michel-de-Bellechase just 10 km away, I decided to walk to it. By 5:30, I am walking into town. At the post office, I ask a man if there is a dépanneur in town, and he says yes and that it is only minutes away. Upon arriving and purchasing two celestially-immaculate frigid pints, I see him in line with a baguette and bottle of red wine. C’est le Québec ici. Securing sustenance for the evening, I make my way toward the shore, which seems to be the culture here, as the public park along the shoreline is wonderfully full of people: families picnicking on the grass; couples running toward picnic tables in order to secure a comfortable site to enjoy take-out dinner or a bottle of wine; groups of children released from school intent on making use of the immaculately-cut green expanse of grass with river and mountain ranges as a backdrop to a pick-up soccer match. I met Marcel in this park on the shore of the river as I was decompressing from the day’s walk while eating a dinner of rice and couscous cooked with my stove. I approached him as he was lying on a section of shaded grass to ask if he thought it would be alright if I camped for the night on the grounds of the park. He felt it would be more helpful to ask the owner of a nearby pub that stood adjacent to the public park for confirmation. We talk for 20 minutes, as he was very knowledgeable about the town and the area. He was also familiar with the upcoming stretch of roadway that I would soon be walking. I thank him and walk to the pub, first speaking with the hostess, and then to the head chef. He explains that the restaurant does not own any land surrounding the building and that therefore—just as my previous conversation with Marcel uncovered—there was a chance that I might be told to leave if I attempted a night of camping in a public park that was so busy with local residents. He mentioned that the restaurant closed at 8:00 pm. I figured that by the time the patrons finished and the staff completed their duties for the day that I could have the tent up by 9:00 if I felt the park empty enough of people. The park does empty out fully by 8:00. As I am waiting, a man who offered me his backyard to camp in for the night back at the dépanneur cycles up to the table I am working at, accessing the internet from the pub. Pierre asks how my walk has been, and we strike up a conversation that lasts close to 20 minutes, his wild grey hair dancing in the wind from the Saint Lawrence. He tells me about what I can expect to see eastward as I walk toward Rivière-du-Loup. We also talk about his own travels throughout Canada and the USA. As he is retired and his family is located in both California and British Columbia, he and his wife will often take road trips to the west coast and stay weeks or months visiting family. He has a wonderful softness in his manner of speaking. We talk about the state of politics, and our love for nature, switching often from French to English and back again. I was intrigued with the man over the course of our conversation here in the park, which nicely continued from the general store a few blocks back. We shake hands as he rides off toward his home at the closing of this incredible day. I have the tent up by 9:00 directly behind the restaurant with incredible views of the river, and I begin to settle into the evening by 9:15.

Today’s distance walked: 33.84 km    |    Total distance walked: 985.84 km

“Je peux voir l’éternité” – street art painted on concrete freeway overpass columns in Quebec City