I had wondered whether Lac-Saint-Jean, a two-day drive from home in Virginia to the edge of the Quebec wilderness, might prove to be a trip too far as a bicycling destination. A sublime moment on the lake's Veloroute des Bleuets, the Blueberry Trail, put that question to rest.
Quebec has over 35,000 kilometers of bike-friendly roads and trails in its Route Verte (Green Way) cycling network and selecting which segments to ride can be bewildering.
In making a plan months earlier, I decided to follow the food. Napoleon famously said an army marches on its stomach and that's what I did in seeking the conquest of New France, on a bicycle. I ventured boldly into the heart of Lac-Saint-Jean blueberry country. I stayed in a chocolate factory overlooking the magically moody St. Lawrence River. I rolled in the territory of fine cheese-makers in storybook villages topped with spires, shrines and other icons of the faithful.
Over two weeks, I cycled on two separate sections of Route Verte: the 256-kilometer circuit around Lac-Saint-Jean, and a collection of country lanes and bike paths on the eastern shore of the St. Lawrence between sunset-kissed Kamouraska and the Gaspe Peninsula.
Veloroute des BleuetsStitched together from bike trails, country byways, village pathways and occasional paved shoulders, this is a beautiful ride along a lake so big it resembles the sea. Cyclists on Veloroute des Bleuets are treated to candy for all of the senses - the sight and sound of waterfalls, the crispness of the air, the tiny taste-explosions of those wild blueberries, ripe in late summer and better than any berry in captivity. People generally take three to five days to circle the lake. The longer the trip, the more time to see places such as Zoo Sauvage, where great wild spaces are given to animals, and Val-Jalbert, a historical 1920s paper mill town dominated by a towering waterfall, dramatically illuminated at night in changing colors.
Day 1: 56 kilometers from Chambord on the southern lakeshore to Alma. Sweeping lake views, treed pathways
Day 2: Same distance. That memorable romp along Pointe-Taillon beaches. Here, be sure to divert from the Blueberry Trail and bike the park's full length, taking a quick ferry at the end, for a spectacular ride.
Day 3: After 41 kilometers, a hard rain that promised to last. It made time for an unrushed visit to Zoo Sauvage in Saint-Felicien, where bears, caribou and many more beasts of the boreal wild roam and people are caged in trams that place you smack in the middle of the menagerie.
St. LawrenceA nearly three-hour drive places you in the commanding Saguenay fjords and town of Tadoussac, a playground for hikers, whale-watchers, kayakers, nature lovers, artists and cyclists, more from Europe than the U.S.
Then it's 90 minutes by car ferry to the St. Lawrence's eastern shore, land of world-renowned sunsets, wild rose-hip bushes, fragrant bakeries and more great biking. Over five days, these proved among the best in a series of day rides: a loop in magnificent Parc Bic, where seals sun on rocks; village lanes and Route 132 from Notre-Dame-du-Portage to Saint-Andre; and a trail between La Pocatiere and Saint-Roch-des-Aulnais. Along Route Verte 1, as this stretch is signed, it's hard to go wrong. Especially when you end up for the night in that little chocolate factory, Auberge La Fee Gourmande. AP
