106km
In the early morning we rode in silence, awed by the quiet and stillness of the woodlands and lakes on the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. In the afternoon we rode in silence because we were too tired to speak.
South of Maniwaki, the orange T-shirts and handprints on the path brought home the focus on the children of Residential Schools and Every Child Matters.
For the first 40km we rode along perfect gravel and lovely tar in the quiet forests and past the Lac Blue Sea (it’s huge!). It was all easy going until we hit a nasty loose gravel surface about 40km in. We know to ride whatever is under our wheels, and that nothing lasts forever, but this was pretty unforgiving. After about 15km the ugly gravel gave way to a mostly easy double track that took us to delicious lunch.
We needed the calories. After lunch we battled more loose gravel before hitting the big hills. Up, up, up we went to the hydro dam above the town of Low, then down a bit before up, up, up we crawled again on loose sand and gravel. The descent took us through a gorgeous valley of occasional red maples and loads of rolling emerald fields.
Our wildlife count went up by two snakes but we’re still surprised by the absence of wildlife. We barely even saw cows or horses in those incredible fields.
Finally, hearts pumping, we crossed the covered red bridge over the Gatineau River into the quaint town of Wakefield. The beer and cider from our host Dawn at the Auberge Mon Petit Chum were oh so welcome.
Then dinner. How does a town of about 2,000 people boast such a restaurant as The Village House? Definitely something to write home about and we’ll be imitating their recipes for some time.
Today: 106km
Today’s climb: 686m (almost all in the last 30km 😳)
Total distance: 4,373km
#transcanadatrail
Trans Canada Epic 