Hello and welcome to another week’s edition of the mrlukeniktravels blog from Canada (still!).
This past week has been a little less hard on the accelerator in order to allow the travel batteries to recharge. This is an important part of pacing oneself as I have been on the road for nearly two months now. It can be so tempting sometimes to go all out, all the time and then end up in a heap- with an overheated bank card!
To that end, I have taken these last few days a little slower and taken in the delights of the city of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec. Stopping there was part of a strategy to head from Quebec City back towards Toronto. Trois-Rivieres lies between the cities of Montreal and Quebec City on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. It is quite a relaxed place, certainly compared to the hustle and bustle of Quebec City. For me it was also, dare I say it, a welcome break from being surrounded by tourists all the time. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice sometimes to do that, but it gets tiring too.
The meeting point of two of the city’s three rivers.
The city is situated, as it says in the name, at the confluence of three rivers. The largest of these is the St. Lawrence. Initially, this facilitated trade between First Nation tribes and then later with European colonists. Over time the abundance of timber in the boreal forest lead to the development of the wood pulp industry. Later this evolved into the paper-making industry, timed excellently with the rise in popularity of newspapers in the early 20th Century. All that wood and water turned Trois-Rivieres into a paper-making heartland with, at one time, four factories in the city. I learnt all of this, and much more which I won’t bore you with, at the excellent Borealis museum in the city. It stands on the site of one of the paper mills and tells their (and the workers’) story.
An image of the mill’s heyday when logs were floated down river in spring to be made into paper.
I also managed to hire a bicycle for the day and made use of the city’s extensive cycle lane network. Hiring a bicycle was as easy as in any other city. There were even some emergency repair stations with tools and a pump to help if things went wrong. While I didn’t quite make the 157km to Montreal, it was lovely to visit some areas further from the centre. Some of the lanes also have boards containing information on the area and its history. I have to admit that as they were only in French I think I understood about 75% of the information provided!
One of the city’s three lighthouses along the banks of the St. Lawrence.
This city was the last stop on my eastern Canada list- for now, I have ideas for the future though- and I can thoroughly recommend it. While I can’t speak for the very far north, it is definitely worth a visit. It is also an excellent opportunity to practice/learn some French too. But don’t be too discouraged, English is used too! Seeing some pronunciation differences compared to, say Paris, is fun too. As a neutral, I’m not going to enter the debate as to who speaks ‘proper’ French!
As for right now, I am writing this blog in The Peg or Winnipeg to non-Canadians. It is roughly half way between Toronto in the east and Vancouver in the west. I am here for a few days before heading west again. There are a few places I want to visit in the Canadian interior but, for the most part, it’s all about getting across it! The west is beginning to call.
If you’d like to keep up to date on what is happening, then there is my Twitter feed @mrlukeniktravel. For, hopefully, nice pictures then there is my Instagram @mrlukeniktravels. Otherwise, I shall be back here next week with another update- and probably having wound the clock back a little further too. Until then, stay safe and travel on!
The old prison in Trois-Rivieres. Thankfully it’s closed…and I didn’t end up in there!