Veloroute des Bleuets; Biking the Trail of the Blueberry- Day 3 – Saint Felicien to Dalbeau-Mistassini
We took a little more time before we began our ride today. The skies had cleared, but the temperature was a cool 48 degrees, so we decided to wait and let the sun warm things up a bit before getting on our bikes. We checked out of our hotel, retrieved our bikes from the secure storage area, took them up the elevator to get to the lobby level and headed toward Dolbeau-Mistassini.
The region we rode through today is considered to be the very heart of wild blueberry country, I couldn’t wait to see it! But our first stop, before we had even ridden out of Saint Felicien, was a stop at a bakery, La Moissan d’or Boulangerie Artisanale. The smell of the freshly baked bread as we rode by was just too tempting! We had already made plans to stop along the trail at a dairy farm to purchase cheese, so it made perfect sense to buy bread to go with it.
The place was very small, with the open kitchen right inside the store. The lady behind the counter helped us to select the perfect bread, and stopped us from buying a loaf of bread in a plastic bag that we thought would be convenient to transport on our bikes. She said no, you do not want that one. It is from yesterday. We thanked her and selected a fresh small loaf which was still warm when she handed it to us. We tucked the warm loaf into our bike bag and headed on down the trail.
We soon arrived at Bouchard Artisan Bio.
We walked in and were greeted in French, but as soon as they realized we only spoke English, they switched to English. The lady helping us told us all about the farm, the cows, how the cows are fed (92% grass-fed) and how the cheese and yogurts are made. She then let us taste all of the cheeses they produce, as well as the yogurts. Some were aged as long as nine years (that sample was one of our favorites). It was all delicious!
When we tasted the blueberry yogurt, she told us they were in partnership with a family owned business in a nearby town that supplies the blueberry filling for the yogurt. We told her we’d be riding through that town later on today, and she encouraged us to stop and check it out and handed us a brochure from the shop. We bought yogurt (blueberry of course) and cheese for our mid morning snack. It was so good!
We hopped back on the bikes and travelled on, well fortified for the ride (how much longer til lunch?). Most of our ride up until lunch was through farmlands. We saw large fields of wild blueberries and beautiful wheat fields. I was thrilled to find wild blueberries growing right beside the bike trail and stopped several times to pick and eat.
I took a photo of the unusual blue huts located in one of the blueberry fields and decided I would find someone to ask what they were.
We traveled on toward Albanel, through so many beautiful areas today! I took a bunch of pictures.
We approached the little town of Albanel, and decided we’d try to find the blueberry business that the lady at the dairy farm had recommended. She had told us the business was owned by a mother and her two daughters, and that they had a some small displays explaining the history of the wild blueberries in this area. We also knew they made really good blueberry jam and hoped we might buy some fresh blueberries to go with our leftover bread and cheese. And I was pretty sure that a business with so much blueberry related information could answer my question about the little blue huts.
Once we arrived in the little town, we pulled off in a parking lot to get our bearings and see if we could find our way to the blueberry shop. We pulled out our trail map and pulled up Google maps. As is always the case here, when we are seen looking at a map, someone has stopped and asked if they could help us. A lady and her two granddaughters approached and she called out to us in French. They were on their way to play miniature golf when she spotted us. We replied with our standard reply, “English?” She laughed and said, “maybe a little?” We were mostly able to understand one another, and when we showed her the brochure we’d picked up about the blueberry shop, she knew what we needed. It took her a bit to think of the words, but she was able to make us understand that we needed to turn left at the light. She tried a few different words until we understood, but we got it! She then said, “after turn, 2 or 3 hours then you arrive.” This stopped us in our tracks. I’m definitely on a mission to consume as many blueberry products as I can this week, but no way were either one of us looking to add an additional 2 or 3 hours to our riding time. This just could not be! “Do you mean minutes? 2 or 3 minutes?” I said. She didn’t know exactly what I was asking and didn’t really know how to answer, so we thanked her profusely and headed in the direction in which she’d pointed. We knew that there must have been something lost in translation, because the blueberry shop’s address was listed as being in this town. Before pedalling around aimlessly, we decided to check one more time to see if we could piece together the route to the shop before we rode off. We stopped at a picnic table at the edge of the parking lot to look at the maps. We figured she must have meant 2 or 3 minutes, but we wanted to be sure before got back on the bikes. We had been studying the map for a couple of minutes when we heard someone call out to us from the street. We looked up from the map and saw the lady and her granddaughters, in a car parked at the curb right in front of where we sat. She got out of the car, walked onto the sidewalk and motioned for us to get on our bikes and follow her car! “I show you way, I show you way”, she said as she beckoned us to come.This was incredible! She had seen us stop to look at our maps again, and she had her granddaughters get back into the car, delaying their game of miniature golf, and help these strangers from America find the way! We put our map away, quickly climbed on the bikes and pulled out into the street right behind her. She must have thought we were fast, because she did not drive slowly. Jimmy asked, “how fast does she think we are anyway?” She soon realized we were much slower than she was, for she waited at the light (holding up the traffic that was waiting for her to turn), and allowed us to catch up. She turned left at the light just as she’d said, and we turned too. As we did, Jimmy said, “if this is a 2 or 3 hour trip, she can just forget it.” I agreed, no blueberry is worth that mileage on top of all the other miles we had to ride that day! But almost as soon as she turned left, she pulled off to the side of the rode, jumped out of her car, and pointed to the blueberry shop! It had been very close all along! She quickly went inside as we pulled in, and I guess she must have given the shop owner the scoop on the confused Americans about to enter the shop. As she came out, I thanked her again profusely and motioned for her to let me give her a hug. She laughed and opened her arms and I was trying to give a hug, but she was doing the kiss on one cheek, kiss on the other cheek thing, which I totally botched because I did not know how to do that. We both laughed and she got back into her car and took her very patient granddaughters back to play miniature golf.
We went into the shop and were greeted in English by one of the owners. She was one of the daughters that owned the shop with her mother and sister. She already knew we only spoke English and told us she would show us around and do her very best to explain all of the displays in English. She told us of an event that happened in the Lac Saint-Jean area in 1870 that resulted in the plentiful wild blueberries that still flourish today. Around 11:00 am on May 19, 1870 in the Sainte Felician area, a slash fire (the burning of brush, stumps, and branches on land after trees have been felled to clear the land) became uncontrollable and burned everything in its path.It raged on until nightfall, when a solitary rainstorm extinguished it. Residents took refuge in vaults, wells, and steams in an effort to escape the flames. When the fire was finally out, it had consumed over 938,000 acres of land. Leaving 5 people dead, 555 families that had lost everything, including homes, livestock, and harvests. Another 146 families had significant loss. There were a total of 6300 disaster victims and that was during a time when the residents only totalled 16,500.But, out of that horrific incident, something good has come. It was thanks to the Great fire that blueberries flourish here still today.. Wild blueberries naturally grow in abundance after a forest fire. Today, inspired by the results of the Great fire, blueberry farmers use a thermal-pruning (burning off the fields) to regenerate the plants and increase productivity. It was evident, as we biked through the area today, that the wild blueberry crop is healthy and strong here. They cover every surface in the forests and in the fields. Every time I stepped off of the bike today, all I had to do was look down to find wild blueberries.
After our history lesson, the shop owner offered us samples of her products.
We were able to taste each blueberry product that was made in the shop. They were all so good! We ended up buying some jam and other things to take home. I showed her the picture on my phone of the blue huts we’d seen in the blueberry fields. They were large enough for a person to enter, but all shaped the same. She told us the huts were for bees and hornets, because without good pollinators, there are no wild blueberries. They are the largest hives I had ever seen. She said the farmer places them in the fields to attract bees and hornets, and someone else comes around to collect the honey.
Since they did not have fresh blueberries, (it was too early in the season) our lunch plans were changed. The only place to eat in town was a food wagon back up the hill in the parking lot of the miniature golf place where we’d met our Good Samaritan. We rode back up the hill and ordered 2 hot dogs and an order of fries that we decided to split.The food wagon lady was very nice and asked us where we were from and about our trip. When she handed us our food, our fries were in a wax paper lined lunch sack packed full of fries. She said she’d made it extra full since we were sharing. So much for not eating many fries! They were delicious and we ate every bite!
We finished up the miles and arrived at our hotel in Dolbeau-Mistassini, which is right on the bank of the Mistassini River. It’s an adorable little town and all of the street signs are topped with cute little blueberries! The river runs right beside the hotel and we have a great view of the rapids.
We were hungry when we arrived, so Jimmy went down and made reservations in the hotel restaurant. It was delicious and overlooked the river. We started with the regional favorite, Gourgane soup and for dessert? Blueberry pie! Tomorrow, Dolbeau-Mistassini to Sainte-Monique!
