Charles wanted to take me on a tour of Sturgeon Falls before heading out of town. The impression one gets from the Trans Canada is not a good indication of the town’s character. Charles’ grandfather is from Sturgeon and he used to operate a men’s store on Main Street called “Robineau’s”. We checked with a local woman and it’s been closed for a number of years.
We decide waiting for a good coffee shop that opened at ten was critical so we headed down to the marina to a beautiful setting along the river.
Twiggs
This will be the first of four visits to this quaint café. It’s a small chain out of North Bay with stores in Sudbury as well. It’s very important to have good coffee, and in this case, a bagel breakfast sandwich, before a long ride (“why did the seagull fly over the sea again?”)
As we’re leaving a young boy on a bike is looking for a pump as his front tire is flat. We get him fixed up and we’re on the road out of town toward Cache Bay. Charles’ mother’s side of the family is from Cache Bay if I recall correctly.
As per the title: a tail wind, no traffic and just the perfect conditions for biking and chatting. And of course, this:
Highway 64
I’ve traveled this highway many times going to Alan’s camp on the French River. This is a first for me on bicycle though and a first ever for Charles.
We pull into Lavigne and everything appears to be closed except the depaneur from where we grab couple of beers and some cheese curds and we find ourselves here on the reaches of Lake Nipissing:
And a bit further down we encounter the West Arm of the lake:
Noëlville
As we were enjoying chips and chocolate milk (don’t tell Joanne) outside the Foodland, an old Chevy Monte Carlo pulls up right in front of us.
“Then just stay in the damn car!”
Buddy gets out and starts putting money in the vending machine and cursing. “They own the damn machines you’d think they could fill them (sic).” Then Honey Boo Boo gets out of the car and he’s talking to her in a very derogatory way and gets her a Coke—the last thing she needs. Charles and I are just standing there mouths agape. Note, I don’t know what ‘sic’ is for, just thought it would be cool to use it randomly in a sentence.
Beauséjour
A welcome sight as the skies are showing rain. I’m a bit excited as they’re able to serve us dinner from the restaurant; perfect because there’s nothing else close by.
This will turn out to be our roughest motel so far:
- The bolt on the door is stuck and won’t lock.
- the screens on the window are holy (I mean holey)
- Needs a refresh in general
- no coffee maker
- fan in bathroom is grinding (this is a very important feature for us 🤭
Not to be too negative, the dinner from the restaurant hit the spot, the beds were comfy and there was ample hot water.
