- Max Trip Size: 4 people
We are looking for a few other cyclists to do a self-contained bicycle tour of the Saguenay fjord and Lac St Jean, a Canadian veloroute a few hours northeast of Quebec City in the heart of French speaking Quebec. This tour is famous because of a unique geological feature that brings nutrients down the St Lawrence to its confluence with the Saguenay river at Tadoussac, QC. The krill and fish that congregate there attract up to 13 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises making it one of the premier whale watching sites in the world. We will tour at the end of August which should be peak season.
Our initial plan is to fly into Quebec City and then take a bus to Chicoutimi (part of the city of Saguenay), likely staying in a hotel there so that we have a place to store our bicycle boxes. From there we will find our way to Tadoussac for kayaking and whale watching. Then bike back up the Saguenay fjord, around Lac St jean and return to Chicoutimi. We will follow an itinerary based on an old commercial tour by AtlanticCanadaCycling. Along the route there are national parks, small towns, bakeries, and microbreweries. During the tour we will eat a main meal of the day at a restaurant and stay at campgrounds with typical daily mileage in the 35-50 mile range. Riders need to have touring experience, the ability to change a flat tire, and a flexible outlook. French language skills would be a plus. A map with a starting point at Tadoussac, QC is shown here. We will get there from Chicoutimi either by boat, bus, or bike. The main costs will be airfare to Quebec which should be about $1000 including luggage, plus the cost of food, shared camping fees, and local transportation.