The last stretch

 Today was another long day of 365 miles, or almost 600 kilometres. The gravel section i think is about 159 miles, but it's in two sections with tarmac in between around the abandoned town of Gagnon. This was a mining down bulldozed in the 80's, but the roads are still there if you go off to look for them. I knew this would take me a while so I didn't plan any side trips.

First thing was to ride on to Fermont and fuel up. This is another mining town, so I guess the huge building is another company owned thing. The language switches here to French, of which I only have a few words, but it'll be fine.

 The first gravel section from Fire Lake to Mount Wright is dreadful. The day was grey and overcast to begin with so the mine doesn't look as bad as it could, but it's still ugly. The lake is a strange colour and the leavings scatter the area all around.

Lots of trucks on this section moving between the mine and the town, even pre-fabricated buildings are being hauled around on this road. Helicopters are ferrying things too, and I saw one float plane buzzing around.

 This picture doesn't really do justice to the scale of the place, but those little tonka toys are the huge things you need to climb a ladder to get in to. That's my little camera on max zoom, and they are still tiny.

I'd been carrying fuel on my back for the last two days in the rucksack, but I found it unsettled my balance, so I'd tried strapping it to the main bag again. On one side I'd secured it to the main bag, but that proved to be a mistake as it dragged all the luggage off to one side. In the end I just let it hang as I'd gotten fed up trying to sort it. At one point a pickup stopped me to tell me it was loose, just slowed to a halt after he'd passed me. Stopping out here isn't all that easy either and I generally like a nice long planned approach, but had to haul up quickly. He apologised when he saw it was safe, just ugly looking, but I knew I'd be better off with the fuel in the tank as soon as I could.

This was one of my nightmares. I'd stopped to try to repack the load again, and when I went to move off the bike wouldn't start. I knew I had fuel, the starter was turning, it just wouldn't catch. So after taking off my gear again I start pulling off panels, checking electrical connections, fuel lines, fuses, everything I could see, but still nothing.

I'd swiped an apple from the hotel lobby so I ate it while I considered my options. While the road was busy before I'd seen nothing in all the time I was stuck here. In the end the flies got so bad I put my helmet back on, and when thinking through what the problem could be I went back to basics and checked the simple things. It turned out I'd hit the kill switch when I put the helmet on the mirror. The kill switch is a big red switch on the right hand side of the bars next to the throttle. the idea is if you have an accident or come across a bike that's been in one, you hit that switch and it shuts off the engine. With it on, the bike won't start, just like an immobiliser. When I figured out I was so glad no-one had come along and found it for me.

I'd had conflicting information regarding the next petrol station so I ran until the end of the middle tarmac section where one report had suggested it was. When it wasn't there I put the fuel from the bag into the tank and set off on the gravel again. These sections of gravel are older than some of the others I'd been on, and it's full of blind corners, blind summit, swoops and climbs. Whoever designed it must have been on an acid trip as it was treacherous. You can't see what's coming and you need to cross a railway line over and over again. I counted eight crossings, but it may have been more.

The good thing about the long first stint was that I didn't need extra fuel to get to the Manic % dam fuel stop where the tarmac started again. At the first petrol station the bill was $17.28, so I handed over $50.28 and the lady gave me $15 ish dollars in change. Um, no. I think she'd rung my fuel through twice, and when a guy in the queue explained that she got shirty with him. In the end it got sorted. The next fuel stop at Manic 5 a similar thing happened where i spent $17 on fuel, bought an ice lolly to celebrate the end of the gravel and some lifesavers five flavours. The lifesavers are great, like fruit polos at home, always good to crunch on when taking a break. Anyway, I had a $20 note ready and some shrapnel and she rings up $32. Um, no.

After that it was a long tarmac section down to Baie Comeau. Those same swoops, dips, blind corners and summits were there, but on tarmac they were fabulous. I just coasted all the way long, though still being overtaken by all the pickups and cars.

In Baie Comeau