Days 30 and 31; Gaspe to Perce plus a rest day

63km/39m, 3hrs 52mins, 16.3kph/10.1mph, 709m/2304 ft of climbing.

Perce, reached by a gentle ride in the sunshine with a nasty hill at the end, presumably placed there just to make sure I don't get complacent, is blessed with spectacular scenery, as you can see here. The famous arched cliff, just a hundred or so metres off shore, is fascinating, because its colouring and appearance changes constantly with the light and weather. If Monet had made it to Gaspesie he'd have painted it over and over again.

Perce (spelled, by the way, with an acute accent on the final e; as is Gaspe. I just can't manage the accents on my iPad) is also an excellent place for a rest day, as it is packed with cafes and restaurants. So I have spent a relaxing day and a half just mooching about, having a couple of beers, eating well and generally doing what is needed to make sure I'm raring to go for the second half of the trip. Had a stupendous meal here, in a fish restaurant called La Maison du Pecheur. Try it if you visit the area.

Somebody asked me what I think about when I am riding along. It's not an easy question to answer. Obviously sometimes I'm looking at the scenery, sometimes I'm thinking about the route, sometimes I'm wishing the wind would drop. And sometimes I'm thinking about more complicated things. But a lot of the time I'm not really thinking of anything. Cycling is like that, it tends to focus one's attention on the sheer physicality of the activity. So I get into a rhythm and my awareness is focused on that; I couldn't be said to be thinking, just being. It's quite meditative. That's one of the things I most like about it.

And I've looked up the Gaspesie geology. The ancient upheaval that shaped the place was the Devonian collision that created the supercontinent of Euramerica. So there's a strong local connection to the west coast of the UK. My comparisons with Scotland weren't so wide of the mark.