Part Four: Quebec, Take Three! Chapter Four, Pike River to La Chute. 1115-1200km

Another wild week behind us!

Leaving Pike River, we set out towards St Jean Sur Richelieu. I was nervous about the big day and crossing the river on the busy bridge. At first we had a pleasant morning, meeting some lovely folks who helped me find a place to stay on the western side of the Richelieu. However, it wasn't long before the traffic got heavier and heavier. I turned off the road we were on, taking the kind advice of a friendly farmer, and made a more circuitous route towards the town. Crossing under the highway was unpleasant, then Jack had a bit of a freak out on the bridge. Wilson became more and more agitated as the afternoon turned into evening and we made our way through the western side of St Jean. We were briefly stopped by some friendly police who were following up on reports of horses on the road. After a quick chat and them wishing is all the best, we headed off for the last hour, finally arriving at Mark and Genevieve's place at dusk. What a day! I found out that one of the panniers had slipped back a bit during the day and had rubbed Wilson's back, perhaps explaining his agitated behaviour.

The next morning was another early start as I intended to get to the shores of the St Lawrence the next day… but as soon as we set off, Wilson began to freak out at traffic. Starting off with agitation at each car, escalating to him completely pulling back into the ditch when a truck passed. Knowing that we had much busier roads and heavy rain around the corner, I returned to Mark's place quite stressed about what to do. What was going on with Wilson? I decided to abandon this busy section around Montreal, and begged a favour of Phillip, who has a horse property near La Chute. He came out the next day with a trailer and took us back to his place, where I spent the weekend psychoanalysing Wilson! I took him back out onto the road without his saddle, and he seemed fine. The next day I took him out again with his saddle on, and again he seemed fine. So there was nothing for it: back on the road for us!

This episode with Wilson shook me up quite a bit. We didn't have any significant bad experiences with vehicles. The only explanation I can think of is that the rub on his back from the slipped pannier was bothering him and his was somehow projecting this onto passing traffic? Even though the panniers didn't have contact with the sore and it shouldn't have been causing him much discomfort without pressure on it… But who knows! I definitely decided that avoiding the heavy traffic and busy roads and bridges around Montreal was the best choice, and that we would break our continuous line of travel and get dropped off at a safer location.

So on Tuesday, Phil very kindly loaded us back into the trailer and drove us across the Ottawa River, where we set off across the Ontario/Quebec border and Wilson behaved as his usual somewhat weird and mostly unflappable self!

What a week!

So now we are heading south of Ottawa, making our way towards Smith Falls and the legendary horse-friendly part of the Trans Canada Trail that starts somewhere there… Fingers crossed Wilson can keep it together for this leg!