Percé, PQ to Forillon National Park

The wind howled all night rocking the camper back and forth. Some of the gusts of wind were so violent that I closed the lid to keep the canvas from being damaged. The wind was still blowing this morning but there was not a cloud in the sky.

The ‘roche percé’ still looked as impressive as yesterday although lit from the sun coming from the east.

For such a short season, Percé seems to be very much a tourist town. The main street is filled with shops and restaurants that it’s difficult to imagine the locals patronizing. And all the guide books say that this long weekend is the last hurrah and that a lot of places shut down in early September.

Leaving Percé and heading towards Gaspé involves going up and over a big hill and driving into much more mountainous country. The mountains of Gaspésie are really an extension of the Appalachians. Their northern end is the tip of the Gaspé peninsula as it falls into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Gaspé seems a much less touristy town. On the way out of town, we stopped to eat some lunch on the grounds of the Musée de la Gaspé. There is a huge bronze sculpture honouring Jacques Cartier who stopped in these parts in 1534.

Around mid-afternoon we arrived at Forillon National Park which takes up a big chunk of the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. We’re camped tonight overlooking the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the tip of the peninsula.

New Richmond to Percé, Quebec

We made a late start this morning. I’d woken up around 7am and heard heavy rain on the roof of the van. But when I finally crawled out at 8:30am everything outside was dry ... picnic table, van canopy, van windshields. Perhaps I’d dreamed the rain earlier in the morning. Still it was windy and overcast. Many cups of coffee later the sun was shining although the wind was still blowing.

When the rubber finally hit the asphalt, we backtracked a little to catch another of the photo exhibits I’d come across the day before. This one was aerial photos taken by Guy Lavigeur. The photos were displayed in a park in New Richmond and some of them were even attached to a short dock.

 This photo exhibition is a delightful surprise and I look forward to catching all of them (except the ones I’ve already missed) as I continue along Hwy 132 around the Gaspésie.

I came across the next exhibition in Bonaventure. It was a collection of portraits that Venessa Winship had taken in Georgia in the former U.S.S.R. They are a touching, melancholy set and my favourite so far.

I located the final photo exhibit of the day at the marina in Chandler. It was a selection of a series of photos taken by Guillaume Cyr and Yana Ouellet of old, abandoned houses around the Gaspé. Some very haunting images.

Today’s driving took us through many small towns and villages. I found it interesting to see the speed limits along various parts of the highway. The road is in fairly good condition and the limit is often 90k/h. However, even when you’re driving through fairly residential areas, the speed limit is often as high as 70k/h. There was, at least, a sign in a school area that indicated the speed limit was 50k/h until 5:00pm on school days. In most other provinces, I imagine it would be 30k/h. Perhaps the children of the Gaspésie are quicker on their feet than les Anglaises. And everyone seems to drive really fast. I always seem to have a line of vehicles behind me even through I’m doing the speed limit.

As we neared Percé, the landscape got more mountainous. Then suddenly, there is was: Roche Percé. I’d seen it in photos many times but I was unprepared for how big it really is. It’s HUGE.

There was a rain shower just as we arrived so we even got a bonus rainbow.

And I found a campsite with a fine view of the ‘rock’. I was able to sit in my lawn chair reading and watching the light change as the sun began to set. And I also took the odd additional photo. We’re parked near the edge of a cliff and I’ll be doing a double check of the emergency break before tucking Eliot and me into bed this evening.

Kouchibouguac to New Richmond, PQ

Quite a bit of driving today as we travelled to the top of New Brunswick and into Quebec to begin a tour of the Gaspé Peninsula.
There was a stop for lunch in Bathurst, N.B. where I found an excellent ham and cheese sandwich and some REAL coffee which I had ground for french press. The instant this morning was quite unsatisfying not to mention that it had hardened into great lumps that I had to use a pot bottom to break up. Even then it didn’t want to dissolve.
We crossed over a bit bridge at Campbellton, New Brunswick and were in Québec once again. The first stretch of the Gaspé peninsula is quite built up with lots of motels and cottages and many “tourist attractions”. One of those tourist attractions is quite interesting. In various towns along the way there are large, outdoor photo exhibits. We stopped just outside of Carleton-Sur-Mer to look at yet another salt marsh and found an excellent series of photos taken along the U.S. Mexico border.
 
The photos are large and the materials they are printed on will surely cope with the elements. I’ve just seen another sign for a different exhibit here in New Richmond which I intend to check out in the morning. I’ve been unable to discover anything about these exhibits on Google.
Otherwise here’s a photo of Carleton-Sur-Mer from the viewing platform.

And this is the beach near where we are camped tonight at New Richmond, PQ.

Stanley Bridge to Kouchibouguac, N.B.

As it was windy last night, Eliot and I took advantage of sleeping indoors. When we woke up the wind was even stronger although the skies had cleared. After all the summer heat, it was the first day in all of July and August that I could actually call cool.

Ross had to work today but was up in time to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yum, Yum. For these first three days on the road, I was doing very well in the meals department.

Ross went off to work and I organized the van for the next adventure – crossing the Confederation Bridge from Borden to New Brunswick. We left Stanley Bridge and were soon at the bridge. I had a devil of a time finding a place to actually view the thing even though it’s monstrously large.

As you can see the wind was really stirring up the waters of the Northumberland Strait. It would have been quite the ferry ride. I was satisfied that the thing looked sturdy enough to drive the van over and away we went. It was a little unnerving at first and you’re on the thing for quite a long time ... about 12 minutes. Since I was in a van I could see over the edge. It felt a bit like flying except for the wind catching the van every now and then and threatening to push us over the edge. The best fun is when you get to the middle part of the bridge and it goes even higher. The toll to cross the bridge was $44.00. But you only pay to get off the island (by bridge or by ferry) so my ferry ride TO the island was essentially free ... or, I suppose, $22.00. The ferry ride is about an hour and a half. That’s about the same as the ferry ride from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. But B.C. Ferries charges over $60.00.

We meandered our way up the eastern side of New Brunswick heading for Kouchibouguac National Park. Along the way we stopped at the info centre at Buctouche, N.B. where there is a lovely salt marsh with a boardwalk built out over it. There were no “No Dog” signs so Eliot and I took a stoll on it. The wind had blown the grasses into the oddest shapes. It was almost as if some sort of hair gel had been applied to the stalks of grass.

A little further up the road we came across an even larger salt march with an even bigger boardwalk. Unfortunately dogs were not allowed on this one as the marsh is home to many bird species.

A short distance up the road and we arrived a Kouchibouguac National Park. This park also protects an salt marsh and sand dunes. And, of course, Eliot was not allowed on these beaches or boardwalks either. But there was an extensive system of biking trails that went along side the ocean and also up along the Kouchibouguac River. It would have been fun to rent a canoe there but the wind blew briskly all day and into the evening.

Montague, PEI to Stanley Bridge, PEI

I was not finished with my visiting on PEI. The next morning I went for a bike ride with Anne. When I returned I raided her garden for yellow beans and tomatoes. (She’d told me to take as many as I wanted, so I did as she had a large crop.) I thought they would be good to bring along to Stanley Bridge where I was going to visit an old friend from my Calgary days.

Ross has lived in Stanley Bridge for a few years now. Stanley Bridge is slightly west of the middle of the island. On the western edge of the Cavendish area and Prince Edward Island National Park. Ross was working so I took my time heading north and west. I stopped in St. Peters for fish and chips at Rick’s Fish and Chips. (Recommended by Sandra and also in some book on best places to eat in Canada.)

Then I visited the very eastern part of PEI National Park in Greenich. It’s an area of sand dunes and beaches (as is much of PEI National Park). We spent some time walking the boardwalk to the beach in the wind and rain. (Did I not mention that the day had dawned chilly and very windy?) Not ideal beach weather. All a moot point as dogs are not allowed on the beaches in the national parks.

We arrived in Stanley Bridge just a short time before Ross arrived from work with pork chops. A meal of string beans and pork chops from the bbq and a bottle of red wine hit the spot. While the pork chops were grilling Ross put together a wonderful dessert with fresh peaches.

Hopewell, N.S. to Montague, P.E.I.

Two months is really a long time to be a houseguest. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it when I called my sister this past winter and told her I was coming to visit for the summer. And although the dog and I slipped away for almost two weeks to do a tour of coastal Nova Scotia, we were underfoot (Eliot more than me) for a long time.

I had planned to ‘do’ the Gaspé Peninsula on my way east but plans changed. So I decided to leave a bit early to have time to see that part of Quebec.

But a little detour en-route.

When I was heading east I had stayed a night with Joan and Steve in Ottawa. At the time they were about to leave for Prince Edward Island to spend the summer at the family cottage on the Montague River. So on Monday I caught an afternoon ferry to P.E.I.

It was a scorching hot afternoon and one of the guys on the deck told me I couldn’t stay in the van. I told him it was much too warm to leave Eliot in the car so he told me to take him with me. We encountered a couple of other dogs so perhaps Northumberland Ferries bends their rules a little during extremely hot weather.

Unfortunately the only shade and seats were at one end of the ferry where a guitarist/singer was performing for the tourists. His idea of pitch was somewhat approximate and I wanted to tell him that he had a volume on his guitar turned up too loud. I could hardly understand a word he was singing.

I had an uneventful drive up to Montague. I had visited this cottage before but the intervening time can be measured in decades. I did remember that I had to go over the bridge on the Montague River and then make a right turn heading down the river. However, I had neglected to enquire as to the address and all landmarks were either gone or had changed significantly. (Montague now has its own SuperStore for heavens sake.) I ended up calling Joan and it turned out I was only a couple of laneways away.

It was lovely to sit on the much renovated cottage deck, sip a beer and look out over the Montague River. Joan informed me that we were invited out to dinner. The cousins (of which, Joan has many) were getting together a short ride upriver for dinner at Sandra and Hughie’s.

It was a fabulous dinner. We started out on the lawn where S.&H. served a big pot of mussels followed by a big pot of corn on the cob. After that we went indoors for the rest of the meal. A salad, then a delicious quiche with garden vegetables followed by a blueberry crisp and a peach flan.

Besides all he good food, it was one of funniest evenings I have had in some time. There was a serious discussion of potato varieties (these are islanders, after all). Many embarrassing stories were dragged out and told again. My favourite involved Anne White and a certain Christmas reindeer that was stolen from Stephen Harper’s (not THAT Stephen Harper) lawn just before Christmas and placed on another lawn from which it again disappeared. Mr. Harper was NOT amused. Anne confessed that for her it was still a most embarrassing incident and she was at first reluctant to retell the tale but when her sister, Sandra, started to tell it she had to butt in as Sandra was apparently getting details wrong.

Cousins Sinclair, Anne, Joan, Sandra and her husband Hughie. Everyone was very impressed with Eliot who was on best behaviour. And Eliot seemed particularly fond of Sinclair during the evening. And when he showed up next morning, Eliot was right there.