Le Petit Train du Nord: Day 2

It was a beautiful morning, a cool 9º but sunny, and no wind as we bulked up on carbs for our next biking adventure. Our pancake breakfast was delicious.

Back To The Laurentians and le Petit Train du Nord

It remained warm @ 15º overnight with heavy rain until about 2 a.m. We were on our way under clearing skies at 8:30 and took the faster Autoroute 40 the 130 km to St. Jerome  and km 0 of the Petit Train. Traffic was very heavy and slow going  as we neared Montreal and turned north past Mirabel airport.

We were very lucky to find a large parking lot near the train station which was near  Km 0.

It was partly cloudy, some wind  and a pleasant 18º for our trek. Our intention was to bike to Ste Adele and back (25 km x2) but discovered sections of the trail were closed for paving which created  rather long and hilly detours through some neighbourhoods.

Rivière du Nord

The trail followed the river and passed through forested stretches.

We stopped at km 14 at the Prévost Station, shopped for souvenirs and decided to turn back. My bike battery was down to 60% and Kathy came upon yet another detour soon after                  continuing on and turned back.

Prévost Station

With the detours we biked more than 28 km (14 km x2). Kathy's odometer read 46 km! We ate a late lunch when we returned to Harvee Too, loaded the bikes back on and drove only a few km to Camping Lac Lafontaine where we have 2 services, Wi-Fi , pull-thru site for $51.75. We drove 144 km.

Back To The North Shore

It was another overcast and foggy start to our day was we motored  west along Rte 132. Traffic was very light. We made a pit stop at Tim's in the larger town of Montmagny before crossing the river to Quebec City and the north shore at Lévis.

We took the faster Autoroute 40 west, exited at Deschambault and quickly found a nice Halte Municipale to eat a late lunch. We decided to continue west on the secondary highway, Rte 138 which follows the river. We had one dramatic moment crossing a narrow bridge which should have been marked one lane and yield. Elbows in as three vehicles came at us.  I stopped  for two cars to pass after the first one passed and  we clipped rhe right  rearview mirror on the bridge. No damage done, just some realignment when we could

stop.

In Cap de la Madeline we stopped for gas at a Shell station. Not as quite a big fill-up this time. $323.36 (182.8 l @ $1.76.9 with the CAA discount).
 

Skies threatened the entire drive but the rain held off until we reached our campground, another different arrangement. This one is part of a marina on the Rivière du Loup in Louiseville , about 35 km west of Trois Rivières. We had a longer day motoring 370 km.

We discovered a trail  maintained by Ducks Unlimited along a pond  across from the marina. Shadow and I walked a short distance  on it before  mosquitos got to us.

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Bas-Saint-Laurent: South Shore

 It was overcast with patchy fog (significant scotch mist) as we drove the remaining 85 km through the Matapedia Valley. We stopped at one lookout in Amqui at Lake Matapedia. 

Bas-Saint-Laurent is the region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River.

We stopped at the Jardins de Métis, a historic site in Grand-Métis.  The gardens were created between 1926 and 1958 by horticulturalist Elsie Reford.  It began as a fishing camp. There are some 3,000 species and varieties of plants spread over 15 gardens. Kathy visited the gardens  for a couple of hours.

We continued our drive west along Rte 132 following the river, made a brief stop in Rimouski at a Tim's and eventually stopped for the day at a campground a few km  off  Rte 132 in St. Alexandre-de-Kamouraska: Camping Le Rayon De Soleil.

 It looked familiar. Jean and I had stayed here in 2003 on a trip to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia when it was Camping Le Passant . It was much more built up with new owners.

We motored 299 km under overcast skies, through a few showers and more rain overnight.

Leaving La Gaspésie

It was overcast and a cool 8º when we left Percé and motored ouest,  not est on Rte 132 because we had rounded the point of the Gaspé peninsula. We started with  a good tail wind which soon mostly  broad-sided us as we followed the winding coastline. Waves were crashing up onto the highway where it hugged the shoreline. There were very few opportunities to stop to take pictures because all of the Halte Municipale  in the small towns were permanently fermée. 

We were able to stop  at L'Anse à Blondel at a quiet hidden beach in the sector of Chandler. We stopped for groceries in the city of New Richmond.

I had to make a stop in the small town of New Carlisle known for its Hydrant Trail, colourfully painted fire hydrants lining the main street. I  can now put my picture of Shadow along side my picture of Bandit taken in 1999. Shadow was more indifferent to the whole experience!

We got our biggest  fill-up of gas in Matapedia: $421.50  (235.6 litres, fortunately the cheapest gas this trip @ $1.78.9).

Matapedia Valley

We avoided the rain and made such good time driving  around the point and along the Baie de Chaleur that we continued west across the peninsula through the Matapedia Valley, formed by the Chic-Choc Mountains.  The valley gets its name from the river that runs through it and is famous for its wooden covered bridges, originally covered with wooden roofs to protect their wooden beams from rain and snow so they'd last longer.

The valley is heavily forested. 

The rain began soon after we entered the valley so picture taking was limited. There was patchy fog too. We stopped at the Routhierville Covered bridge built in 1931. It is the longest in Eastern Quebec, 256 feet and painted oxblood red. It is designated an historic monument.

We stopped in Causapscal and checked in at Camping Chez Moose, $52 for full hookups and free showers. It remained windy and never got warmer than 11º. Kathy made delicious omelettes for dinner. We drove 315 km. Hélas, no moose sightings at the campground.

Percé and le Rocher-Percé

 

We had an easy walk down from the campground into the village, its main street lined  with  art galleries, boutiques, restaurants, inns. A boardwalk runs the length of the pebbled beach.

We took the 11:00 boat tour  around Percé Rock to Bonaventure Island. 

Percé Rock is one of the world's largest natural arches located in water. The arch is 49 ft high. The rock is described as a narrow bluff  of limestone, 1,421 feet long, 300 feet wide and 289 feet at its highest point. Samuel de Champlain named it Percé in 1607.

The ride was very rough which made picture taking very difficult. Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island are a national park created in 1985 to protect the large migratory bird sanctuary. 250,000 seabirds nest on the island in summer. The island has the largest northern gannet colony in North America. Most of the passengers on our cruise got off to explore the island.

The tour cost us $45.00 each and lasted 1 ¼ hours. The boat circled the island.  It was interesting to see the rock from all sides and angles.

We ate a seafood lunch at Resto du Village. It was my first scallops dinner this trip..... delicious.

I also bought my first souvenir jigsaw puzzle of ...you can guess. The scene is by a local photographer, Jean Christophe

LeMay.

We returned to the campground around 2:00 and enjoyed a relaxing sunny  afternoon.  It reached 13º.

A Bit of Everything

 It was mainly cloudy when we returned to the national park to see another sector called Penouille. It is a 2 km stretch of beach  bordered by a boardwalk which also passes by salt water marshes. It was very popular. Shadow and I walked to the end of the boardwalk while Kathy continued on the dirt trail to the end and lookout, the 4 km loop. 2 km was fine for me and Shadow.

We left the park and drove a few km  to the town of Gaspé at the mouth of the York River overlooking Gaspé Bay. It took  a couple of calls, some driving around but we eventually found a garage where we could buy badly needed propane. We had been on "Empty" for two days! We paid $54.20.

We stopped at the Museum de la Gaspésie to see the Jacques Cartier Monument erected in 1982 and consisting of giant cast iron steles (ancient upright stones used as a monument). They commemorate the meeting of Jacques Cartier and the Iroquoians in 1534.

There is also the Jacques Cartier Cross, a replica of the 30 ft cross with the coat of arms of the king of France erected by Cartier in 1534.

We also stopped to see the Birthplace of  Canada, a site that commemorates the arrival of Cartier in 1534. It is a recreation of early 20th c Gaspé with period buildings and exhibits. There were two costumed guides to explain the exhibits and answer questions.

I had a delightful chat with one of the guides, tout en français.

We did some grocery shopping at Maxi before continuing on Rte 132  east to the village of Percé.

We checked into Camping du Village off the main street for two nights.We have a site on the highest level of the terraced campground with a view of the famous rock. (I mentionned I had stayed at the campground in 1999 ...."Je suis de retour.")

We drove 171 km under mainly cloudy skies. It was a cool 10º in Percé.