Iles de la Madeleine: Day 2

                      Parc de Gros-Cap

 It was a beautiful day, sunny with little wind to explore the next island in the archipelago, Havre aux Maisons. It is a more rural island with winding roads and scattered houses. It is remarkably treeless but the spectacular worn shoreline red cliffs make up for it.....stunning scenery.
We took Hwy 199 and crossed the only bridge on the archipelago.
Our approach to this island was the Circuit des |Saveurs, 
the food trail. We stopped  at La Pointe, wharves and a marina,   to check out a fish market. Next stop off the hwy was la Fromagerie du Pied-De-Vent . We could observe the making of curds through a glass partition in the shop. We both bought cheese. There was also local artisans' work on display for sale. I bought a hand painted
plate.

 

We took the time to walk a short trail nearby  to the shore.

Next stop was Le Fumoir d'Anton , a family business selling smoked fish and seafood. We bought seafood crepes. An old smokehouse was set up with displays explaining the process. There was also a short video.

We continued our drive along the shoreline to Alright Cape Lighthouse overlooking Plaisance Bay. It was a short walk to more spectacular scenery.
We made one more gastronomic stop at Miel en Mer.

We ate our lunch in the parking area at Dune-du-Sud beach. People were sitting on the beach enjoying the sun.

We checked into our next campground,  Camping des Sillons

at 2:30  hoping to do some cycling. We were disappointed to learn that there is only one off road cycle path in the area , the main path being  along Hwy 199. We did ride a short distance along the highway. The shoulder was safe and wide enough.

After our bbq chicken dinner, we walked  a short distance along the sand dune beach. It is 22 km long.
We drove only 24 km but saw and did so much.

 

Iles de la Madeleine: Day 1

 It was 12º, felt like only 10º with a strong  wind and mainly cloudy so we decided not to go cycling. Instead we went sightseeing. The Iles de la Madeleine are an archipelago of 12 islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, part of Quebec.  6 of the islands are connected by narrow sand dunes. A group of 7 islands form the central core. There is one bridge on the archipelago.

We returned to Cap aux Meules to the Tourist Information Centre by the ferry terminal where we got a lot of very useful information. We also  bought the cycling map. Before heading out to explore the southern end of the archipelago and the two communities of Havre Aubert and Bassin, we climbed the giant stairway, 187 steps  to a panoramic view of Cap aux Meules, the largest island in population and second  largest in size.

We  took hwy 199 which follows  the wind swept dunes and stopped along the 13 km Plage de la Martinique, had our lunch there and continued onto Ile du Havre Aubert, the largest of the islands. This island has the most extensive forests of the archipelago.

The community of Havre Aubert is a natural fishing and yachting harbour surrounded by sloping hills. It is known for its pebbly beach. While Kathy browsed through the numerous boutiques, I walked Shadow and took many pictures and video. It was very picturesque.

We literally drove to the end of hwy 199 before taking a coastal road around the west side of the island to Bassin.

 We  returned to Ile du Cap aux Meules where we toured the west side of the island . The road was very scenic. We passed many spectacular red sandstone cliffs, were able to stop for some pictures  and view an impressive sculpture.
 

On our way back to our campground  we passed a wooden church, one of the largest wooden churches still existing in North America.

We motored only 114 km but saw so much. A most enjoyable day

Nous Voici !

 Our intention to do a dump at our site before leaving came to a smoldering end. Another  first for me now in my 31st year of RVing. Unbelievable! When gauging where to line up on our site, we attached the sewer hose while I backed up Harvee Too and left the engine running while I checked. Bad decision. The sewer hose melted touching the muffler exhaust pipe!😖

First stop was  at Canadian Tire in town at 8:00 to buy a new sewer hose. We were only 72 km from the Confederation Bridge to P.E.I. The bridge opened in 1997 which was the year Jean and I visited P.E.I.. The curved 12.9 km bridge is the longest in the world crossing ice-covered water. Construction took four years using more than 5000 local workers. The posted speed limit of 80 kph can be adjusted according to weather conditions.

We stopped in Carleton for tourist information and pictures, then continued to Souris, another 133 km. We were pressed for time because I had not allowed for reduced speed limits through the numerous small towns along the Trans Canada hwy. We arrived at the ferry terminal with one minute to spare at 11:44. (They suggested you arrive 75 minutes before sailing time.)

We boarded almost immediately after checking in. The crossing to Iles de la Madeleine is 134 km and takes approximately 5 hours. We left 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled  1:00 departure and our sailing time was  4  1/2 hours  in   mostly overcast skies and a brief period of rain. The Gulf of St. Lawrence was relatively calm. 

The ferry, the MV Madeleine II was launched in 2017,  owned and operated by a Spanish company and  purchased by the Canadian government in 2021. It carries up to 1,500 passengers and 450 cars.

Souris

Cap aux Meules

We had a short drive to our campground for two nights, Parc de Gros Cap. The shoreline  around the campground is spectacular.

View 100 ft from our site

We drove 261 km,  8 of them on Les Iles.

Shediac New Brunswick

It was a mainly sunny day as we motored through New Brunswick on Hwy 2 where the speed limit is 110 kph. There are no rest areas along the highway which makes comfort stops a little inconvenient. First time we exited the highway and stopped briefly at a service station with limited parking. We made very good time. Our second stop for a late lunch (1:00) was at a very nice Irving Big Stop just off the highway. They even provided a Bark Park. 

We arrived at Parlee Beach Provincial Park in Shediac around 2:30 ... a shorter driving day, just 459 km. 

Later we drove into town and treated ourselves to our first seafood dinner this trip at the Lobster Deck. Unfortunately Kathy's choice, a seafood casserole was "pretty awful" but my scallops platter was good, We shopped for a few groceries at No Frills before returning to the provincial park.

Jean and I stayed at this campground years ago. It has modernized, more sewer and  water  hookups  sites. And our first campground with senior rates.

A Power Wash Day Into New Brunswick

We woke early to rain @ 16º. Poor Shadow did not get much of a walk around the campground. We left the campground at 7:40 and continued east on Hwy. 20, the TransCanada. Traffic was light going east and once we passed the cutoff to Quebec City, traffic was very light.  The condition of the highway deteriorated drastically once we passed Lévis ... terrible pot holes,🕳🕳, frost heaves and cracks. The Sûreté Du Québec (provincial police) were on the job; we passed a few radar traps. Hopefully the speeding fines they were issuing will go towards road repairs!!

We made a short quick detour off the highway at a Tim's for Kathy, a pit stop at a rest area on the hwy and a longer stop at a nicer Halte Routière to have lunch. We eventually left the rain behind. We did not have enough gas to reach New Brunswick where gas is approximately 20¢ cheaper a litre so stopped  in Trois Rivières for $50 @ $1.54.7 / litre. 😞

Camping Edmundston

  We crossed into New Brunswick around 2:00   where  we    lost an hour crossing into Atlantic time.   We stopped in      Edmundston to fill up @ $1.35.5 /   litre and arrived at       Camping Edmundston on the Iroquois River  around 3:30.   (We stayed at this campground on our trip east last         summer.) 

Iroquois Falls

It was another good motoring day:  518 km. The rain caught up to us with intermittent showers in the evening. We did get in our walks though before the rain.☔

 

 

Motoring East into Quebec

 We were on the road early at 5:50 a.m. to avoid the traffic on hwy 401 through the GTA. We stopped  to have  breakfast at the first ONroute Centre near Port Hope. Next stop was in Napanee at a Flying J for propane and a gas top up @ $1.19.7. We drove through fog and light rain for a few hours but the traffic moved along nicely, no slowdowns  for construction which was a bonus. That is not to say the highway wasn't badly in need of some repaving in stretches.

We made one more stop at another ONroute near Cornwall to have lunch and arrived at Camping Alouette east of Montreal at 2:30. We saved lots of time taking  Route 30, the toll road that bypasses Montreal . The $5.80 toll was well worth it.

We have a nice pull through  full hook-up site, $51.74. We motored 586 km.

🎜 On The Road Again... 🎝

        Camping Greenfield

Kathy and I were finally off on  another  blackfly escape adventure a little later this spring due to very special circumstances: a surprise 70th birthday party for Gail and Kim given by Matthew, Danny and Eleonor,  Laura and Colin at  a restaurant in Vaughan. We were quite comfortable camping overnight in Danny and Eleonor's driveway.

The party was a huge success.  29 family members and close friends attended. Gail and Kim were indeed surprised.

The kids spared no expense...open bar,  a delicious  multi  course Italian meal. (Gail's favourite food is Italian.) The speeches given by Matthew, Danny and Kim were very heartfelt and  touching.

A great time was had by all.