Homeward Bound

 It was partly cloudy, 9º, rain in the forecast when we left the campground around 8:30 and continued south on Route 323 eventually leaving the Laurentian mountains behind.  This was the same route we took coming, turned  west onto  Hwy 50  and made good time in light traffic. 

We stopped at the Chutes du Moulin viewpoint again for our comfort and instead of crossing the Ottawa River into Ontario via the bridge into  the city of Ottawa, we took Rte 148 farther west along the river and took the ferry at Quyon to Ontario.

Leaving Quebec

The Grant Beattie is an electric  cable ferry pulling itself along a submerged cable. The physical crossing distance is  1½ - 2 km and takes 5 to 10 minutes. It operates seasonally  and can accomodate up to 21 cars. We crossed with two  cars. The fare was only $18.00.

We had a short drive on the old Hwy 17 into Arnprior where we gassed up at the lowest price this trip: $1.55.3 /l at Shell. 195.5 l for $309.44.

We ate lunch and motored north on Hwy 17 through some brief but intense showers. It was an easy drive on straight highway with very light traffic .

Camping Dunromin

We arrived home at Dunromin at 5:00; our longest drive of the trip: 582 km. The mosquitos were horrendous and swarming  as we did some unpacking of Harvee Too before a late bbq dinner. I wore full bug gear.

A great trip:  24 days  

                      4,301 km

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.

Now more familiar with the biking trail and what it offers, we drove north to the small village of Labelle where there is a large parking lot for RVs near the train station.

This section of the trail was the nicest we biked. All paved, relatively flat, it  crosses open fields with views of the Laurentian mountains and passes through lightly forested sections.

We started from km 107, pedalled south past the smaller La Conception depot.

La Conception

We stopped at Gare de Mont Tremblant on Lac Mercier at km 92. The current train station was rebuilt in 1998. We ate our picnic lunches there. 

I returned to Labelle making my trek  30 km (15 km x 2). Kathy went farther, south to the village of Mont Tremblant and  a bit farther north of Labelle.

A real highlight for me was coming upon a deer grazing beside the trail! 

Lac Mercier

The trees  formed a  tunnel like canopy over the trail at one point.

There were many people enjoying the path and the weather... cyclists, walkers, joggers, scooters, rollerbladers...  no vehicles, atv's and horses allowed. 

Le Petit Train du Nord is part of La Route Verte, the longest cycling route in North America. It crisscrosses regions of Quebec and connects with Ontario, New Brunswick and the USA.

la Rivière Rouge 

It was late afternoon when we made the turn for home and took Rte 323 as far as Brébeuf, about 40 km from MontTremblant on la Rivière Rouge. We paid Mont Tremblant prices at Camping  Domaine des Cèdres, our most expensive and overpriced campground this trip: $82.60 including $8.00 for Shadow!😠 And $1.00 for the showers!!!

We drove 140 km in total. It reached 22º; we used the air c.

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.