Charlevoix

 The Charlevoix Region stretches from Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to Baie-Sainte-Catherine at the mouth of the Saguenay River. It was created 450 million years ago when a meteorite crashed into the area forming a 54 km crater.

Gouffre River

 We had another leisurely start to our day as we waited for the shops in   Baie-Saint-Paul to open. We crossed the Gouffre River which flows   through the city to get to  Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste. a very picturesque   central  street in downtown Baie-Saint-Paul filled with art galleries and   boutiques. While Kathy browsed through the shops, I took pictures. (I   already have a few objets d'art from here.)

We drove the Route du Fleuve (St. Lawrence Route) from Baie Saint-Paul, a 78 km panoramic route along the river with spectacular views, points of interest. There were many steep climbs followed by 7%, 10%, even 13% grade descents. It was quite a workout for Harvee Too.

In La Malbaie we drove past the famous Fairmount Le Manoir Richelieu.   Samuel-de-Champlain named the city in 1608 "malle Baye" (bad bay) for anchoring because  the river "dried up at low tide." We stopped in Pointe-au-Pic below the Manoir  on chemin des Falaises, walked on the pier and took pictures of the summer homes built in the beginning of the 20th c.

Our  next stop  back on Rte 138 was in Saint-Fidèle at  la Fromagerie-St-Fidèle founded in 1902, "the village's crown jewel." Kathy bought some cheese; I bought some jams.

After  115  km which often felt like we were on a roller coaster ride, we stopped in St-Siméon where  the ferry terminal to Rivière-du-Loup is. We are at Falaise-sur-Mer Camping, a terrassed campground on the river. We have a very nice site with an obstructed view of the river.

We're not complaining. Although it was 3:15 when we checked in, we received the "Express" rate , a 20% discount for arriving after 4:00 and leaving before 9:00 in the morning. No problem and nice to pay only$43 for full hook-ups with Wi-fi.at our site. 

We reached 20º under partly cloudy skies and NO bugs.