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Neither of us have ever been to the Gaspé (Gaspésie as the natives call it) and since there is no trip to New Brunswick this year we decided to give it a try.
First stop, Wal-Mart in Rivière du Loup.
By nightfall all Quebec Wal-Marts seem to turn into campgrounds.
Sunday 5th August
Free Internet here from two sources, a mystery one and the one in McD’s in the Wal-Mart.
In the afternoon as it starts to warm up a little we set out again for Rimouski.
When we arrived in Rimouski around 4:30 the wind is blowing like crazy from the south but it’s HOT. In the RV, even with a gale blowing through, it’s too hot, so we sat outside in the shade. Someone said the ‘feels like’ temperature is in the low 40s – we would believe it.
Just salad for supper, no cooking in this.
It cooled down a little before bed-time and even rained a little.
Monday 6th August
In the morning it was much cooler but still clear skies.
Next stop was the Matane Wal-Mart. Across the road was the river, though by now it’s becoming the gulf.
Again lots of RVs by nightfall.
Movie of the day: Wendy & Lucy – we’re going to start avoiding movies with Michelle Williams in. She’s a good actress but …..
Tuesday 7th August
This Wal-Mart seems also to be a truck stop. There must have been half a dozen trucks and they all set off early (very early) in the morning after idling their engines for a while. Next time we’ll make sure we’re at the other end of the parking lot.
We left before lunch and set out following the 132 that snakes its way round the Gaspé coast.
We stopped at Cap Chat for lunch by the water.
.
Everywhere so far seems to have art at all stops big and small.
We were looking for somewhere just to stop for the night but we ended up in a municipal campground in Mont-Louis or to give it its full title: Ste- Maxime de Mont-Louis.
Wednesday 8th August
One night and we fell in love with the place.
So instead of just staying one more night we signed up for a week and got a better spot looking straight out on the sea – you can’t see the other side anymore.
The view from our ‘front window’.
Mont-Louis has a famous salmon smoking place (Atkins and Sons) so we had to go there. So down the hill and across the bay on our bicycles.
Thursday 9th August
Up in night to take awning down, it’s windy here pretty much all the time. Cap Chat has a huge wind farm.
Sunsets are something here.
Friday 10th August
Definitely much cooler days than we’re used to but that’s OK.
Wood carving seems to be a big deal here on the campground.
Not sure what that was.
On our cycling trip to the Poissonnerie (fish shop) in the town/village centre I saw and liked this one.
The shrimps they have here are called Matane shrimps but we were told that since there are no more shrimps on this side of the St. Lawrence the shrimps come from Sept Iles on the other side. Wherever they come from they are truly wonderful.
Saturday 11th August
The weather has really changed it’s now raining & cold. Can’t complain, we were praying for this a week ago.
Grocery run day.
Sunday 12th August
The campground has a small restaurant which serves breakfasts and lunches. We gave it a try for breakfast.
Rain and fog most of the day.
Monday 13th August
Heavy rain and a leak – I don’t believe it!
We had Jean-Pierre & Dianne, fellow RVers, over for happy hour and got some good scoop on places to stay. They’d been round the peninsula as far as Barrachois and then came back.
Tuesday 14th August
It’s a cloudy day but it’s stopped raining so we took a bike ride to the fish store. We bought a seafood pie, a seafood pizza and some Baudroie which was quite cheap and turned out to be Monkfish.
We met our new neighbours, Phil & Barbara, from S. Carolina. Prior to moving there they cruised on a sailboat for several years.
I took a look on the roof for what could have caused the leak and stuck some more Eternabond down.
We had the seafood pizza for supper – excellent.
Wednesday 15th August
While we were talking to Phil and Barbara before they left we saw an actual whale. Too far away to take a picture or identify but most likely we figure it was a Minke.
After packing up and visiting the dump station we headed out too.
Somewhere on the way we stopped and ate smoked shrimps, bought the day before – so good.
We arrived at the lighthouse at Cap des Rosiers by late afternoon but parked down near the beach until the crowds had left. At 6:30 we moved to the lighthouse parking lot. It has the distinction of being the tallest lighthouse in Canada and a big tourist attraction.
It was a wild night with endless squalls and heavy rain and a major leak.
Thursday 16th August
After giving the lighthouse a donation we went back to our beach parking with a lovely view of where we’d spent a restless night.
Along from the parking there was monument (and grave, if the inscription is to be believed) to drowned Irish Sailors in 1847.
The ships bell is also hung there, oddly found in Blanc Sablon many years later.
We drove on through the town of Gaspé, filling with propane while we were in a ‘metropolis’.
Our destination was another spot that Jean-Pierre and Dianne had told us about, a parking place between the ocean and Le Barrachois de Malbaie and big birding area.
Friday 17th August
The rain and wind started in the night and didn’t let up until late morning. The fog never really left at all.
We should have been able to clearly see Perce Rock and Bonaventure Island but this is the best it got.
It rained on and off most of the day. Oh yes, did I mention we were right by the railroad track.
Fortunately there are only two trains a week and the Thursday one must have passed before we got there.
Saturday 18th August
More rain as we packed up to go.
Down the road a little ways to the town of Percé and some much needed grocery shopping.
We’d picked out a Passport America site – Camping du Phare – at Percé and we checked into a place that promised a panoramic view.
We didn’t have one from the RV itself but down lower on the campground there’s a fine view of Bonaventure Island and the famous Percé Rock.
Sunday 19th August
The clouds are gone and the sun is finally shining again.
Nobody visits Percé without taking a boat trip. At $20 each it’s hard to resist.
They take you around the Rock itself up close and personal.
It’s possible to walk through the arch at low tide.
You get a fine view of the mainland and the road that brought us down into the town when we first arrived.
After the rock they take a tour around Bonaventure Island famous for its more than 50,000 nesting gannets and other seabirds that line the cliffs.
There were seals galore in large groups and small.
Apparently there is no water catchment on the island, as the people who lived there until 1971 must have had to contend with, however, there was water coming of the cliff tops.
The boat stops at a dock on the island
and you can get off and stay for a while and catch another boat back. How could you resist a walk on the island? Of course the island is now a park with entry fees but it was worth the stop over.
We had lunch in the picnic area with a million dollar view.
You can take a walk to the other side of the island but we didn’t have time (or maybe the energy) to do the whole thing, it takes an hour and a half of some strenuous uphill.
We did climb to the top though.
Looking back across the water we could just see our campsite on the mainland.
On the way back the boat’s captain pointed out the ‘horse drinking’ effect when viewed from a certain angle.
After getting some groceries we started the climb back – one of the reasons we didn’t do the whole island walk. The campground is over a mile from the dock and (on the way back) it’s all uphill.
Monday 20th August
A day for just hanging out at the campground and doing laundry. I did take a bike ride into town for supplies though and took a picture of the “Phare” that gives the campground its name.
Tuesday 21st August
Onwards we go and start traveling back west again to Paspébiac and our last camping ‘on the beach’ for some time I suspect. Beautiful clear skies but not too hot.
Fridge playing up again - sigh!
Wednesday 22nd August
At Paspébiac we got our first view of ‘the other side’ – New Brunswick but as we drive west along the Bay of Chaleur coast the ‘other side’ gets closer and closer until you reach where the Restigouche River flows into the Bay of Chaleur at Matépedia.
We filled the gas tank with the cheapest gas we’ve seen in a while and headed to the Information place to see if we could park there for the night. Turns out there is no-one actually there so we parked anyway.
Thankfully it wasn’t Saturday night or that tower full of quite large real bells would have given us a rude awakening we suspect.
Another spot with a view looking down the Matepédia River valley.
Thursday 23rd August
A foggy start to the day and some rain as we head north up the Matepédia Valley back to Rimouski to complete the ‘132’ loop.
Back in the Rimouski Wal-Mart parking lot we feel like old hands at this Gaspé thing.
Friday 24th August
Another beautiful cool clear day.
Before we started off we went across the road to the Animalerie Dyno (?) – a giant kind of Pet Smart thing but with more animals for sale.
Buddy was initially bought from such a place and when we saw this little fellow we could see why if Buddy looked half this cute, how could you resist.
He/she seemed to be quite happy having a high old time rolling round in its bedding.
Retracing our steps back to Quebec City, next stop the Wal-Mart in Rivière-du-Loup.
Saturday 25th August
A cloudy cool day that brightened up later as we spent a day in the Wal-Mart parking lot cleaning the inside of the RV and doing odd jobs.
Sunday 26th August
Back down the Autoroute 20 to St-Jean-Chrysostome to complete the Gaspé adventure.
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