The first three days of our trip to Gaspésie took us the length of the south shore of the St. Lawrence River from the Thousand Islands, where the river empties out of Lake Ontario, to Percé at the eastern end of the Gaspé peninsula; a trip of just over 900 miles. Most of this journey was through rural eastern Quebec. We wish we had remembered our French phrase book. Bilingualism stops at the Quebec border. We were able to get by fine with simple English, a very little French, gestures, pointing and a smile. Our “bonjour” and “merci” got a thorough workout. There were no serious misunderstandings.
Because we traveled in mid-June, just at the start of the tourist season, there were some places not yet open, but this worked in our favor, since everyone who was open was anxious for business and offered off season rates. The weather was generally cool and dry, but a windbreaker came in handy.
Just a word to our birder friends: if you have not yet visited this part of the world, make your plans now.
A long drive, north on I-81 to Alexandria Bay, then to Ogdensburg to cross into Canada. US Border Patrol is stopping cars as they leave the US, checking ID and asking where we are going. No idea why this is being done. East on Ontario 401 to Cornwall where we stopped for lunch and said goodby to the English language. At the Quebec border the highway is renumbered 20. We were frustrated by a giant traffic jam that stalled us in Montreal for about an hour. We finally made it through the tunnel under the St. Lawrence back to the south shore. Traffic thinned out and we made for Quebec City. The scenery here is generally unremarkable. We finally pull into a Comfort Inn in Lévis, QC directly across the river from downtown Quebec City having logged a little over 414 miles. We had a good Italian dinner along Boul. Pres. Kennedy at Pacini, a moderate priced Quebecois artisan pizza chain.
Day 2 – To St. Anne de Mont
The free breakfast at the motel is crowded so we sit with a man from Huntsville, ON. He's in QC to escape the upcoming G8 meeting in his hometown. He tells us that the enhanced security is making life a little too difficult for the natives. I mention the extra security at the border. A Quebecois biker at the next table pipes in that the US has been checking people as they leave for the past two months. When I ask him if he knows why, he shrugs and responds, “Who knows? They are your people.”
We hit the road. Today we will travel to the end of Route 20 Est. This is beautiful farm country laid out in “seigniorial” fashion with long thin fields stretching away from the river into the distant hills. We stop for lunch at Rimouski, the last really large town we will encounter for a week. The Point de Pere lighthouse is a perfect place for a break from driving and our picnic lunch. There is also a small museum here dedicated to the ship wreak of the Spirit of Ireland that lies just off shore. Also part of this marine park is a cold war relic, the decommissioned Canadian submarine Onondaga. We can't resist touring the sub since Onondaga is the name of the Indian Nation based in Syracuse and also of our county of residence. Claustrophobic. Then Merry climbs the lighthouse while I do some beach combing.
Back on Route 20 the further we travel the wilder it gets. At first small farms continue right down to the water until the very steep hills close in entirely and there is just no more room for farming. At the geographic start of the peninsula the big road stops and we meet two lane Rt. 132, the road that circles Gaspésie. By now the river is so wide we can't see the north shore. Some of the higher ridges have wind farms. We stop briefly at the base of the largest vertical wind mill in the world at Cap Chat. Finally we pull into St. Anne du Mont – total milage 732 (318 today) – and register at the wonderful Motel Beaurivage. The motel is right on the river at the mouth of a salmon stream for which the town is named. We didn't know it at the time but from here on all the villages will be situated in bays at the mouth of a stream, it's the only place with enough room. The motel sent us for dinner to another place they own, Motel a la Brunante, in the middle of town where we had the first of many wonderful seafood dinners. Afterwards we walked the rocky shore at low tide and watched it turn. At about 9:30 pm the sun set into the St. Lawrence in a blaze of orange.
We woke at 5:25 am in brilliant sunlight. The sun has been up for a long time already and the tide completely in. We get breakfast at the motel and set off. As we travel along Rt. 132 through the region known as Haute Gaspé the winding road is squeezed between the bottom of high black slate cliffs and the sea, then cuts inland over a high rocky ridge, then back to the coast. The sea is filled with whitecaps driven by a stiff northwest breeze. Road signs show a skidding car with waves breaking over the highway. We stop to see what is left of the commercial fishing fleet at Riviere de Renard then turn east again toward Forillon National Park.
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