Leaving Camping La Relache
Levis, Quebec City
Riviere Trois Saumon (Saint-Jean-Port-Joli)
Soon after heading NE of Levis we are in agricultural territory with acreage and alot of old stone houses.
Dairy farms, crops and cheese factories. This time of year (early June) the fromageries are closed for business and the information centers are also closed.
Various small towns along the coast of the St. Lawrence and as you near each town, you see the steeple of a church - each one is different in structure.
Stopped alongside the road, middle of nowhere, to stretch ourselves and doggie.
This commemorative park (two kms east of Kamouraska) marks the site of the the first civilian and religious centre of Kamouraska, developed between 1692 and 1791.
This vast landscape is now a heritage site which includes a stone chapel, several wooden crosses identifying the location of the old churches and commemorative plaques to honor several early settlers.
The old cemetery contains burials of more than a 1,450 people.
Kamouraska was once the centre of the St. Lawrence eel fishery, caught each autumn tide with nets hung over meters-high stakes near the shoreline. There is still a handful of licensed eel fishers.
Saint Andre Manor Bed and Breakfast
Arrive at our destination mid-afternoon:
East of Rimouski - Capitaine Homard Campground
Staying on the beach and next to Capitaine Homard (lobster), which is a very popular seafood restaurant and fish market.
The campground has 53 sites on the beach.
The rocks on the beach are very different from the west coast. They are very striated and there are teeny barnacles - about the side of a pinhead (black). No piles of seaweed and slippery rocks (again - very different from our area).
One thing that is again - different, the tide comes up and down extremely quick.
This is a photo of the placemat in the restaurant.
The ceiling and walls are plastered with fishing memorabilia.
Very fresh and sweet - my first lobster roll at Capitaine Homard.
Marc had to play it safe and had calamari
(he has had allergies to shellfish in the past few years)!
Fantastic sunsets and only three other campers so have the beach to ourselves.
Sainte Luce
Fifteen minute drive west of our campground and just east of Rimouski is this quaint little town, with a population of approximately 2,800.
Catholic church on the river built from 1838-1840.
The Canadian Navy retired Onondage (used during the Cold War) in 2000 and planned to cut it into pieces in Halifax, truck it to Ottawa's War Museum and stitch it back together. The Rimouski Maritime Museum and people decided it should not end up in pieces.
Today, visitors can wander through the vessel in 45 minutes or, get a deeper impression of life in a sub by spending a night. They track surface ships by radar and sonar or peer through the telescope at passing ships or of course, view their cars in the parking lot.
Visitors can also learn how to escape a sub that is sitting incapacitated on the bottom - in water less than 1,000 feet deep. They make their way into a survival suit to experience the feeling (but, unlike Naval workers, they to not climb into a tight chamber, inflate the suit with air, flood the changer and then shoot up like a helium balloon to the surface).
POINTE-AU-PERE LIGHTHOUSE
Built in 1909 in the city of Pointe-au-Pere (near Rimouski).
The lighthouse if 108 feet (33 m) tall, which makes it the second tallest in eastern Canada. It is no longer working and replaced by an electronic lighthouse in 1975.
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| Website photo |
It was here, that the RMS Empress of Ireland sank (an ocean liner that sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River), following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad on May 29, 1914. Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,1012 died, making it the worst peacetime marine disaster in Canadian history.
June 8
GASPESIE
Gaspesie if the official name but is often referred to as just The Gaspe. The name comes from the Mi'kmaq word meaning "land's end."
Leave Capitaine Homard and heading
towards Fillon National Park at the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula.
towards Fillon National Park at the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula.
This is a private property 45 mins east of Saint Flavie area.
Beautiful scenery along the northern coast of the Gaspe Peninsula - rugged, twisty, winding roads, some steep (19 % grades) and a few small villages along the way.
The village is located at the foot of Mounr Saint-Pierre (1,348 ft high).
Small town of 171 which is host to alot of outdoor activities; hiking, hang-gliding and cross-country skiing. This are its renowned for the International Appalachian Trail hiking, snowmobiling and skiing.
Grande Vallee
Arrive at Camping Parc Nature Gaspe . . . saturday. Had booked in. No one in the office. Marc calls - the owner answers and will be here in twenty minutes. Their manager apparently quit over the past couple of days.
We arrived and waited - the owners came (after Marc called them and it was going to be twenty minutes for them to arrive to tell us which site to set up in ) and instructed us to go up top - this RV park is extremely steep and terraced. The sites are all on their own gravel bench. We eventually parked.
The rack on the back of the trailer scraped the gravel as we backed on to the site, barely were able to back in. After alot of time trying to level and then trying to get satellite no luck. We plan on staying several nights - not without signal and I tasted the water - it was full of soap. We had not put water into our tank prior to arriving, so no drinking water was a clincher! They were going to come by tomorrow and bring a shovel to get rid of the rise so the next RVers wouldn't scrape their bumpers and, their officer manager quit.
We packed up and BAILED!
The rack on the back of the trailer scraped the gravel as we backed on to the site, barely were able to back in. After alot of time trying to level and then trying to get satellite no luck. We plan on staying several nights - not without signal and I tasted the water - it was full of soap. We had not put water into our tank prior to arriving, so no drinking water was a clincher! They were going to come by tomorrow and bring a shovel to get rid of the rise so the next RVers wouldn't scrape their bumpers and, their officer manager quit.
We packed up and BAILED!
OUR NEW SITE (across the road from the beach)
CAMPING BAIE DE GASPE
Drove just down the road and found this RV park - quiet and looked busy but almost all the RV sites are taken by locals who have come on weekends or spend several weeks during the summer. We again had pretty much the entire place to ourselves (except on friday/saturday).
Apart from a very small general store just down the road, grocery shopping is done in the town of Gaspe (29 km; 25 minutes) at the IGA.
FORILLON NATIONAL PARK
Penouille Point
The Penouille sand spit supports a taiga whose presence at low latitudes is quite unusual. A taiga is a fragile habitat, sensitive to trampling. The park has a major boardwalk in order to protect the lichen-carpeted forest. Round trip of the point is 3 km (1-1 1/2 hours).
Very shallow water and the tides comes in very quickly. Minutes ago, we were walking on a sandy beach in this area.
Yes - SNOW! There was a huge snowfall this winter in the Maritimes - some places had up to nine feet of snow. So, in shade, some places still have remnants of snow.
BATTLE OF ST LAWRENCE
Just stumbled across this tiny park with a plaque, over looking the St Lawrence. Then, you go underground and realize that this was a site where troops were stationed underground the a flotilla of armed troops, protecting the waters.
Underground and covered by natural habitat is this huge tunnel system with artillery.
Between 1942 and 1944, German submarines (U-boats) penetrated the waters of the St. Lawrence River, sinking 23 ships and costing hundreds of lives.
Very shallow water and the tides comes in very quickly. Minutes ago, we were walking on a sandy beach in this area.
Yes - SNOW! There was a huge snowfall this winter in the Maritimes - some places had up to nine feet of snow. So, in shade, some places still have remnants of snow.
BATTLE OF ST LAWRENCE
Just stumbled across this tiny park with a plaque, over looking the St Lawrence. Then, you go underground and realize that this was a site where troops were stationed underground the a flotilla of armed troops, protecting the waters.
Underground and covered by natural habitat is this huge tunnel system with artillery.
Between 1942 and 1944, German submarines (U-boats) penetrated the waters of the St. Lawrence River, sinking 23 ships and costing hundreds of lives.
During WW II, some 3000 soldiers were stationed at a naval base built at Sandy Beach to patrol the Gulf of Saint Lawrence against German submarines.
TOWN OF GASPE
July 1534, two ships commanded by Jacques Cartier sought shelter in Gaspe Bay. He erected a cross bearing the arms of Francois I on the shore of Gaspe Harbour to establish a basis for French claims to this part of America.
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the French explorer's arrival, a carved grey granite cross was erected in the Bay (1934). It weighs more than 42 tons.
Cap Des Rosiers Lighthouse
1858 it was built. The walls are 7 feet thick at the base (up to three feet at the top of the 112 foot tower). The foundation travels to eight feet beneath the surface.
I leave this post with a picture of the beach rocks here, on the east cost. These flat, rounded rocks are so incredibly different from our coast line rocks on the BC Coast.
We leave now and the next area will be Perce (the famous 'hole in the rock' coastal town), Quebec and then into New Brunswick.
Sentier de la Chute (Forillon Park)
TOWN OF GASPE
A half hour drive to the city of Gaspe with a population of just over 15,000. In 1959 Gaspe gained city status. In 1971, the city was greatly expanded when it amalgamated with eleven surrounding municipalities.
On the waterfront today, is a this representation of a small village (and a Mi 'kmaq teepee) in front of the Jacques-Cartier cross.
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the French explorer's arrival, a carved grey granite cross was erected in the Bay (1934). It weighs more than 42 tons.
Cap Des Rosiers Lighthouse
1858 it was built. The walls are 7 feet thick at the base (up to three feet at the top of the 112 foot tower). The foundation travels to eight feet beneath the surface.
I leave this post with a picture of the beach rocks here, on the east cost. These flat, rounded rocks are so incredibly different from our coast line rocks on the BC Coast.
We leave now and the next area will be Perce (the famous 'hole in the rock' coastal town), Quebec and then into New Brunswick.
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