Tag: Travel

I don’t think I’ve ever slept in a campground as quiet as this one. Granted it is very quiet here with the mountain being closed until Thursday and all seasonal campers somewhere else it would seem. We slept in again and enjoyed a late brunch cooked on our griddle outdoors.

We both enjoyed some quiet time reading before going for a walk around the campground on a badly marked and mapped hiking trail.

The map was given to us by the campground host and included no details other than a coloured line on the campground map. As the area is criss-crossed by mountain bike/cross-country skiing trails, it was easy to get lost. Sure, the sports trails have signposts and maps but none referred to the hiking trails. There were a few inconsistent hiking markers but not enough to avoid getting lost.

Well it turns out that we didn’t exactly get lost, but we did navigate UP a single-track mountain bike trail where we were met by an upset cyclist who told us in no uncertain terms that we should not have been on that particular trail. I explained that there was a hiking marker at the bottom to which he shook his head and rode off. Oh well, no one was hurt.

As you can see by the few photos herein, Fall is setting in and the colours are changing. We soon returned to the campground and made our way past what is clearly across-country skiing clubhouse along with overly large parking lot and numerous ski trail signposts.

Back in camp we enjoyed some cheese & crackers ahead of a dinner of Mexican burritos. Now we’ve settled in by the campfire and will soon call it a night.

Tomorrow we will return to Ontario for one last camping location. Bonne nuit.

Today’s post title courtesy of Jerry Reed (Cledus Snow, Smokey & the Bandit, 1977).

Another easy morning (& even foggier it turns out) as today we start our westward return journey towards home. The suns burns through the fog over land quite quickly, but the fog over the river persists until after we leave the campground at around 10:00am.

Our traveling companions have left ahead of us as they are taking the ferry from Les Escoumins to Trois-Pistoles on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. We, on the other hand are heading back the way we came, starting first with a crossing of the Saguenay River by ferry.

West of the ferry we decided to stay on route 138 past La Malbaie as it would provide different scenery and hopefully a less hilly route. We stopped briefly in Clermont for a quick snack and change of clothes as it was getting warmer than either of us had anticipated and thus the long-pants had to go and be replaced with shorts.

Some of the scenery was spectacular with views to the North across the mountains now beginning to show slight hints of Autumnal colours. We stopped in Baie-Saint-Paul for a few grocery items before proceeding out of town and up the hill at Le Massif (a gear grinder for truckers that’s for sure).

We turned off of route 138 and passed the farm where we bought the fois-gras on the way East. Heading further from the river we passed through Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges before arriving at Camping Mont-Sainte-Anne where we will be staying for next couple of nights.

Today we slept in, at least until the foghorns awoke us from the ships passing in the river. It was foggy and we could barely see offshore at all. As we took it easy and lounged about the campsite all morning enjoying the peaceful nature of this campground.

Shortly after noon we packed a picnic lunch and headed down to the Rocky shore with seat cushions to sit upon. We enjoyed our lunch whilst being entertained by the occasional passing Minke whale. We saw about a half dozen.

We also sighted a few freighters which no longer needed to sound their foghorns luckily. Eventually the cool air got the better of me and I retreated back up the hill to our van and enjoyed a short afternoon siesta ahead of dinner.

We spent the evening at Mr. & Mrs. Milddogs.com campsite enjoying a beverage and watching for whales by the pale moonlight. Alas, no whales this evening.

Mr. & Mrs. Milddogs.com are heading towards home starting tomorrow and we wished them happy trails as we will remain out and about for a few more days yet, so stay tuned!

A slow morning today started with a shower and then coffee and quiche. A second coffee was had while wandering about the campground ahead of packing up. One last look at the view and we were away… to the dump station. No issues, all clean. Yay! Gate card returned and we were back on route 138 heading East.

Our first stop was at the Grandes-Bergeronnes lookout to scout for whales. By checking marinetraffic.com we could see that many of the whale watching tour boats came to this bay. We got lucky and spotted a Minke whale not far from shore. It politely travelled past us a few times probably feeding on a school of fish.

After watching a small 2-engine airplane land at the Grandes-Bergeronnes airport which is adjacent to the lookout we headed to the Boulangerie Artisanale La “P’tite Cochonne” to get some bread and a couple of sticky treats. It’s a small bakery in a relatively hidden location but the bread is amazing and the treats delicious.

We head a little further East to the Cap de Bon-Désir Interpretation and Observation Centre. A Parks Canada location that required payment to enter but had an amazing spot on a granite outcropping at the edge of the river. Evidently the water immediately adjacent to the shore is very deep and thus a favorite for whales to visit allowing for good photo opportunities. Today, not so much. We did see one other Minke whale closer than the last location, but after a couple of hours in the chilly wind we decided to call it and head towards Les Escoumins where we could have a late lunch. Dave & Liz decided that whale watching required a little more patience and remained on the rocks.

Arriving in Les Escoumins we stopped at the Pêcheries Manicouagan for lunch and to buy some seafood. Barb enjoyed a Lobster club sandwich with fries and I the Seafood Poutine… Delish! Both plates were a little large, not short of seafood and a little pricey but it was a lovely treat. Having eaten at 3:00pm dinner was likely light snacks if we have anything all.

This was as far East as we will travel on this trip and thus we turned West on route 138 towards our campsite at Camping Paradis Marin. It is only a short distance East of the Parks Canada location and has rocks that equal or better our opportunities for whale watching.

Our campsite is grassy and we’ve been able to position the van such that we can sit inside and look out to the river between adjacent RVs. We plan on being here for a couple of nights and hopefully will see a few more whales. Time to relax and simply enjoy being outdoors.

We awake at Camping Tadoussac on a fairly small site (albeit level) just a few feet from the follow view across the Saguenay River looking out into the St. Lawrence River.

There is no doubt that this view (from the fence line) cannot be beat. However, the campground was not really our ‘cup of tea’. Noisy, crowded and full of kids. There is no sense of any privacy or quiet solitude and so we decided to leave for the day and spend it a short distance from town in an area known simply as ‘the dunes’.

Tadoussac was hosting a large trail-running event today and thus the town was bursting with all sizes and shapes of humans wearing spandex and goretex. Most of the town was closed to vehicular traffic and we are stopped a couple of times to explain that we are just passing through to the dunes and not trying to sneak into town to get the prime parking spot near the waterfront.

Arriving at the dunes we are in awe of the views across the St. Lawrence as the dunes are huge 100m tall piles of sand left by a glacier many years ago that now perch on the edge of the river. This was a perfect place to setup our camping chairs and hopefully spot some whales.

There is lots of parking and space for people, most of whom descended the steep slopes down to the waterfront while we remained at the top overlooking the water.

We had arrived mid-morning, the sun had marched relentlessly across the sky, the wind had come up and now gone down. The shadows were now getting long and yet, we had not seen a whale. Not one. We saw whale watching boats head out to the East and return but did not see any whales. It was however a spectacular day to relax in the outdoors.

We returned to Camping Tadoussac and setup again for the evening. We had brought Chinese Egg Rolls from the Wing Lee Take Out in Manotick, ON for dinner which we enjoyed with a glass of red wine while the sun set.

Before heading to bed I took a photo of the same view from this morning but with the moon and share this with you now. Good night.

Our fear of being blocked-in due to street closures associated with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec caused us to awake early and get ready to go. As it turns out we had nothing to fear and our route was not impeded.

I had drawn the ‘short’(?) straw and was to lead us out of the city, so I entered our destination into my GPS and we set-off. The first few corners went well & then it came time to access the highway and I was directed to turn right where there was no right turn lane. I checked my mirrors and saw that our traveling companions were in the left turn lane so I swung across 3 lanes and we made the turn. A few hundred yards later we were on the highway and my GPS told me to turn left and take the pedestrian underpass!!! I then realized that my GPS was still in walking mode and not driving mode. Yikes! A quick adjustment and we were back on track. Phew.

As the highway narrowed from four lanes to two we passed Montmorency Falls and the Sanctuaire de Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, neither of which we stopped at as we visited them both when we last visited the area in the early 1980’s. A little further East we turned off of Highway 138 to visit La Ferme Québec-Oies where we bought some Foie Gras and a Tourtiere pie.

Venturing back to Highway 138 we travelled a little further and then at Baie-Saint-Paul we turned onto route 362 which would take us along the north shore of the St. Lawrence. It was on this stretch that our companions passed us to lead the way as they prefer to hurl their 3.6l non-turbo van at the uphill sections of the road (quite a few of these and steep) whereas I prefer to use the power and torque of our 3.5l turbocharged engine to pull us up the hills in a less aggressive manner.

We soon arrive in Saint-Irénée-les-Bains where we stop on the roadside and take a walk out into the river on the pier. The girls paddled in the water from the sandy beach and then we enjoyed a sandwich for lunch at one of the many picnic tables.

As we continued along the coast the scenery became more breathtaking and the hills steeper. Before long we were waiting in-line at the ferry that would take us across the Saguenay River and into the Côte-Nord region of Quebec. While waiting (only a brief wait) we saw a pod of beluga whales swimming in the river, our first whale sighting of the trip!

The ferry is free as it is considered part of the highway system, it takes about 10minutes to cross the river and we arrive in the village of Tadoussac. This is a popular seaside resort destination in the Summer months and the nice weather had drawn people here again this weekend. We drove down to the waterfront expecting to park near the marina only to be told that as we are in RV’s we would need to go the municipal RV parking lot near the entrance to the village. Hmmm.

So we did and we walked back down to the waterfront through the trees on a shady trail. We set ourselves up near the Marine Mammal Interpretation Centre and looked across the river looking again for Beluga whales but alas they had moved on. Barb & I decided an ice cream was in order and so bought a soft serve and enjoyed it on the boardwalk that overlooks the beach and marina. We then head back up through town to the van. Our day ended with us driving the short distance up route 138 to Camping Tadoussac where we had booked in for 2 nights.

Bon nuit!

For the middle of the city, our camping location was quiet and we slept well. I took a walk around the marina to stretch my legs before everyone readied themselves for a day of walking.

We followed a self-guided walking tour that we had downloaded and headed up into the old city learning about some of the older buildings as we passed them.

The tour took us up to the Citadel (fort) that overlooks the river and guarded the city in the 1700’s and is adjacent to the plains of Abraham where the French army failed to defend the city from the English.

We walked down along the Dufferin terrace towards the Chateau Frontenac and then found a patio on which we enjoyed lunch and a beverage.

The entire city is readying for an elite bicycle race tomorrow and many of the sidewalks already have barricades setup in preparation. We started to check whether our planned exit from the city would be impeded by these blockades tomorrow morning, but all looks like it should be OK.

After visiting a patisserie to pick up some croissants and chocolatines we returned to our vans with legs and feet being very tired and sore. In all we walked a little over 6km most of which was either up or down as there is very little in the way of flat land in Quebec City.

Having enjoyed a large lunch out we decided to eat at the van and enjoyed a lighter meal whilst talking the evening away.

I ended the day by taking a short walk to the train station and taking a few pictures. Barb and I arrived in the train station in 2018 when we met with our friend Mark to sail his yacht down the St. Lawrence to Newfoundland.