When life gives you lemons, go ride Lemonade!

Quebec Province & Gaspé Peninsula

The peninsula points east and divides the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the St. Lawrence River.  On both sides the road runs along the water.  Most of the traffic took a shortcut back at Cambellton that ran due north to the river.  This is the road making the loop around the peninsula and has a lot less traffic on it.  It has some worn spots but in whole is a better road with the lighter traffic load.  But wait!  That will change!

 

 

 

 

 

The campsite that night was in a provincial campground that was just across the road from this picturesque bay.  We wandered the shore and climbed the rocks for over an hour.  the tides are very small, especially when compared to the Bay of Fundy on the southeast side of nearby New Brunswick.  While New Brunswick was bilingual, English and French, Quebec is monolingual, just French!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area is heavily into farming and fishing.  The little bays have a village and harbor.  The flat land has fields and pastures.  It is an idyllic scene.  One would have to be pretty self sufficient.  Cities with their resources are far away.

 

 

 

 

 

As we neared the point of the peninsula the road developed more contour.  There was a line of mountains to our north that we needed to cross to get to the westbound side of our road.

The actual point of the Gaspé Peninsula is a national park.  The road is steep, both up and down the mountainsides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it was under construction!  The park service was completely rebuilding the road.  All the way down to the roadbed.  It was in various stages of completion but the most common was the deep gravel used to make the roadbed.  There were several one-lane sections with alternating traffic.  Stopping and starting, with the trailer, was tricky.  On the up hill the rear tire wanted to dig in rather than move forward.  On the downhill the soft gravel gave little traction for braking with the trailer pushing.

 

 

 

 

We did make it over the top and down to the river.  The first little village had this lighthouse to mark the south side of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.

The road is now again very flat and follows the waterfront towards the west.

From now on we are headed towards home.  West will be our primary direction.  We are still several weeks away from home but it is now in our plans.

The road does not always stay by the water.  The mountains, now to our south, sometimes meet the river and we climb over the shoulder of them, rising and falling, turning and twisting.

Cape Breton in Nova Scotia is a very famous motorcycle road.  It is nice and has good views but is only a couple hours long.  This road around the Gaspé Peninsula is just as good (except for the construction, which is temporary) and goes on for a couple of days.  Days not hours!  But one seldom hears of this road.  Like the even more famous "Tail of the Dragon", there is a nearby road that exceeds the famous road by several degrees of fun.

 

 

The road had been significantly improved a few years ago.  The road department had widened sections of it and added passing lanes on the hills so that one can get by the trucks and tourists that are out and about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other sections the road has been put on fill along the face of the cliff.  The waves break on the rocks just past the guardrail.  There are signs along these places that warn of the danger of waves in high wind conditions.  I can see why it could be a serious problem as the water is only a few feet below the road level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eventually we arrived at the outskirts of Montreal.  We stayed in a nice campground and took a day off because it was rainy and we saw no reason to get wet going into the city.  When we did it was Sunday and parking was free until one o'clock.  We were there early and wandered the old city, bough souvenirs, ate lunch and left just after one o'clock.  The roads were cobbled and the buildings dated from the 18th and 19th centuries.  But the hustle and bustle was very 21st century.

We had an interesting dinner on the rainy day.  We decided to go to a nearby place called "Club British".  Inside it was a bit like a British pub, but they were playing American Blues over the sound system; there was the equipment from a band set up, a band that played country and western; the staff spoke French; served the Irish beer Guinness; and a Mariachi band from Guanajuato, Mexico came in and ate.  Very, very international!

That takes care of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada.  We are now returning to the USA and headed to Niagara Falls.