20 Slow start to Percé

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

1 Arriving in Montréal
2 Montréal
3 Olympic Village
4 Looking for a motorhome
5 To the Eastern Townships
6 Eastern Townships
7 On to Magog
8 North Hatley via USA
9 Back to Magog
10 Back to Montreal
11 The Roadtrek 170P
12 North to Beaumont
13 La Grosse Ile
14 On to Trois Pistoles
15 Still at Trois Pistoles
16 Cap Chat
17 Windmills and mooses
18 Mont Jacques Cartier
19 Mont Louis
20 Slow start to Percé
21 Percé
22 On to New Brunswick
23 Caraquet
24 Acadian Historic Village
25 South to Shediac
26 Moncton
27 Catch up in Moncton
28 On to Fundy
29 Alma, Fundy Nat Park
30 Fundy National Park
31 On to Fredericton

Canada

Mont Louis to Percé, Québec

Sunday 21 August 2005 (day 91)

Nice picture of us

Not surprisingly, Stef had a bit of a sore head today and was slow getting up. The weather was pretty grotty and it was too damp for an al fresco breakfast. Fried eggs and a Alka Seltzer started the recover process but he was not really himself again until late in the afternoon.

It was late morning by the time we were on the road heading around Lands End. The landscape on the north shore of this part of Gaspesie is more rugged and the coast road follows a windy path up and down some pretty steep hills. The steepest was a 17% downhill incline. Not too steep in a car but for me I was conscious of the weight of Mortimer and the fact that late braking was not an option. There were few spaces for overtaking and most of the time I had cars behind me. Frustrating to them but for me also because you know you are holding them up and feel pressured to go faster (which I did not). I will probably have more sympathy for people towing caravans in the UK now!

Although the rain held off for most of the day the mist never went away. Out to sea it looked as if there were white hills in the sea. On land the tops of the hills were shrouded in low handing mist. We passed through tiny little villages along the way and finally stopped at Cap des Rosiers hoping to get a tour of the lighthouse, the tallest in Canada. We could see the outside but were not that interested to wait for thirty minutes for the next tour to toe top. Looking our to sea there was a lone sea lion dipping and diving through the waves, at one point almost surfing across the top.

Cap des Rosiers

We took a brief detour down to Cap Bon Ami, part of the Parc National du Canada Forillon. If the weather was better we would have stayed and gone for a walk but with more superb parks yet to come we wimped out and opted to stay dry. This area is the most easterly point of Quebec and has been a key lookout post It is also a site of many shipwrecks, which is why the lighthouse was built.

Having decided to keep going, we stopped briefly at Gaspé. We need batteries for Stef's camera, found easily (and surprisingly cheaply) at Zellers. Also a hairdryer for me in the hope that not leaving my hair wet every morning will cure the bad attack of dandruff I seem to have (I hate dandruff!). Although Gaspé is a large village it lacked charm and we decided not to stay here but to head on to Percé another seventy kilometres further on. Percé's population of just under four thousand is mushroomed by visitors. Off the shore there is an unusual rock formation that you can walk to at low tide. This and whale watching trips makes Percé a tourist hub.

As we drove through town it is just motel, hotel, campsite and places to eat all the way. We looked at a couple of sites before opting for Camping Cote Surprise, a little way out of town but with clear views across the bay and to the rocks. We set Mortimer up for the night and abandoned attempts at a wood fire - it is simply too damp and the wood will not catch. Stef is still not 100% and we opted for a quiet and relatively alcohol free night tonight so that we can make the most of tomorrow.

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