61 Back in Québec

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

60 Ferry to Québec
61 Back in Québec
62 Drive to Tadoussac
63 Tadoussac
64 On to Québec
65 Québec
66 Québec
67 On to Ottawa
68 Ottawa
69 Ottawa
70 Ottawa
71 On to Niagara
72 The falls
73 Canadian wine
74 Behind the falls
75 Morty goes home
76 On to Toronto
77 CN Tower
78 ROM
79 Stocks, tower and dance
80 Toronto Saturday
81 Off to Florida
82 Coping with Wilma
83 SeaWorld
84 Back to Canada
85 Casa Loma and shoes
86 Killarney
87 To Sault Ste. Marie
88 Goulais River
89 To Thunder Bay
90 Thunder Bay

Canada: Québec

Monday 3 October 2005

I had a great night's sleep. Despite going to bed so early last night, and waking up a couple of times during the night when the wind had picked up, I slept through to about 6:00am and feel well rested for the first time in a few days. We had stopped a couple of times during the night at ports along the way and as we went to say good morning to Morty we found that he had got neighbours during the night. No longer does he have a 360 view of the world, he now has containers next to him and in front of him!

WD40, industrial size

Still having bad memories of yesterday's breakfast I opted for an alternative and went for French Toast. It tasted like bread which had been dipped in eggs and cinnamon and then fried. It was pretty good but even better with a splash of maple syrup across the top!! Today has turned out clear and bright and the sea is very calm. We went for a bit of a walk up top and then holed up in the lounge to catch up on diaries and this really set the scene for the day. We lunched at 11:30 (an odd time and a bit early) and then spent more time just watching the world go by. The shore line has changed from a rocky, barren wilderness and there are now sandy beaches dotted along the way. During the morning we pulled into Natashquan, the point where the road to the south of Quebec starts. Even though it is a large town for this area it is still a tiny little place.

This short two day hop on the ferry has given me a taster of what cruising is probably like. When I was feeling ill yesterday, cruising was definitely off my agenda. Now I am still hankering to maybe try it out. There is not much to do on board here except read, watch the world go by or watch TV if you want. As we are behind schedule due to the bad weather each stop is turned around as quickly as possible so there is not really enough time to go onshore and look at the local villages. This means that the most popular on board activity is chatting to other passengers.

It is a real people watchers paradise with a definite split between those who have opted for the all inclusive package and those that are sleeping in the seats and eating from the canteen. The former group, which is then split between French and English speaking passengers, pass the time of day and chat over meals and in the lounge whereas the latter tend to keep themselves down in the canteen. Stef is getting frustrated that his attempts to strike up a conversation with some of the local indigenous Indians on board is not working. They seem to be a very private and reserved group of people and almost wary of making contact. There was not even a smile or a return of a "good morning". They have the facial features that we would typically call Eskimo.

As well as Guy and Lise, there is a couple from Ontario, Rose and Robert, who were really friendly and we have chatted to them off and on. Over lunch today we talked for a long time with a man called Larry who is traveling on his own. He is in his mid-fifties and has been retired for about five years. He and his wife had no children but have traveled extensively, something he has continued to do since his wife passed away (his eyes welled up with tears a little as he told me that). He has been all over the place and spends between a third and a half of his time away from home. Much as he loves the travel he seems sad that he has no-one to share it with.

Aboard the Nordik Express

Most of the other people on board are a little older and very definitely French Quebecois. There is one lady who looks a bit like Vanessa Feltz and is immaculately turned out, no mean feat in these cabins. I think we have one of the biggest and there is not a lot of room in it. She came down for dinner last night dressed up in an electric blue dress, the only person who had changed for dinner, and today is in an all black outfit. Most people seem to have come on board with just the bare bones basics but I suspect she may have a whole suitcase with her.

Also on board was a young couple with a large-ish dog. The poor thing had to be locked up in a kennel on deck while we were sailing and was only allowed out when we were in a harbour. As he was let out of the kennel, the couple had difficulty keeping him under control, so keen was he to get out and about and stretch his legs as the kennel was pretty small for his size. All morning he was whining and crying so loudly that you could hear him from a fair distance away.

We lunched at 11:30 and then spent the rest of the afternoon whiling away the time. It was a beautifully warm day and most people were just out on deck enjoying the sun and trying to spot the very elusive whales that populate this area. At 5:00 we went for our last meal on board, today's fare being better than yesterday's and we both had a very tasty meal. As we were eating we came into Havre St Pierre, our final destination which marked time for us to leave. Both of us really enjoyed our time on board and in a way I wished we were carrying on to the final destination at Rimouski.

Knowing that Morty had neighbours we went up on deck to watch the containers being unloaded to ensure that he was not bashed and banged along the way. Guy, Lise, Rose, Robert and Larry also came up on deck to say goodbye which I thought was great bearing in mind we had only just met them. We were anxious about damage to Morty and we had been able to see him the whole time. Their cars were buried deep down on the bottom somewhere and had had at least one, if not two, full containers on top of them for the whole trip.

Even though we had only been on the ferry for less than two days we had quickly adapted to a totally different pace of life. It was a strange feeling being back on land knowing that we were back to a somewhat nomadic existence not really knowing from day to day where we would end up. We checked Morty over and confirmed that, apart from a bit of sea salt, all looked OK and then headed up and out through Havre St Pierre in search of our campsite for the night.

As its now the end of the season finding open campsites is becoming harder. Out of a listing of ten, maybe only one or two are open. Fortunately, there was an open site at Longue Pointe du Mingan about 40km along the coast in the direction we want to go. It was a pitch black night with not a lot of traffic on the road. From the little that we could see it looked like we were driving along very flat countryside but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

When we arrived at the campsite village there were no obvious signs in sight to tell us where to go. Stef stopped and asked at the local chip van and was told it was back the way we came and we had to turn right. Stef asked where we had to turn right and she simply said "when you come from the other side you turn left", so not really a lot of help. We backtracked, stopped at a petrol station where we got better directions and found the site. It was a small campsite with un-serviced plots on the beach and serviced plots just the other side of the beach road. As we hooked up for the night I saw lights out to see. I cannot be certain but as there were no others it must have been the Relais Nordik steaming ahead on its was to Rimouski. Having eaten on the ferry we simply crashed out for an early night.

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