| The south bank of the St Lawrence is now becoming more
interesting as the flat plains of the Canadian shield give way to the
most northerly vestiges of the Appalachian chain in the Gaspe peninsula. |  |
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The road winds up and down through numerous small villages each in its own
valley and with its own church as the rivers come down to the Seaway. |
| In places the road comes down to sea level and there
are even signs warning about the waves splashing over the road in winter.
This is a windy area and the wind farms can be seen on the hilltops. Even
here there are still not as many running as we would expect. |  |
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The largest aeolian windmill in the world is near here and you can go visit
it. It is no longer operational and the blades have been removed. I'm not
quite sure whether what we see now is what was built originally, or whether
the two curved arms have been added to stabilise it. |
| As we continue eastwards the villages are further
apart and the coastline is more rugged. I would think this road is almost
impassable in winter, and there are no inland alternatives on the peninsula
as the terrain is too steep. |  |
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The geology is all tilted here as the cliffs fall precipitously to the
water. There are lighthouses too to aid the navigation in these treacherous
waters. The Empress of Ireland sank not far from here with the loss of over
1000 lives. |
| But we are at the end now and the ships can turn
south. They are still in the Gulf of St Lawrence bay though - the Atlantic
Ocean proper doesn't start until you have passed between Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland, which is somewhere out there. The boat is a self unloading ore
carrier. The unloading conveyors on the upper deck could be seen with
binoculars. |  |
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This is one of a very pretty row of picnic sites on the far side of a small
lake. The light was such that they were all reflected in the lake surface.
Unfortunately we only caught one and there was nowhere to stop. |
| Occasionally there is a village squeezed into the
small flat space at the bottom of the cliff between the river and the hills
and we had a chance to catch it on the road in. |  |
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Or we came over the brow of a hill and found it usually laid out around the
river mouth with the spire of the church providing a landmark for those on
land and sea. |
| We have talked about getting an auxiliary vehicle to
tow behind the RV. This is my idea of what we need. I particularly like the
idea of towing on a trailer. I'm very suspicious of the dolly and direct tow
options. Unfortunately they don't sell Smart cars in the US yet. Perhaps
buying in Canada and registering in the US would be another bureaucratic
nightmare option. Of course in wilder moments I consider a BMW Z3..... |  |
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We camped at a site on the shore and wandered down to watch the sun set. A
few clouds always help to set of the colours and make for a delightful
sight. |
| We weren't alone and I think the figures just add the
perfect touch at the end of the day. |  |
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