The South Riding RV Travels

330

16th-19th July 2007 - Gaspe Peninsula QC to Prince Edward Island

From Grande Vallee we carried on along the south bank of the St Lawrence estuary and round the Gaspe peninsula to Cap des Rosiers. This took us round the Forillon National Park and then back to the town of Gaspe where we crossed the river and travelled on to just before Perce.

All of the small villages along the way have churches and mostly in this style. They often have colourful windows and the shakes on the walls are laid in patterns. The roofs are mostly plated in tin. They all seem well looked after and the focal point of their village. This is a very Catholic French speaking rural community.

This is the bridge across the river Dartmouth just before you reach Gaspe which is the largest town (pop 15,000) for several hundred miles.
Gaspe was the first landing place of Jacques Cartier, and there is a museum on this subject. Outside are these metal obelisks bearing illustrations of his first contacts with the natives who had already occupied the peninsula for centuries.
From across the river we looked back at the northern tip of the Gaspe peninsula with its low white cliffs. On this side they are all red. This is just a sandbar. It is rockier on the other side.
It is rocky on this side too but the sandstone weathers differently. This campsite at Perce was called Tete d'Indien and if you look at the rock in the middle you can see why.
The campsite is small and terraced but the pitches are flat and it has WiFi although we had to pay for it on a daily basis.
Still on the Gaspe peninsula we continued on into the town centre of Perce (it is very spread out over 20 miles or so). Just offshore is this tall rock where the action of the waves has carved away the sandstone to form the arch or 'pierced rock' from which the town takes its name. The scenery has made this into quite a tourist town. We paused to look at the model boats but I think I will buy on the internet and maybe get them to ship one home for us. Everybody seems to sell the same models and they are all made in China or Thailand rather than locally.
Another view of the rock block. I'm not sure I'd want to be the owner of the house on the land side. It is a big house and rather close to the edge.
Then we are heading south west and the other side of the bay started to come closer. This is Chaleur Bay or Nepisguit Bay. On the other side is the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick, with Miscou island at its tip.
It goes on for miles and we camped again at St Omer still in Quebec - we have been travelling round this peninsula for over a week now. At least the weather and the waves are serene.
Finally we reach Pointe a la Croix and cross the river Restigouche to leave Quebec and enter New Brunswick. It was here that the English had a battle with French ships which had been sent to relieve Quebec in 1760. The defeat of the French spelt the end of that war here, and the end of French hopes to have a French colony in Canada.
The rivers here are very clear and are well known for salmon, therefore angling is a major pastime and tourist attraction. So we get the sculptures and water features. Pretty big salmon though.
This one on the riverbank is smaller even though the fish is the same size as the person. Perhaps it got away. If you look carefully you can see the fishing rod.
And more wood carving. This is one of a set of four depicting local peoples. More English is spoken here. Interestingly, New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

We decided we were tired of following the (admittedly) scenic coast road and we opted for the faster main roads down to Bathhurst. From here we had been told to follow the Acadian peninsula coast road which we did for a while up to Caraquet where we stopped overnight.

We have been travelling fairly continuously now for several weeks and we are getting tired and our interest was waning. So the next day we made a determined effort to do the last two hundred miles to Prince Edward Island.

You get onto the island now by the 13km Confederation bridge. This is a bit like Chesapeake bay in design but without the tunnels. The weather was fairly hazy and deteriorating as we crossed. It is a toll road but you only pay ($45) to get out.

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We pulled into the information centre on the other side only to find its carpark FILLED with RVs. Apparently there was a concert this weekend on the Island with Arrowsmith and everybody was coming for that. Our target campsite (300 places) was full so we had a bit of a panic until we found somewhere else which has turned out fine.

Amongst the artwork in the information centre Jan found these figures knitted in Aran style stitches.

And the design of this quilted landscape caught her eye too. I can't tell if it is island shaped.....