Posts From Quebec

This morning our plans changed (or at least solidified), the catayst was a conversation with another traveling couple (Gerry and Joy from Mississauga) who told us about the ferry from Blanc-Sablon to St Barbe, NewFoundland. This route will require us to travel the remote trans Labrador Highway (made up of highways 389, 500, and 510) and was just the trigger we needed to make a decision about how or whether to visit NewFoundland. It is approximately 2500 kms from Casselman (where we met Gerry and Joy) to the ferry at Blanc-Sablon and we are allowing 10 days for the journey.

Today we wanted to make a short visit to the old part of Quebec City (founded in 1608 it is the only walled city in the US/Canada), but where to park. Fortunately Google provided a possible answer, a parking lot in downtown Quebec right on Bassin Loise that (apparently) was suitable for RVs, so off we headed. Our GPS lead us right to the place and sure enough there were a lot of RVs already parked there. Quickly we found out that the parking fee for RVs was C$65 per 24 hours and almost as quickly decided we would stay the night here and devote the remainder of the day to sightseeing. The lot is an amazingly convenient spot for a base, we are only a short walk (maybe 15 minutes) up hill to the old walled city and Chateaux Fontenac. The blue and yellow big top tents of Cirque du Soleil are just across the road, and just down the street is a big complex of grain silos that become a projection screen for outdoor movies. It seemed every RV owner in Quebec (other than us) knew about this place because by 10:00pm the place was packed with motorhomes and camping trailers, probably over 200 of them.

Our destination today was Tadoussac along supposed scenic route 175 and then a gravel cutoff road to the coast and highway 138. The trip along 175 was scenic, through the granite hills of the Laurentian Mountains and the gravel cutoff road was a good test of the beast with some rough sections, but about 26 kms into our gravel trial road we encountered Pont ferme. That closed bridge destroyed the days plan. We had to backtrack almost to Quebec city before getting onto 138, about 6 hours to be back in QC.

There was a fog in the valley of the St Lawrence this morning which sometimes spilled over onto the road way as we continued towards the ferry over the Fjord du Saguenay and the town of Tadoussac on the north shore of the fjord. For us Tadoussac was simply a stop for internet and fuel though for others it is a center for whale watching. We ran a foul of local parking ordinances but after some discussion the police lady who was threatening to give us a ticket instead lead us (on her motor scooter) to the top of town and a gravel parking lot next to a skate park (coordinates for other hapless RV drivers who get stuck in this town are N48.14757 W69.71359)

Heading out of Baie-Comeau north to cross the 50th and 51st parallels today we got an abrupt introduction to northern roads. The first 60km was marked by one of the roughest sealed roads we have ever driven and one that twisted around small lakes with almost continuous short but steep (10-12%) climbs and descents. Fortunately the road improved after 60km. Hydro power is the other signature feature of this road. Large power line towers march beside the road as far as the 200KM where sits the 5th hydro station of the day Manic 5. These power stations get their name from the Manicouagan River which in turn is fed by the Manicouagan Reservoir a large circular lake clearly discernible on a map, this is the 5th largest meteor crater in the world.

Not much to say about today. We continued generally west from Grand Falls skirting the US border, eventually arriving at the major highways that follow the south side of the St Lawrence. Then turned south to follow those highways ending the day at the town of Levis where we camped at a small gas station.