Travel to Gaspe'

Up on the road at no particular time (usual for us). Back into town to buy smoked fish at a local company. Very yummy! Then through town watching cops patrolling and catching speeders. Looks like a real speed trap.  Make sure you slow down in Mont Louis...

Campsite view

Campsite view

View from Atkins & Fre'res Fine Fish Products

Mont Louis

Then down the road to the turn off up to Murdochville and over. Very hilly. Some hills slowed us down to 50 kph. Don't know how they can climb them in the winter. Lots of trees, felt like the middle of BC. Got to Gaspe' Campground. Owner allowed us to wash the dog on the grass. Kyle was not impressed as the water was only cold and got colder. (he is used to nice warm water) What a lucky dog. Next 4 hours was brushing him and taking him for walks to dry him of and get the hair out. Amazing how much hair come off this dog, but not really as he is a Husky..

Dry dock and Windmills

Got on the road at no particular time and started driving back down to the coast as our campsite was 10kms inland. Wonderful hilly road with new pavement, would be fun on a bike. Once on the highway headed east in search of Todd and his dry dock. Going on memory of the night before, we found it at noon. Had a great tour of one of the largest dry docks on the St Lawrence River. Todd was explaining that they are expanding to fit Super-max and Panamax freighters into it. 90ft wide door to 160ft wide and from 790ft long to 1000ft long, approximately.  Thank you very much for the tour Todd. Made our day!

Yours truly on the dry dock gate

Largest Icebreaker in the world

Check out this link

Expanded area of dry dock awaiting funding to replace gate

Rebuilt propellers due to the abrasion of ice

Todd Harwood-Jones (Dockmaster)

New pump for the expansion 1of 6

This entire knob up to the metal building has to be removed and below another 40ft

Machine shop, with Umiak 1 in dry dock (behind)

View from parking lot

Headed east again and saw a wind turbine farm on the hill. Has the largest experimental vertical turbine in the world. Shut down in 1987. They do tours. We took the tour and was very disappointed! Very deceptive pricing. They charge $17 for a tour of obsolete useless technology and said that we could climb the old wind mill, but after a tour geared for children (waist of time) then they told us that it would cost another $25 to climb the tower. Save yourself the money and the time, just google wind turbines. 

The ferry and Rimouski, Pointe-au-Pere' (Father Point)

Up early to catch the ferry from Les Escoumins to Trois-Pistoles. Met some nice people at and on the ferry trip over. Still raining at the other side.

Very small ferry

By the time we arrived at Rimouski (on the Gaspe' Peninsula) the rain had stopped and the sun came out. Arrived at The Maritime Historic Site, Site of the only Submarine on display in Canada, named "Onondaga" In Canada's service from 1973 - 1999

The nose houses the sonar and radar

Dry docked in 2007

Rear torpedo tubes area

CO2 scrubbers

electrical panel for the 3000hp propulsion motors

4000 HP Diesel engines to charge batteries

Looking through the periscope

Controls for the pitch of the boat

Next to some bunks

Torpedo bay able to hold 16 

And the tallest lighthouse on the St Lawrence Seaway. Has been decommissioned due to the GPS tracking systems on all ships.

Yours truly climbed 128 steps

Lighthouse lens

Looking east from the lighthouse

The clockwork mechanism to turn the lens, once operated by a 600lb weight having from the cable. Had to be wound up manually every 6 hours. Later an electric motor was installed

And the historic site of the "Empress of Ireland" ill-fated sinking in 1914 of a CP Railway passenger ship in the St Lawrence River. Got no pictures of the exhibit.

After our history lesson, headed for our night's camping. Found a place Base Plein Air Saint Demase, on Lac Demase. Nice place, but no internet or cell service. Talked to many people who loved Kyle and the kids were all over him, but very few knew any english. Was approached by a guy who's english was quite good. After dinner took Kyle for another walk and was invited to sit down with these same people. Turnes out that Todd Harwood-Jones was the last radar operator on the Onondaga Submarine and has pics and tattoos to prove it. Very interesting guy, does surveillance work for the military and turns out that he knows our friend Bob's son... Has a day job also at a large dry dock. Invited us for a tour. The company Todd works for built the rails and dry docked the submarine. He said the historic society paid $7 for the Onondaga and 1.5 million to dry dock it...

South side of the Saguenay Fjord (Route du Fjord)

Again the weather was suspect! Awoke to rain, so slept in. After taking our time to walk the dog and have coffee, the rain had slowed to a mist. By the time got to the ferry, the clouds had lifted and only threatened to rain.

North ferry dock (Tadoussac)

South ferry dock (Baie St Catherine)

Off the ferry and up the hill, the ferry traffic was in a hurry. 100+kph. Fun! The roads in this area are very nice, with the exception of the odd construction zone. Turned north at Saint Simeon. The pavement for the most part was the best I've seen in a while and my throttle hand kept on getting heavier. Before long 120kph is the average with long sweepers creating a big grin on the old mug. The old bike sucks fuel at this rate, so pulled into the first gas station to fuel up. Petit Saguenay is the town with access to the fjord, so like the motorcycle bible says, "see a road, take it" We did! Pavement, not much more than that, but the view at the bottom was great!

Petit Saguenay Cove

Looking north west up the inlet

At the entrance of the Petit Saguenay River into the fjord

Next cove, L'Anse Saint Jean... Up the road and back on the highway. A half hour later, we were sitting in a gorgeous seaside french crepe cafe' admiring the view of this large bay. Had lunch, yes, real french crepes and nice strong cup of coffee. On the way out, found another covered bridge.

Cafe' du Quai, for lunch

Owner was a real french chef (blue hat)

L'Anse Saint Jean

"Covart" Covered Art (Artwork inside the bridge)

Then up the road to Eternite Baie and the Parc National Du Fjord-du-Saguenay. At the park gate, they wanted $8.50 per person. Too much for this cheepo.. Turned around and rode back down the highway towards camp. Saw another road to the Village Vacances so rode to the campsite entrance. Looked like a kids camp with a line up to get in so we turned around and headed back. Onto the highway once again and cranked up the gas control. Julie sat back and let me play. Julie says she was "hanging on for dear life!" Needless to say we arrived back at camp sooner than expected. Picked up Kyle, walked into town and around the point on the nature walk.

 

Saguenay Fjord to Alma and back

As we started the day it was misting. Just enough to make it difficult to see through the windshield but not enough to get us wet. Rode to Anse de Roche (Rock Cove) where you can see for miles up and down the fjord as it is on a corner. Beautiful picturesque little village as we expect to see for the next few months as we explore the coastlines of Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia and New Foundland.

Anse de Roche, Kayakers going out whale watching

Up the Fjord

Nice little village

As we rode west up the fjord, the vegetation and road remind us of the Kootenay, Good road with road work and long sweeping corners. Very surprised with the amount of people that live here and the size of the towns. Had no idea of this region.  The Fjord is tidal all the way up to Saguenay.  Makes for very good fishing while the water is brackish as the river water mixes ocean water and that why this area is great for whale watching.

Old town, Saguenay

Saguenay Bridge over the Saguenay River

Drove around Tadoussac when arrived back. Found large sand dunes and a fabulous overlook of the St Lawrence River. The sky had cleared enough for us to see the south side of the St Lawrence River from the dunes. Didn't see any whales, but locals say they are around. Whale watching tour in a zodiac costs about $60+15%tax per person. 

The dunes, looking east

Tadoussac with a freighter

Tadoussac, Entrance to the Saguenay Fjord