The Gaspé Peninsula

 September 26

Days are long and that’s good except when one sits down to decant/recount the day. To do the day justice I’d liked to say how it unfurled mostly because it was mostly surprises. On the fly travel… hard for scheduler to dive into as it doesn’t work that way. No matter what one wants to happen in a left brain order, that is not how it will happen. Went to bed expecting a sunny day… midnight torrential rain for hours…. Up to fog and goose poop everywhere…them too. Luann decides to nix the breakfast at a place opening at b the crack of 9 am.  So egg sandwich at 7:30. I had an idea of where we were going after a discussion only to find that was out the window and we were backtracking an hour to The Gaspe Parc. 

Luann and Lucy were restricted to a very specific hike due to 1/2 of the pack ID’s as dog. I decided to remain with truck to reconfigure the day plan. I have an app to help with locating boondocks sites that drops coordinates into Google Maps to see what it looks like. Laborious but time saving to find a campsite  that is doable. Luann and Lucy had a great 45 minute hike and I had five suggestions for camping.

We backtracked to where we had camped and continued on toward Gaspé. Serpentine roads with extreme elevation changes…can’t imagine winter driving on these roads. We tried all of the suggestions on the app. Most not good. At our last, as we sat pondering where to sleep, sitting at a beautiful spot that the  Gov decided too much camper people not being respectful, closed the site, we saw a gov truck pull in …why not ask? Parlez vous Anglaise ? ..No! So I tried my HS French and got across I was looking for a place to camp. No he says…so we take off to a very off road camp maybe spot and he follows us and jumps out of his truck and runs over (ok this is a uniformed policeman type) he says … follow me… so we do. 25 Km later we are at a “motel/camping place that might be questionable…. But it isn’t. He smiles and helps with the French to get us a spot… the only ones here. Perfect and lucky. Now Photos. (Soon)

September 27

Now at the Forillon National Park. Only an easy hour’s drive from our last night camp.  Magnificent isn’t over stating it. The ocean is crashing up onto the beach of palm sized shale stones, rounded to disks by tides. The geology is more striking than expected as the metamorphism of sedimentary rock into swirling pressurized curls is quite dramatic. If you haven’t given thought to a French Canadian road rip to the area you should. The Maritimes could be added to make for an epic trip!

We might stay here an extra day then move a short bit to the south of the peninsula before heading into New Brunswick and northern Maine. As Luann says “all will be revealed”. 

September 28

 Splendid start to the day, cold at 36 it said but felt like a balmy 45. Morning routine of one taking Lucy out for her morning walk around 6:30 and the other starting the heater and the coffee pot, breaking down the bed, stowing the plethora of charge cords and assorted items. Refilling water bottles and minding Lucy Rose’s set up for the day. Once coffee is ready and a zucchini bread is sliced, time to take stock of the day. Once in sync, the camper roof dropped and latched, propane tank off,  gear stowed, Lucy settled in her space and a once over of the site and off we go… to who knows where.

Today was a day where we had no destination just a direction. We went for a walk and stopped in historical sites to see the daily life of the cod fishermen and families, Read the book “Cod” by Mark Kurlansky, Extremely well written  history of the Atlantic Cod fishing fleets in the 16th century forward. He also wrote “Salt” another fascinating book. 

We stopped for our first restaurant meal for fish and chips (fries) for lunch and that set us up for eating for the day. Luann took over driving and I started hunting a place to camp. Luck was on our side and we landed in the very best boondocks site we have ever hit. No way to say how crazy nice it is… the photos can speak to that.  A very rare find by chance. Off on a small site on a rocky shore similar to rugged Maine coastline. 

We arrived to an empty site and got the camper set in. A man came walking by and I had a nice chinwag in broken French/English. He lived nearby and explained it was a site of an old lighthouse so federal land but the Km on either side was provincial land. Open for anyone to stay who is neat and tidy. I apologized for being by association, American but he understood not what is there now governmentally. He sauntered on his way but stopped as two hunters emerged from the wood heading towards his land and turned them around. He explained they are hunting rabbit and Grouse. They left ion an hour. A young couple came to watch the sunset and left. We are all alone at the best site ever. 

Tomorrow most likely but still unsure we will enter New Brunswick. Photos … many…soon.