VOYAGE EN CAMPING – CAR CROSS CANADA 2019 – QUEBEC

Across the Ottawa RIver to Gatineau and in Quebec and the challenge of driving compounds with French Road signs. Trying to make spur of the moment road decisions from French words and street names compounds our navigation. We reached Trois Riviere in a few hours and found a quaint campsite down in a valley. Got there a little later so sandwich dining and an attempt to find internet to download pictures and post.

Virtually every campsite has poor WIFI or only hotspot locations. KOA has WIFI issues at every campground that they claim is temporary. I am getting wise and will call them on it the next KOA we stop at.

Our major stop for today is The Montmorency Falls in Quebec City. The falls are created from the Montmorency River as it falls over a cliff to the St Lawrence River. The Falls are 272 feet high and are 99 feet higher than Niagara Falls.

It is a Tuesday, but even so a lot of people here. Free admission if you walk in. Great deal

We decided to take a drive to the Ile D’ORLÉANS before checking into our campsite. This island is located in the St Lawrence River and is accessible by bridge. This island was one of the first places to be colonized by the French and the explorer Jacques Cartier first set foot on it in 1535.

The island has very fertile land and is occupied by small family farms. The landscape and buildings are well looked after. We stopped at one of the farm outlets on the road to purchase a few items, fresh asparagus, canned maple syrup and some jam. This particular farmer has 600 maple trees that he gets his maple products from each March.

Wow, our campsite has a water slide!

Thursday, we are off to Old Port, Quebec City. Talking to an RV owner a few days ago on the ferry, we found out that there is a parking lot in the old port of Quebec that you can park your RV for the night. No hookups, $70 a night but walking distance to all the shops and history of Old Quebec City. I managed to get a ticket out of the parking machine, but it had me parking yesterday but my Mastercard receipt was dated today. Doh! These machines are set up by young folks to rid the world of old folks, so they do not have to look after us forever.

Our walking tour with Viator is at 1:30 so time to walk around the shops and stop for a coffee and muffin at a shop.

Bother generals died in this battle, with the vanquished Montcalm, on his death bed, declaring that he was happy to not see the English take over. He may have been happy not to be questioned by the media as to how he lost that battle with his position on high ground.

When you walk up to the Upper City, you can see how high you are above the St. Lawrence

A good tour with lots of info and history. We learned that Quebec City is a booming city with all that is going on, government, Laval University, shipping, tourism and much diversification. 3% unemployment. I think Calgary needs all the fed dollars that go here!

We will go out tonight for supper. As our guide today indicated, the only difficulty with finding a good place to eat, is making the choice.

So, I googled fine dining here and got 3 suggestions and chose the closest walk on Rue St Pierre. We got there and men had jackets and ladies dresses, and got the wine list for $400!! We left!

Found a nice place on a popular street that we were touring in lower town and tried their duck/rabbit combination for 2.

A drizzly night, so back to the RV for the night. A couple from 100 mile house in BC banged on our door as they had the same RV and as it turns out, are doing the same trip. We have met a few now.

Off the next morning to Charlevoix and the Fairmont Richelieu along the St Lawrence River. The countryside is rolling hills and pristine farm country. Very scenic. June 9, 2018 or a year ago this hotel was the site of the G7 Summit, so we are a year late to catch up with Donald and Justin. Donald was kind of grumpy as I recall, so just as well that we missed him.

Le Manoir de Richelieu in La Malbaie Quebec. Built in 1899 on the cliffs of the St Lawrence and operated now by Fairmont Hotels

This guy was working on a very steep hill cutting the grass. I need his brother at my lake lot. I think that he would do a good job on the deer as well

We have a tee time in the afternoon at the Richelieu course and the interesting part is that the course, 27 holes, is located about a km from the hotel up the mountain. So you start your game taking a scenic cart ride thru the woods with great views along the way.

Our golf game went late but got back in time to have a shower and go out to the Hotel Restaurant for an anniversary meal(1 day early)

Off the next morning to Laterie Charlevoix a dairy that was founded in 1948 and has the Canadienne breed of cow that was brought over from France in the early 17th century. The dairy moved into cheese production and is now famous for L’Hercule de Charlevoix cheese, a 24 month aged cheese, among others and can be bought at specialty shops across Canada.

Our intent was to take a tour, but foiled, as the tours do not start until July. We had the opportunity to chat with one of the owners of this 4th generation establishment and he was eager to share the history. Upon finding out Marg’s heritage and that her Mom was born nearby, and recognizing the Rivest and Allarie names as French Canadian, he was amazed that she could not speak French. I thought he was going to cry when he said that that is not right, our French heritage must be preserved.

We bought some goodies to snack on, including bread, pate, cheeses and some great cinnamon buns that went fast.

Part of the production facility

We are off to the ferry at St Simeon for a ride across the St Lawrence to Rivière du Loup. Kind of blustery so could be kinda rough. We are travelling thru the Laurentian Mountains that are rolling and picturesque. The highest point is only 3825 feet, which pales in comparison to the Rockies, but we are climbing up and down from sea level here. We notice that most houses have a vast supply of split firewood stacked in long rows by the house. A lot of wood burning stoves and ovens, we are told. Virtually everybody speaks French but all, that we have talked to, speak English with a varying degree of capability

To illustrate the width of the river here, the ferry took 65 minutes to cross and moved quite quickly. At this point it is still the river and not The Gulf of St Lawrence. Ferries cross at numerous points and small towns along the River.