Geographically it would have been when we returned from Newfoundland. Time wise it was a while ago. And in reality there isn't a halfway point because every stop is a new adventure.
I travelled many times before wifi was even a word and on this trip I have really enjoyed being able to share pictures and stories in real time and thanks to my Koodo cellphone plan I have phoned my Mum several times and not just from Shannon Park. There is something special about getting feedback on what I am doing in almost real time! Keep those comments coming as they are appreciated.
Before leaving Bonaventure for Forillo, I spoke with Betty, an English speaking woman from Quebec. English as in it is her first language. She told me about a seafood restaurant up the road a bit that also sells fresh fish. Bonaventure has a number of trailer parks with seasonal sites and the seasonal residents, Betty being one of them, are pleased to be able to buy fresh fish. Ken and Ruth have been eating lots of fresh seafood. Since my rig is short and able to stop almost anywhere it was decided that Ruth would ride with me and we would stop to buy seafood.
We found it without any trouble and parked with room to spare. The owner was delightful. "English?" siad Ruth. "Non." says he. Then began a conversation with Ruth trying to pronounce the French name and pointing at what she thought it was for his confirmation. It was quite funny but very effective and they were both laughing. Ruth bought mussels and scallops and I bought scallops and I couldn't tell you what the French word is for either. Learning to point and use my fingers to show how many I wanted was the first skill I learned when I went to Japan and it's a good skill to have.
We continued up the south side of the Gaspe peninsula as our designation was Forillon National Park which is at the top. The houses were colourful, there was laundry on the clothes lines and the ocean was the backdrop. The word idyllic comes to mind and yet come winter it may be anything but.
And in one town the fire hydrants were delightful.
The tourist destination on this route seems to be Perce and the highway traffic slows to a crawl through this area. And yes we stopped at Perce (there needs to be an accent on the final e but I don't have that option). It was fun to stop driving and be a real tourist for a bit.
This is the first view you get of Perce Roche driving east or north or up the right coast.
This is the last view you get if you look back at the right spot.
We saw Ken in Perce and then he went back to driving while we looked in the shops and took pictures. The road out of Perce is almost mountainous (Appalachian mountains are not as big as Rockie Mountains) and Sterling, Silver Lining and I loved it!
I had totally forgotten about the hills in the Gaspe peninsula and the steepness of some of them. A 15% descent is a little scary especially when you can't see the road down until you cross the crest of the uphill climb.
When you are on an extended trip like this you do expect to have some problems but you always hope it won't happen. But it did, one of the tires on the other trailer had a blow out. Ken put the spare on himself because it was faster than waiting for AAA assistance. That made me realize that I really should practice taking down my spare for the trailer and perhaps even for the truck. And then I wondered how to handle the trailer if one tire blew. The big rig has two on each side but my matchbox trailer only has one on each side. I have now read the manual and my initial thoughts were correct but it is a little scary to think of it happening on a freeway. But don't worry I plan to avoid those!
We had reserved sites in the Cap de Rosiers site at Forillon and it was another mountain drive to get there. And the hills were even bigger. I now think the Rockies are going to be easy in comparison because the hills are longer with less of a grade. We'll see when we get there if I'm right.
When we entered Quebec we put the clock back an hour and then proceeded to drive east, further east than we were in New Brunswick and the clock is one hour faster. Instead of a north/south time zone line it runs east to include all of Quebec. I would not like to be living in In Perce or Forillon in the winter, it must get dark before four o'clock. That almost makes less sense than Newfoundland's one half hour difference. No matter what time it was on the clock, it was dark when we set up camp and that was a little difficult. The next day Ken took his punctured tire to Gaspe to be repaired but since it was Sunday it wouldn't be ready until Monday morning.
I woke early on Monday and walked to the beach... perhaps 300 metres, most likely less. It was a very smooth, well worn, pebbly beach and all of the rocks were smooth and some shade of gray. Note to Maggie: iIt put a whole new twist on Fifty Shades of Gray.
Later in the morning Ruth and I visited the national heritage buildings that are in the park and also drove to Cap Bon Ami. (spelling?). I remembered being there before when the weather was wild with wind and rain and everyone took shelter in the rather awesome kitchen shelters that are in Forillon. Fully enclosed log structures with very big windows so that you can enjoy the view without struggling with the weather. The cormorants were nesting on the rock cliff in fairly close proximity... really close with the binoculars! Before dinner we all went for a walk on the beach and added a few more treasures to our collections.
National historic site buildings open to the public. This was the last day they were open.
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