7.4.18. Wednesday. Percé’s Rock, Quebec to Revière-du-Loup, Quebec.
The next morning, we prowled around the grounds of our cliffside lodge, enjoying the views of Percé’s Rock and the seals on the rocks below us.
Jeff had scouted out a geocache that was about 250 meters from the lodge parking lot (as the crow flies), but we realized that it was at the top of an even steeper cliff than the one we were on. Since we are not crows, it would have been quite a hike. Instead, we checked-out and went into town for breakfast. We ate at a bustling little place next to the Three Sister’s Motel (and part of it, although it looked like a little bungalow). It was delicious. But it gave us a much later start than usual and much, much later than we had anticipated.
The day’s ride was defined by jaw-dropping scenery. The ride out from Percé’s Rock to the north shore of the peninsula was perhaps the part I found most exhilarating. For a short way, it was like the Cabot Trail but even more so.
When we reached the south shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the road flattened out, and geological marvels predominated. The St. Lawrence is much wider than a normal river all the way from Quebec City to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so as we rode along its southern coast, we generally could not see a northern shore. The coast line was beautiful. We had shale cliffs to our left on large parts of the route, and on our right, usually there was water. In many places, the jagged edges of the shale shelves protruded from the water. We stopped at a rest area (lured there by a geocache of course) where the beach was covered in stones smoothed and flattened into dark grey disks, many with white lines of other minerals running through them.
The metallic church steeples continued. The roadside "attractions" included a sword embedded in a rock and a house decorated in bright blue turrets. I was also charmed by the tidy stone-edged harbors with their bobbing fishing boats at anchor. The wind farms were abundant along the coast and even included some vertical turbines.
An unfortunate consequence of our late start is that we missed the last admission time for the Jardins de Métis. We did stop at the Centre d’Art M. Gagnon, to observe the somewhat disturbing clusters of statues clustered on the shore and proceeding in a straggly line into the river. Following that, we were rewarded with a stunning sunset that bathed the sky in violent reds and oranges at times.
The next morning, we prowled around the grounds of our cliffside lodge, enjoying the views of Percé’s Rock and the seals on the rocks below us.
The day’s ride was defined by jaw-dropping scenery. The ride out from Percé’s Rock to the north shore of the peninsula was perhaps the part I found most exhilarating. For a short way, it was like the Cabot Trail but even more so.
We rode out to Cap-des-Rosiers in Forillon National Park. We walked an elevated wooden “nature trail” that offered lovely views of the sea across the tops of the brush and rocks. The walkway had signs along the way describing wildlife – that we were not seeing. As I began to grouse about the lack of “nature” on this trail, Jeff hissed, “look, there.” Not more than a few feet from me, just below the edge of the walkway, a porcupine was enjoying his lunch, completely unfazed by us! Further along the way we found seals sunning themselves on the rocks, and a lovely view of a light house.
When we reached the south shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the road flattened out, and geological marvels predominated. The St. Lawrence is much wider than a normal river all the way from Quebec City to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, so as we rode along its southern coast, we generally could not see a northern shore. The coast line was beautiful. We had shale cliffs to our left on large parts of the route, and on our right, usually there was water. In many places, the jagged edges of the shale shelves protruded from the water. We stopped at a rest area (lured there by a geocache of course) where the beach was covered in stones smoothed and flattened into dark grey disks, many with white lines of other minerals running through them.
The metallic church steeples continued. The roadside "attractions" included a sword embedded in a rock and a house decorated in bright blue turrets. I was also charmed by the tidy stone-edged harbors with their bobbing fishing boats at anchor. The wind farms were abundant along the coast and even included some vertical turbines.
An unfortunate consequence of our late start is that we missed the last admission time for the Jardins de Métis. We did stop at the Centre d’Art M. Gagnon, to observe the somewhat disturbing clusters of statues clustered on the shore and proceeding in a straggly line into the river. Following that, we were rewarded with a stunning sunset that bathed the sky in violent reds and oranges at times.
It was dark by time we reached the Motel Loupi in Revière-du-Loup. The owner checked us in and directed us down the road to find some food. We by-passed his suggestions and went further into town where we found a cozy bar with a selection of vegetarian and traditional options and beers. Then back to our hotel for the night.
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