Percé Rock

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Our trip plan from Quebec City today is to see some of the St Lawrence south shore, the Gaspé Peninsula, and arrive at Percé Rock for the evening (hopefully before sunset). Google maps tells us that will be an 8hr and 23minute drive but you know about planning your drive with Google. It's just a guide, add a few hours. So we are aware — it's going to be a long day.

Not too far from Quebec City we stopped at a small village on the St Lawrence, Saint-Vallier, across from l'Île-d'Orléans, for an advertised Fromagerie (Cheese Shop). They are making cheese and you can watch through a window into the small factory (I recall the nearby Welburn Cheese was like that). We buy some cheese and snacks for the drive, to share with Paula and, it turns out, to have as our dinner that night. The Trans Canada Highway here, No. 20 aka A. Jean-Lesage, is a 4 lane expressway that continues much of the way. There are many advertised stops like this cheese shop, e.g., there are some wineries and cideries too. Cider is probably pretty good, the wine I suspect not.

The village and cheese factory is on a secondary road along the river, and we end up on those kind of roads around the Gaspé Peninsula. The "quick route" to Moncton would be to go South East at Rivière-du-Loup and follow the Trans Canada. We instead take the road less travelled to see more of the coast and the Percé Rock. As such we didn't get to the Percé village until the evening and it was dark when we arrived. We even took a short cut across the hills in Percé to get to the hotel. It was very weird! Turns out that hill route also leads to a mountain top viewing platform. Much of that road looks like it's never used.

We have reserved a room at the Hotel/Motel Panorama de Perce with Expedia. It's just a little to the south of the village of Percé. It's a nice enough room with a small balcony overlooking the parking lot and the ocean beyond. But it's dark out and there's nothing to see; we hunker down to watch some TV and munch on goodies we had brought with us. Behind us there's a huge campground — mostly empty at this time of year.

The next morning we check out, grab a coffee and some snacks from the breakfast buffet, and explore the views before heading on to NB. From our hotel there are good views of the rock from across the street. Between our place and the village there's a large seaside Camping Côte Surprise, with good views of the rock; again mostly empty. In the village there's a tower to climb (the panorama above is from the tower), a pier and some seaside to explore. At the dock there's a tour boat to take people out for a close up view of the rock but it was cool, a bit wet and awfully windy. I might have climbed up to Cap Mont Joli for another view of the rock but we have a day ahead of us. Google says it's 6hr 30min to Shediac and you now know Google route plans.

Kate has investigated and found that Belvédère Au Pic de l'Aurore, a hotel/restaurant/cabin complex a little back along the coastal trail also has good views of the rock. We stop in for some last pictures before hitting the road.

Along the way our car tells me we have a soft tire. They all look fine to me and I'm not too worried but we find a small garage along the way and, through my mangled French, borrow a pressure gauge and fill the tires to their recommended pressure. The warning light is out, great! The next step would have been to try and find a Honda dealer.

It's a two lane coastal road in Quebec until you cross into New Brunswick at Campbellton. This is rather slow going but there are some digressions. The town of New Carlisle has the René-Lévesque Space to commemorate his childhood home, we skip that. Around noon, near the town of Caplan, we stop at Distillerie des Marigots where they make gin and flavored gin alternatives from local wheat. There are some cider houses nearby that the guide recommends; I ask about places distilling cider (to make something like the Calvados from Normandy) but there's none of either on our route. She suggests we might get something to eat at Edgar's in nearby New Richmond. We are hungry so let's try that.

After a bit of search we find Edgar's (the Edgar Café Buvette at New Richmond/Taylor's Point). Something got lost in translation — it turns out it's a gourmet fast food truck, by a campground (which is closed for the season), by the water and, although closed, there is someone there. This must be Edgar. It's his shop and he tells us he's closed for the season but is here getting prepared for some special one-of catered event. Better luck next time, we grab a bite at Tim Horton's and are soon back on the road.

We cross into NB at Campbellton, it's almost 5pm when we're at Miramachi and I'm worried if we'll ever make it to Shediac. Fortunately in NB it's all on the Trans Canada Highway, No. 11, which is far from the coastal roads and we are able to make very good time. We stick close to the speed limits, others are not so cautious. The warning signs for deer and moose tell me night driving might be dangerous.

Again, this was another day that was far too short. We spent most of the day driving and were only able to take brief visits along the way. We should have devoted several days for this trip. Next time.