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Tuesday, May 25: Sept-Îles, QC,
to Havre-Saint-Pierre, QC (138 miles)
| We hit the road at our usual time (11:00 a.m.)
with the temps hovering around 50. During the day they dropped as low as
45, near the shore, but remained in the upper 40's all day. We had an
hour of light rain, but with the gear we stayed dry and warm.
The terrain reminded me of Alaska. A lot of flat,
somewhat barren, bog-like terrain that resembles the permafrost regions
in northern Alaska. But its not really permafrost, it's the St. Lawrence
lowlands.
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There is also a lot of forested land with lakes
and rivers. The photo on the left is looking down at the Chute Manitou
(falls) from the highway. Hydro electric generating plants are one of
the three main industries in this part of Quebec province, and we see
dams and power lines quite often during the day. The other two major
industries are forestry and mining (aluminum). |
| It was just after lunch time and we stopped at a
little restaurant in Rivière-au-Tonnerre
(pop. 370).
This is a small village built right along the shore and, most
importantly, it had a restaurant! |
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We had pie and coffee at café
along the road.
I had the sugar pie (left) and Elaine had the raisin pie. Both were
served with cream, and were delectable. We're
kind of getting into this French Canadian eating thing! |
| We made it to Havre-Saint-Pierre (pop. 3,170) around 3:30.
Three to four hours is about what we like to ride. Our reservation was
for the Motel le Relias, a new and very clean establishment built right
along the street, and we chose the front room. We felt very much a part of
the local scene. |
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Wednesday, May 26:
Havre-Saint-Pierre, QC, to Natashquan, QC (96 miles)
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It was raining when we got up this morning, but
by the time we were packed up and ready for a walk the sun had come
out. Havre-Saint-Pierre is situated in a natural harbor near the Mingan
Archipelago National Park Preserve of Canada. This is a kayakers'
paradise - not much for motorcyclists - so we just looked across the
water. |
| The harbor in Havre-Saint-Pierre is home to
commercial fishermen. These guys had unloaded their boat - another was
over at the scales getting ready to unload. A poissonnerie (fish market)
was next door. We were looking for coffee or breakfast yet; the
poissonnerie had neither. As it turned out, we didn't find anything
to eat until we got to Natashquan! |
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The highway today, from Havre-Saint-Pierre to
Natashquan, took us mainly through marshlands like you see to the left.
We saw almost no wooded areas today. When
we left Natashquan it was sunny with the temps around 60. By the end of
our ride it had clouded over and the temps had dropped to the mid-50's,
with a lot of wind.
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We have seen a lot of these signs along the way,
but no whales or moose. We're hoping to see whales on the ferry the next
two days, and perhaps moose in Newfoundland. I may have to go out riding
at night if I really want to see a moose! |
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This was one of the few forested areas of the road
today, with some nice curves up ahead. The roads have been in very good
to excellent condition all the way along the north coast. The asphalt is
new in places, and has small patches in other places. The road is
generally smooth, although today we rode over a lot of dips - every
hundred yards it seemed. I don't know if these were caused
by the freezing and melting, or what. The road is built up 3-5 feet
above the surrounding area to provide a solid roadbed, so there may be
some shifting going on. In any case, the roads are perfectly good and
not at all an issue for motorcyclists. |
| This is Maison Johan-Beetz in Baie-Johan-Beetz.
Don't know who he was? Me either! Actually, he was a painter and
sculptor who had this home built in 1897. I house and its environs are somewhat characteristic of the
homes along the coastline. Some of the houses are painted in bright colors which adds to
character and beauty of the settlements. |
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This is what I had been looking forward to -- the
end of the (paved) road! A gravel road continues for a few more miles,
but there are no other roads connecting the communities further east
along the north coast. That is where the ferry comes in, and we will
board that tomorrow morning.
There's just something about riding to the end of
the road that appeals to me... PS. We
learned later that the government has been building a road from
Natashquan to the next settlement to the east for 9 years, and they are
still working on it! |
| When we arrived in Natashquan (pop. 270) around
2:00 pm we found the only restaurant in town and chowed down. We were
hungry! After breakfast/lunch we went down to the Relais Nordik
office on the pier to
make final arrangements to board the ferry tomorrow morning. We are to
be there by 5:30 so they can put the bike in a container to put it on
board the ferry. |
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Our B&B in Natashquan was built out on the edge
of town where it caught the full force of the winds, which were strong
enough to physically shake the house! |
We'll have a lot to tell you about the ferry
trip, but that will have to wait at least several days. We will be on
the ferry until about 6 pm Friday evening (2 days and1 night), and won't
have Internet access while on the boat. People who have made this trip
before us described the ferry trip as the high point, so we're excited
to get on with the experience!PS. I learned
later this evening that there was no access to high-speed Internet in
Natashquan. The municipal building had it, but they weren't open in the
evening. Everyone else makes due with telephone access. Result: I wasn't
able to upload this page to my website for several days - not sure now
just how many (5/27 8:30 pm).
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