Maritime roadtrip - Magog, Quebec to Rimouski, Quebec

 

Up at 7:00, shower, yoga (we bought some travel yoga mats with us) and on the road before 8:30. The hotel we were at did not have the usual boring hotel art work. The walls were covered with folk art style paintings, for sale, by Linda Dion, a Sherbrook artist.

The view from our window. We debated coffee from McDs but ended up finding a Tims.

Although the GPS wanted to take us up to Quebec city we kept choosing routes that would keep us going through the countryside

driving through villages and small towns

with lovely churches (often stone, multiple spires, large statues of Christ with outspread arms)

Interesting houses too. Mansard roofs are favoured a well as wraparound or multilevel porches and multiple dormers.

Very windy, we saw lots of trees down and hydro crews working at clearing them.

The Birches and Aspen of yesterdays forests had given way to Maples with blue hose stretched like a cobweb through the woods, collecting sap.

Rainy

off and on

and we celebrated the occasional glimpses of blue sky.

Approaching the town of Thetford Mines we were amazed at the huge piles of mine tailings. The town was surrounded by them, some as high as the Appalachian Mountains that we were driving through. We learned that it is the Asbestos Capital of Canada but that the mines are now closed.

Still banks of dirty snow in areas that the sun doesn't reach.

Nicky spotted them first,

flocks of Snow Geese, resting on their way north.

We had eaten breakfast while driving so stopped for lunch: we shared a stir fry with eggs on top and a classic poutine (there was also BBQ and General Tao poutines on the menu)

Kentucky Fried Chicken is Poulet Frit Kentucky, here.

A waterfall pouring into the St Lawrence.

The river was very rough and I couldn't believe that this little car ferry was still going to make the journey across.

My first lighthouse

with info boards.

We checked in to our accommodation

a 200 year old house

and then went looking for dinner in Rimouski, nearby.

We drove through downtown, not finding anything, so continued to a lighthouse we could see on the far side of the bay.

Built of reinforced concrete in the early 1900s, it is one of only 5 remaining standing in Canada.

I knew I had seen a painting of a similar lighthouse and it was this one by Lawren Harris, 1930, Lighthouse, Father Point.

Waves splashing in front of it

so Nic had to get out there.

Aah, the smell of the sea; salt and seaweed.

A pair of Snow Buntings flitted about.

If it had been open we would have been able to tour various buildings clustered around the lighthouse

as well as tour a submarine and

a building dedicated to the Empress of Ireland that sank here, killing over a thousand on board.

 RMS Empress of Ireland was a British-built ocean liner that sank near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River in Canada following a collision in thick fog with the Norwegian collier Storstad in the early hours of 29 May 1914. Although the ship was equipped with watertight compartments and, in the aftermath of the Titanic disaster two years earlier, carried more than enough lifeboats for all aboard, she foundered in only 14 minutes. Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 died, making it the worst peacetime maritime disaster in Canadian history. from Wikipedia.

We returned to town and ate at a Bon Voyage restaurant (its a small chain). The menu was entirely in French and we ordered a fondue to share and a salad to share. Turned out what we had ordered was a small piece of Parmesan cheese, deep fried and served with cranberry sauce. It was delicious but not what we had expected.

Snow Bunting.