Week 3: Quebec City, QC to Mont Morios, QC
Sunday, July 13
Moulin du Portage
This morning we got a better chance to see where we had pulled
off to the side of the road to sleep last night:
at the Moulin du Portage
a historical water-powered flour mill in the Chaudière-Appalaches region.
Saint-Antoin-de-Tilly
Along the way to Quebec City, we stopped in Saint-Antoin-de-Tilly on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence:
where they have a very interesting church:
Across the street there is a nice old convent:
with a bit of history:
Monday, July 14
Aquarium du Québec, Quebec City
Today, we rode our bikes from Beauport to the Aquarium du Québec:
where we met our friend Steve:
Henry’s favourite part of the aquarium were the jellyfish exhibits. He made movies of the Moon Jellies, the Bay Nettles, and the Australian Spotted Jellyfish (wait for them).
Plains of Abraham, Quebec City
On the ride back we stopped by the Plains of Abraham:
Old Quebec City
We also stopped by the center of Old Quebec City:
Tuesday, July 15
Musée de la civilisation, Quebec City
Today we visited the
Musée de la civilisation
Henry’s favourite exhibit was of the snowshoes:
where the snowshoes could identify who used them because of the adaptions to the environment. For example, the Inuit had smaller rounder snowshoes because their snow is relatively hard, whereas the forest dwelling indigenous had longer narrower snowshoes to deal deeper snow and narrower trails.
We had lunch at a typical small bistro on a typical small street behind the museum:
Old Quebec City
We returned to the Old City for a few minutes before heading back to our campsite:
Wednesday, July 16
Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, Levis, QC
Today we visited Chaudière Falls:
You get a better impression by viewing the video of the falls.
Île d Orléans, QC
Today we toured Île d Orléans, starting at the
Maritime Museum of Île d’Orléans
at the site of an old wooden boat ship building, repair and storage facility:
In the model you can see how wooden ships were stored over winter (to prevent them from being damaged by the ice). These are the rails on which the ships were stored:
The site also has the relocated shed of one of the last wooden boat ship builders:
which houses examples of dories typical of the time.
On the recommendation of Steve, we stopped at
Les Fromages de l’Île d’Orléans
and picked up some nice artisanal historic cheeses from the colonial period of New France.
Thursday, July 17
Charlevoix
Today we made our way to the Charlevois where we stayed in the fields of
La Ferme Ambrosia. Being a
Harvest Host property, we are encouraged to buy something from the host. As lovers of duck, this did not take much encouragement and we bought way over the recommended amount including a few jars of Terrine de canard aux herbes salées de Charlevoix, a duck Tourtière (for the trip across Labrador) and a couple of duck breasts that we cooked up that evening:
To complete the Charlevois experience, we paired the duck with a bottle of Côte de Beaupré that we had picked up earlier in the day from
Domaine L’Ange Gardien winery.
Friday, July 18
Charlevoix
We started today with breakfast at a small park that overlooks the
small island of
Isle-aux-Coudres:
We took our bicyles to the island
from which we could get a good view of Le Massif de Charlevoix
a ski hill Henry has been waiting to try out.
We may have made a mistake in taking our bicycles to Isle-aux-Coudres, or at least in where we parked Sleepy Hollow, because the bike ride back had a 300m elevation gain over a very short distance, which exhausted Henry who made the ride, with Gail’s battery as a spare, while Gail waited at the bottom and was eaten alive by the insects… we are not sure which of us had the greater hardship. To put the climb in perspective, here is a picture of the ferry terminal from where Sleepy Hollow was parked:
ZEC Des Martres Camping
Tonight we slept in ZEC Des Martres. In Quebec, some of the back country is controlled by the
Zones d’Exploitation Contrôlée or ZEC, which means that you need to pay a nightly fee to stay in the zone. However, they map out all the places you can stay and indicate how many groups can be accommodated at each place. Here is the map for ZEC Des Martres:
We slept at Lac Barley which can accommodate 2-3 RV’s or tents. Can you find it on the map?
Saturday, July 19
ZEC Des Martres
This morning, we woke up to this:
After which we climbed the trail to Mont Saint Michel and around back via the Lac du Gros Ruissau and Chalet le Dome.
Here are the pictures we took along the way:
Lac du Gros Ruissau:
We still have a ways down to go:
past little waterfalls:
Mont Morios
Tonight we slept under the buzzing hydro lines at the base of the Mont Morios Trail:
More to Come
Next week’s blog is available, as well as last week’s, and don’t forget to see where we are right now (updated every ten minutes).