The Charlevois - 400 km - 3 days
July 17-19 were spent in the the Charlevois known for it agritourism and gastronomy.
La Ferme Ambrosia
On Thursday, 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.
Isle-aux-Coudres
On Friday, 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:
Camping in ZEC Des Martres
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?
On Saturday morning, we woke up to this:
Mont Saint Michel and Lac du Gros Ruissau
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:
Our first glimpse of Lac du Gros Ruissau:
We still have a ways down to go:
past little waterfalls:
Mont Morios
Saturday night we slept under the buzzing hydro lines at the base of the Mont Morios Trail:
On Sunday, once again we woke to a beautiful lake view, this time on Lac Boudreault at the base of Mont Morios:
Today’s hike was up Mont des Morios, rated as a “hard” hike in All Trails, which is justified by the ropes in sections:
and more ropes:
and cables:
The reward for the effort are spectacular views in all directions:
and Henry’s favourite view:
but there also were other pretty views along the way:
including some small waterfalls:
We mentioned that we were camped under the high voltage power lines:
but we did not mention the static and clicking they made which you can hear in this movie. In fact, the electromagnetic field given off by the wires was so strong one afternoon that the panels of Sleepy Hollow got individually charged, which meant that you got a small static charge shock when touching two different panels at the same time. The effect was gone by the next morning.
These are our tracks for Sunday, Jul 20
*click on the map for more details
Les Jardins du Cap-à-lAigle
On Monday, on our way to Tadoussac, we stopped at Les Jardins du Cap-à-lAigle to admire the beautiful small waterfalls:
the whimsical garden decorations:
old church bells:
and the absurd:
The Ferry Across the Saguenay River
Monday afternoon we drove along the St Lawrence to catch the ferry across the River Saguenay. Unfortunately, we had a two hour wait and were not able to get any good pictures of the Beluga whales we saw on the ferry. But we get a good picture of the crossing:
And Sleepy Hollow was front and centre on the ferry:
These are our tracks for Monday, Jul 21
*click on the map for more details
That’s it for the Charlavois
Had we had more time, we would have:
- Done more hiking and camping in ZEC Des Martres
- Visited the Parc national des Grands-Jardins (a Quebec park, not a federal one)
- Enjoyed more of the agritourism
Next, we are off to the Cote-Nord.
In case you had missed it, we came from Quebec City.
When we are travelling, our current location is always available and updated every 10 minutes.