De Percé à Matane

 I had one of the very best meals of this trip two night’s ago in the dining room of the La Normandie Hotel in Percé. From my table in the airy and bright room I could see Rocher Percé bathed in the evening glow of a slowly setting sun, much as it appears in this picture from the hotel’s website that was taken from the table where I was actually seated.

The service was excellent and the meal, accompanied by a couple of glasses of white Orpailleur, was delicious, each course very well executed and presented. Of particular note were the scallop ceviche with very ripe pineapple, crushed almonds, and other delicious stuff, and my main course, a Gaspésienne bouillabaisse served in a conch shell inspired dish, which consisted of half a lobster tail, scallops, mussels, salmon and cod, and two kinds of shrimp swimming in a perfectly seasoned fish broth. Complimenti to the chef.

After dinner I retired to my room at the B&B across the road from La Normandie where I had a good night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast of coffee, o j, and pancakes with banana and real maple syrup, before setting out on the ride along the 132 West to Matane.

The 132 is a great highway that goes all the way around the Gaspé Peninsula and as such hugs the coasts of the Baie des Chaleurs, the Gulf of St-Lawrence and the river of the same name. It goes through many small villages set in coves and bays along the route. Here is one such typical place, Grande Vallée.

 I had forgotten how different parts of the road are; there are alternating stretches of wide pavement with passing lanes and a posted speed limit of 90 kph, which is clearly just suggestive as no one drives that slowly, and then other sections that are reminiscent of the Pacific Coastal Highway,  narrow road surfaces with repeated steep inclines and declines and connected curves, including even switch-backs, with speed limits as low as 35 kph that one would do well to respect.

There are many places to turn off the road to take in the scenery and sights including the lighthouse at Madeleine-Centre.

Finally today, another lesson on the ever-present dangers of the road to watch for. You will recall that I previously posted and warned about falling rocks and snow, waves that eat cars and bicyclists. Today I would like to highlight two additional risks. The first are motorcycles that do crazy things in certain areas. Where is the rider I ask?

And finally the EXCLAMATION POINT, that hides just over the crest of a steep hill. 

Yes, you’d be more than a little surprised if, at 90 kph, you unexpectedly came upon one of these in the middle of road ahead of you! Fortunately, and I hope my luck hold out, I have not encountered one, nor the moose that we’re often warned about. Riding certainly is an adventure!

Tomorrow I am planning to ride from Matane to Cambellton New Brunswick.

Some catching up is required

 When I last left you I was getting ready to ride from Shediac to Caraquet which as you all know is on the east side of La Baie des Chaleurs. I followed the Acadian Coastal Drive which, as the name suggests, runs along the Northumberland Strait going through such places as Bouctouche, where I had breakfast at a restaurant called La Sagouine, Richibucto and Grande Anse where I took these pictures.

Caraquet itself was a bust. There was nowhere good for dinner. After waiting half an hour after ordering a small pizza, which was after 15 minutes had first been wasted waiting to place the order, I bailed. I think it’s the first time in my life that I have left a restaurant after having placed an order for food. And my reward was to cross the street and have a Teenburger at A&W.

Wednesday I rode from Caraquet to Carleton-sur-mer, an interesting enough route along the coast. I stopped at a small shoreside park to examine an interesting rock formation, a kind of mini Bonaventure Island with hundreds of birds nesting on the top.

Carleton-sur-mer is a pretty tourist destination but not a place where I was able to find a good meal. But the beer at the local microbrewery was good and I was able to go out and walk along the shore.

Thursday was a busier day. I started off by going to visit the graveyard in Saint Siméon, my father’s birthplace, and I found the final resting places of my grandmother, Salomé Babin, my grandfather, Jean Bujold, and a number of aunts and uncles. The cross marks her gravesite while her husband’s which is right beside hers has lost its headstone.

From Saint Siméon I backtracked to New Richmond where I took the 299 which cuts across the Gaspé Peninsula. When I asked the person at the tourist information stand at the bottom end of the road what was  absolutely essential to see along the road she said: “rien, seulement les montagnes et les rivières”. But nothing didn’t really mean nothing. The scenery was amazing. The Cascapédia River, a very famous salmon river follows the 229 and there are marked spots where fly fishers can gain access to the gravel shores of the waterway. I saw many cars and pickup trucks with very long fishing rods attached to them with special holders. Except for a brief spell of rain the ride was great.  I arrived in Cap-Chat early enough to find a place where I could wash some clothes and book into my motel room for the night.

After a late forgettable dinner in probably the noisiest restaurant I have been in, not because of any music but the loud competing chatter from large groups at tables celebrating birthdays or whatever, I rode back to my room for some sleep.

When I got up this morning the sky was partly overcast and the temperature was around 17C. Highway 132 East literally hugs the shore of the St Lawrence and there are dangers along every stretch, from rocks and snow that can fall from cliffs, to waves that can eat up cars, and probably more troubling than anything else, bicyclists. 

But there are also some stunning sights along the route. I will leave you with a few more pictures including some of the most impressive Rocher Percé where I am now waiting until my 6:00 dinner reservation .

Yarmouth, Digby, Saint John, Shediac

 It’s been a while since I posted so let me try to catch you up.  The B&B I stayed at in Yarmouth wasn’t great but it had something that any fine establishment should have.

Many of you will remember this as a “church key”. 

Saturday morning I rode from Yarmouth to Digby along the more scenic Route 1 which goes through many small towns including Clare where the tallest all wood church, Sainte-Marie is located.

After walking in front of the church I restarted my motorcycle to continue on to Digby and a warning light came on announcing that my front running light was not working; that’s a bummer but not a big deal as the 2018 R1200RT is equipped with two rings of LEDs that come on when the bike is under power and that essentially act as running lights. Replacing the burnt bulb will have to wait until I am back in Ottawa.

Saturday was the last day of the Digby Lobster Bash, with vendors lining Main Street and the wharf and entertainment on various outdoor stages. The weather was perfect and families were out enjoying the festivities. I had an exceptionally good bowl of chowder filled with pieces of lobster, clams, smoked salmon and haddock, followed by a seafood sampler with baked bacon-wrapped scallops and shrimp, fish nuggets, and deep-fried clam strips all accompanied by a lovely glass of Chardonnay. 

On Sunday morning, early as it turns out, there was this amazing sunrise that I was able to capture and which I now share with you.

These pictures were taken from the small deck at the back of my room at the B&B in Digby where incidentally I had a very good breakfast before leaving for the ferry that would take me across the Bay of Fundy to Saint John New Brunswick on Sunday. You know, things are pretty quiet on a Sunday in Saint John; but I did manage to find an on-street patio across the street from one where a band was playing some popular tunes of the 70s, 80s, and 90s much to the delight of the patrons of both establishments. 

Today’s ride took me from Saint John to Shediac along some beautiful secondary roads that run closer to the Fundy Coast. I managed stops at two well-known and well-visited sights, ‘Cap Enragé’ and Hopewell Rocks. The skies were clear and the temperature in the mid-twenties, ideal weather for riding.

Here is a picture of the lighthouse and fog horn at the Cape,

and a few others taken at the Hopewell Rocks where one can walk down a steep trail and many steps to the shore to walk amongst the monumental rock structures that have been carved by the powerful flowing and ebbing tides in the bay.

Tonight I am in Shediac, a place I had visited on an earlier Retirementride, where there ain’t much happening; though I imagine it wasn’t the case on the weekend when crowds were here to celebrate the end of the city’s annual lobster festival. 

Tomorrow it’s off to Caraquet. I will try to keep you informed as my journey unfolds.

Pictures

 As promised here are some pictures of Lac Mégantic and Maine

Bar Harbor Main Street

On the car deck of the CAT motorcycles waiting their turn to disembark at Bar Harbor

This rock with the guitar is on the exact spot where the café/ bar that was destroyed by the explosion was located

Taken from inside the lounge area of the CAT as it left for Yarmouth

This is the monument to the 48 people who perished during the Lac Mégantic disaster nine years ago.

The next three pictures were taken in the Ponds area in the Maine mountains between the Canada-US border and Bangor. 

Lac Mégantic, Maine including Bar Harbor

 This is the second post of my 2022.

After a good night’s sleep at the Microtel Inn and Suites, which is one of the few new buildings erected on  the site of the disaster not far from the memorial I walked around the site before heading off to Maine.  The road I was on was an amazing route, especially on a motorcycle. The highway goes through Maine mountains. There’s a lot of nowhere there, broken by a lot more nowhere. That’s not to say there is nothing there,  because there are many many many trees. And how the engineers were able to get rivers to follow the winding roadway for long stretches has to be one of the wonders of road building. 

I arrived in Bar Harbor, a lovely tourist destination, in late afternoon. After checking in to the hotel I walked  to a nice restaurant for dinner. Small dishes were the specialty. Along with a half dozen locally-sourced oysters I had a delicious portion of smoked trout dip,  three perfectly grilled scallops on a very nice watercress dressing, and a perfectly executed lobster roll, accompanied by a nice Spanish Valtea white wine. This morning I went for a walk downtown along the waterfront.  It is a working harbour with lobster boats loading traps while siteseeing boats of many sizes set out to find whales to pose for pictures.

I boarded the CAT ferry in good time for the 3:00 pm sailing to Yarmouth. Unfortunately the movement of the ship caused a bout of sea sickness which kinda ruined the experience for me.  After arriving in Yarmouth I found the motel I had chosen and went out for a light dinner (salad with shrimp). 

I will try to post pictures later.

Return to rides - July 2022

 Well hello everyone. It’s been two years since I have posted a Retirement Rides blog entry. COVID has no doubt affected all of you and I hope that you and your loved ones have all made it through those troubling times. While the pandemic is not over, far from it if we listen to the public health authorities, which we all should, I am now quadruple vaccinated and things (read restaurants and hotels) have opened up enough to make a long distance motorcycle ride a possibility this summer. Add to that the fact that there’s a CAT, not a Lilly-kind of pussy cat but a high speed catamaran service that has been reestablished between Bar Harbor Maine and Yarmouth Nova Scotia that I have been longing to experience. So, after having my BMW a serviced in Ottawa on Monday, I started my trip.

When I left home early Tuesday morning the skies were overcast and there were a few small raindrops falling. Given that weather generally comes from the west, and since I was headed west, I thought I might be able to stay ahead of the showers that were in the forecast. A faint hope that was; except for a few brief intermissions it rained, though not heavily, from just east of Montebello all the way to Québec City.  

My, as it turns out very nice, room was in a small hotel just a few blocks from the Château Frontenac and the funicular that connects the fortress part of the old city to the lower part. As those of you who have had the joy of driving in Old Québec know a GPS is not very helpful in navigating a neighbourhood of densely packed streets, particularly when some of them are blocked by construction. Suffice it to say that I spent the better part of 30 minutes going up, down, and around streets before finally arriving at the hotel, only to be informed quite helpfully

gentleman at the desk that motorcycles were not allowed in the walled-in parts of the city. But, not to worry, I could just leave my bike in the underground city hall parking lot and probably avoid being   

I had a really great dinner of confit de canard and wapiti sausage last night at Bistro Sous le Fort in the basse-ville. Both the service and the food were excellent. A great way to end the first day of my trip

  

This morning’s clouds dissipated and after a very delicious breakfast of crêpes with maple syrup and wild strawberries and thick-sliced bacon and great coffee at La Buche, I retrieved  my motorcycle from the Parking lot and started off to Lac Mégantic in the Beauce, a region I had never before visited. While getting out of the city proved to be a bit of a challenge owing to the fact that the preparations for a music festival closed off a section of Grande Allée, the remainder of the trip was very interesting. The Beauce was, as far as I can tell, the most religious part of the province. There are Saints on nearly every hilltop, with churches with tall steeples lining the roads. The views from the highway are quite impressive.  Here are a few.

I arrived in Lac Mégantic in late afternoon and was informed by the receptionist at Microtel Inn and Suites  which is built on a small part of the site where the train explosion occurred on this day 9 years ago.  As it turns out she was one of the survivors of that tragic incident. She, accompanied by her children, was supposed to be singing at one of the establishments that was destroyed that night. At the last moment she accepted the invitation of a friend to go to her home for a swim in her pool instead. She recounted the story and it felt like it was just yesterday, and meanwhile on a large screen tv not far from where she spoke a news report of a commemoration ceremony was airing. 

Tomorrow, after a visit to the memorial, it’s off to Bar Harbor, my first venture into the USA since the beginning of Covid19.