We got an early start out of Parc national de la Gaspésie this morning. It was dry and a bit of blue sky was to be seen. It is about 20 minutes of driving to get back to the coast and then 200km on Rt 132, the coastal road, all the way to Forillon National Park.
Much of the drive was right along the coast, cliffs to the right, water to the left. As we went along the wind picked up, enough to kick up a mist but not waves. This was a good thing as we passed many warning signs showing a car being washed over by waves. These were interspersed with Falling Rock signs and Avalanche Warning signs. The road was nice and twisty as well, so it was a “fun” drive.
As we were traveling along this section, I noticed that one of the bicycle covers was blowing up, so we pulled into the municipal rest area at Mont-Louis, called Parc et Mer. It was not only a rest area park, but also had a restaurant and municipal campground, all right on the water. The campground was an open field, but the unserviced sites had an unimpeded view of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. I adjusted the cover and we were on our way.
We noticed several places along this part of the coast that seemed to being used for boondocking (free overnight camping). Several turnouts along the water and even a lighthouse parking lot had RVs in them at a very early hour of the morning (we were on the road before 6:30). This is something we'll have to look into.
About a half hour after Mont-Louis, the road left the edge of the coast and went uphill and slightly inland. It became much more twisty and climbed up into the hills and dipped ba back to the coast several times wherever there was a village. At one of these dips, into Petite-Vallee, we stopped for coffee. We saw a sign on the left for a cafe, turned in and were faced with a steep drop down to a waterside auberge and bistro. There was a bicycle tourist pushing his bike up the hill. It wasn't our Waiheke driveway, but was getting close. We went down the hill.
The Bistro-Cafe was closed, but the Auberge La Maison Lebreux et Chalets was open and we saw a dining room. We went in, asked if we could get coffee and were shown a table overlooking the Gulf. I had a Cafe au lait and Ellen a longe (a long espresso). Both were excellent. It was a nice 15 minute break. The breakfasts looked good as well. The auberge had both rooms in the main building and chalets along the water. It looked like a nice spot to stop if one were not camping...and it wasn't 10am.
More hills and twisty roads and we were at Forillon National Park, a real Canada National Park, before noon. We were able to get an electric site for two nights at the Des-Rosiers campground on the North side of the park. It is a rather tight site, but somewhat open to the sky. It was also the only one available.
After lunch in Speedy, we walked down to the pebbled beach and along the beachside bike trail back to to registration building looking for birds. We found quite a few, mostly Northern Gannets over the water, but also our first Raven and the usual supply of sparrows in the thickets above the beach. There was also a dead whale on the beach—a very large one, probably a humpback whale. It was hard to tell the species as it looked like it had been dead a while. It was definitely a baleen whale and it had a heavy green line wound around its tail.
We returned to Speedy along the road, seeing Cedar Waxwings, a Downy Woodpecker and a thrush we couldn't identify. It was starting to get quite chilly and damp, the clouds having moved in about halfway along our drive here. We were glad we'd chosen an electric site and fired up the electric heater and had our afternoon coffee and tea.
We aren't sure what we will be able to do over the next few days. We'd hoped to spend about four days here, biking, hiking and birding, but the forecast is calling for rain starting tonight and running through Friday. We'll see.
We have only slow, pricey wireless access at the moment, so still no photos. Soon...I hope.
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