 | CANADA |
| CANADA |
ST SIMEON
When I drove along this road in 2010 it was nearly dark and I was trying - "very trying" ...ed - to find a motel. In 2011 I had some time on my hands to take a few photos, but in 2012 there were no pressures at all on me. I was simply drifting around from one beautiful view to another.
Consequently there is nothing from 2010, but there are a few shots from 2011 and 2012. If you want to know in which year a particular photo was take, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size image and look in the top-left corner. Alternatively, if there are leaves on the trees, that's September 2011 and if there are no leaves, that's early May 2012.
So starting off as we mean to go on, with the year 2011, we left the scenic turn-on at La Malbaie and set off towards St Simeon, our next port (if you will excuse the pun) of call.
You might remember that back in 2011 I was being chased along the coast by a fog bank, although I finally broke clear of it after leaving Les Eboulements . Not so the south bank though. Eventually though we start to pick up glimpses of the south bank of the river - through the mist and fog of course.
Anyway, it's over there where I'll be heading in due course later on that day in 2011 if I can catch a ferry. I have a choice of several, it has to be said, but I have my eyes on one particular crossing. More of this anon.
For those of you who no longer live in a maritime environment - Brits especially - it's hard to realise just how much commerce does travel by sea. In Britain these days all of the ports are right out on the coastline - there are no longer any inland ports - and so there is not the opportunity to see ships. Here In Canada of course, the St Lawrence pokes proabably a thousand miles into the interior and then you have the Great Lakes system.
I've seen a figure somewhere that shows that a stupendous amount of Canada's population - maybe even 90% - lives within 100 miles of the St Lawrence or the Great Lakes so there's always a chance of seeing ships without making too much effort.
That suits me.
In 2012 we were lucky with the weather, in the sense that there was no fog, and we were also quite lucky with the shipping as here's yet another one going sailing, or, rather, dieseling, along.
As you might expect, the ship is all at the wrong angle for me to read the name, but I'm fascinated by the deck cargo. "Aircraft fuselages" was my first thought, or else it's a gigantic concrete-pumping machine. But if you have a better idea, please
This route that I'm following doesn't just lead you along the road to St Simeon, it also leads you up and down the garden path every now and again, like just here.
I turned off here to try to find a cove that I had seen from the new road on top and which looked extremely interesting, and this led me down to the old road. However, the cove seems to be on private land and it turns out that the old road upon which I am driving, probably an old bit of Highway 138, comes to a shuddering halt.
It looks to my untutored eye that there might at one time have been a landslide or something like that and they rebuilt the road further away from the edge.
Now it does occur to me that you are probably wondering why I was taking my time on that particular day in 2011 when I was driving along here. The answer is simply because I have plenty of time to take. I seem to have forgotten, until a sign on the door of a shop reminded me, that today - Monday - is Labour Day and everywhere celebrates Labour Day in the particular western fashion i.e. they don't do any. Everywhere is closed, so there's no point in me planning on doing anything today.
Yes, a nice leisurely drive along the north bank of the St Lawrence - the Chemin du Roy - towards the ferries is indicated. Just for once, I have a little time to spare. And I might have even more time to spare too if the ferries are also celebrating Labour Day.
The St Lawrence is dotted with islands all along its length of course and I think that those just over there are the ones that guard the entrance to the port of Rivière du Loup, to where I crossed over the frozen St Lawrence a couple of days before New Year's Eve in 2001.
I took this particular photo from the bank of a car park at some kind of something like a Medical Centre along the road, and I didn't half have a few strange looks from a few people. Having said that, it is probably six or seven times at least that I've driven along this road. You would think that they would be used to me and my habits by now. After all, there's nothing much else for the locals around here to talk about and so weird visitors doing weird things with cameras must be something pretty high on the agenda.
Now it's a good job that I wasn't planning on sailing over on the mid-afternoon ferry from St Simeon, because I've missed it. You can see it over there, just having set sail for Rivière du Loup.
Still, no matter. I need to stop at St Simeon anyway for I have to make enquiries about the times of the ferries at Forestville and Les Escoumins. But not for the ferry at Baie Comeau. I'm not planning on going all that way unless I really have to, and I certainly don't want to go on to Godbout. I've been on that one before and besides, Godbout is hundreds of miles away.
And so continuing on our little drive along the coast and putting the clock forward to early May 2012, we encounter yet another beautiful view along the coast. Yes, isn't this magnificent?
We've turned off the modern Highway 138 and we are now following the old road that is signposted to Pointe au Persil, which I believe is not too far away from where I'm parked up.
By the way, you can tell that we are in May 2012 by just looking at the deciduous trees. Not a leaf to be seen anywhere.
And indeed I was right - it was Pointe au Persil. Here's a view of it looking back along the way that I've just come.
It was mentioned to me that if ever I find myself this way, that I ought to go for a good look at the little harbour here at the Port because it's said to be quite picturesque, with a little waterfall not too far away. However, the road down there was all closed off and there were a couple of diggers blocking the way. A shame, that. But never mind - there's always 2013 ... "no, there wasn't" - ed.
But while I'm on the subject of Port au Persil, this is a good time to tell you exactly what you are up against here in North America which, from a European point of view, is totally and utterly depressing.
As I wasn't able to visit the place in 2012 I looked for some information about it to see what there was to say. First and obvious place to look is the Quebec Tourist Board.
And this is just one example, but a typical example, of North American tourist information.
Crudely translated from the French by Yours Truly (and if you want anything crude, then in the words of the late, great Bob Doney, "I'm your man") because you don't expect anyone in any kind of Official position in Quebec to publish anything in the language of the infidel - they would rather cut of their noses to spite their faces and turn all of the English-speaking tourist dollars away than to lower themselves to that extent ...
Where was I? Ohh yes! Crudely translated from the French by Yours Truly,
"Situated in an enchanting dé:cor impregnated with History, the General Store of Port au Persil is a magic place full of local products ... for yourself and for those you love"
So what is all of this history with which the place is impregnated? Not one single word. 18 words about the items on sale for "soi et pour ceux qu'on aime" but of the history, not even a chipolata.
Official tourism in North America (not just Quebec, not just Canada and not just Great Satan either) is nothing at all to do with the patrimoine but all about chiselling the cash from out of your pocket. Unless you are an Anglophone in Quebec of course, in which case you can go to Hell in a handcart and take your tainted blood-money with you.
So having finished yet another good rant and turning the clock back to 2010, I eventually arrive at St Simeon and this is where I stayed the night on my journey to Labrador and Newfoundland
That's my particular motel just there, with the view next morning, because it was quite dark when I arrived here and I couldn't see all that much. I can't remember now how much I paid for the night here but I do recall commenting that it was expensive, although by the time I had finished my journey all around Labrador and Newfoundland I would think again.
It's not just the expense that's bothering me either. There's no coffee machine in the room (although I had resolved that issue a few days earlier) and there's no microwave either. Worse, there's nothing in the shops, neither is there anywhere open where I can eat. I can't say that I'm impressed right now.
I am however impressed by the view out of my motel window, and so should you be, because it really is superb. This is the view to the east - the direction in which I'll be travelling the next morning back then in 2010, and also on my way past here in 2011 and 2012.
You may remember seeing that particular cape a little earlier when we were at Pointe au Persil. It looked quite impressive then and it looks even better right now. The evening is definitely the right kind of time for taking photographs of things such as this.
When I was here in 2001 I took the ferry over to Rivière du Loup, and that's Rivière du Loup right over there in the distance where the lights are on the south shore of the river.
Mind you, look at the crane on the wharf there. One of the options for me on my 2010 journey - one that I was actively considering in fact - was to travel along the south bank of the river as far as Rivière du Loup and take the ferry over to here. But I'm so glad that I didn't because I would have had a long wait. The quayside at Rivière du Loup was undergoing major repair and all ferry services had been suspended until June 2011. In the meantime, they were taking the opportunity to do a little work here too.
I think I also ought to add that the above photograph is a suitable condidate for the best photo that I have ever taken.
Thats the motel just down the hill from the one where I'm staying. In fact, from the motel here I can see 5 motels and I'm sure that there's another one a little further out of town.
What I don't understand is that when I was here in 2001 I couldn't find a single motel at all and had to drive another 25 miles - and make a ferry crossing too - until I stumbled upon one quite by chance. Recently though I've passed 6 at La Malbaie ,a small town about 15 miles south of here, and what with the ones that there are around here, however did I miss them all?
I really must have been asleep that evening.
Wide-awake early next morning, right enough, and just as in 2012 when I was on the Ile aux Coudres I'm awoken by the clattering of a ship going a-dieseling past.
She's too far out for me to be able to read her name, but just as in 2012 she's a Candian Steamships Line vessel. That company seems to have an endless supply of vessels going up and down the St Lawrence, but it's a far cry from the company's heydey when it had a fleet of steamers plying for trade along all of the coastal ports here before the days of the development of the highway system along the north shore.
But once I have the photography out of the way, it's time for me to be moving on eastwards. I drove straight through here without stopping in 2012, and in 2011 I just made a brief pause for some ferry leaflets, so I have some ground to make up this morning in order to catch up with myself.
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