Tag: canada maritimes

8/3 – I mentioned the mosquitoes on Prince Edward Island in the previous post…

We rode along the north shore of the island and then cut across to stop at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. They had a tasting bar for jams and preserves. It was great. Since they shipped to the US I sent thank you gifts for my dog sitters back home. Buying gifts and carrying them on the motorcycle was out of the question – no room.

We stopped for lunch in Summerside and saw two tall ships at the dock.

Camping was at Green Provincial Park on the the northeast end of the island. The campground was along the Trout River. When riding around and stopping to look at campsites in mid afternoon the mosquitoes were bad. Not a good sign for the night.

We went back into Summerside for dinner and had a roaring fire when we got back to the campground so we were successful in avoiding the onslaught that night.

It rained heavily over night and until 10:00 in the morning so the next day was a completely different story. I think that morning was the fastest we packed camp on the entire trip because nothing kept the mosquitoes off. We both layered on bug spray and were still getting bitten. They were even biting through our clothes. Jean-Francois had accidentally had his hand up against the netting part of the tent while he slept and had bites all over his hand through the tent. Without question the worst mosquitoes I have ever seen.

We went to the North Point lighthouse at the very northwest point of the island and then followed the coast down past potato fields and windmills to West Point lighthouse at the very southwest point of the island.

Picture of Prince Edward Island:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/pei/index.html

7/31 – We left the campground around 9:00 AM and entered New Brunswick around noon. We rode along the northern coast of New Brunswick (have you caught how much COAST we’re riding?), through the Acadian peninsula with lots of red, white, and blue flags with yellow stars. The first part of New Brunswick wasn’t nearly as pretty as Quebec.

It had rained off and on all day and seriously rained all night and all evening. We made it out to Miscou Island and stayed at a campground by the water. I’m not so thrilled with sitting in the rain to eat and being wet when I go to bed…

8/1 – I can’t believe it’s August and we left my house on June 29th.

We went out to the lighthouse on the point of Miscou Island and made stops at marshes and docks. We headed back to mainland New Brunswick and neither of us were too impressed with the roads or the scenery. We got on highway 11 and headed for Prince Edward Island.

We crossed the Confederation Bridge about 6:00. At 11 km it was impressive. We stopped on the visitor center and then Stanhope campground on the north coast.

It was a pretty sunset ride across the island, but we had trouble finding the park and didn’t get there until well after dark. The campground was packed — in fact there were people on the site we paid for. By the time we got that sorted out, with the help of a very nice park ranger, it was a long day.

Enter the mosquitoes. No black flies on PEI, but the worst mosquito population I’ve ever seen. And, of course, they loved me.

New Brunswick pictures:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/new_brunswick/index.html

7/30 – We got a late start because of morning rain and then had lunch with Francois before leaving.

I owe Francois a huge thank you for his hospitality, being so fun, and preparing a great meal.

We rode toward Perce and Jean-Francois was disappointed the fog had rolled in so I missed the view approaching the park. I don’t call — it was still beautiful and it was a fun road to ride.

While we were stopped at Perce (another popular and fairly crowded park) the fog cleared and I got a spectacular view of the rock. I think this may be the coolest way to see it. The entire coast was shrouded in fog (we got great pictures of the fog) and then it pulled away and presented a perfect, clear view of the rock. Beautiful.

Leaving there the road along the southern coast had really nice homes and was a fun road. We stopped just outside New Richmond and camped at Point Taylor.

I could tell we were approaching English speaking territory again after a full month of not being able to understand anyone. I should have learned some French before this trip.

Pictures of Perce and the south coast of Gaspe:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/quebec/s_gaspe/index.html

Update with no pictures.

We left Baie-Comeau and back tracked a little to take the ferry from Forestville to Rimouski. Jean-Francois knew the captain so we got to visit the wheel house while crossing the Saint Lawrence.

We camped in Parc National du Bic outside Rimouski and then headed east along the north coast of the St. Lawrence where we’ve run into quite a bit of heavy fog and rain. We went through Matane, but don’t ask me what the city is like — it was raining so hard it was all I could do to see the road. We ended up pulling over for coffee because it got so bad and the place was full of motorcyclists who were waiting out the storm.

We camped at the municipal campground in Mont-St-Pierre (hang gliding capital of Quebec) that had beautiful sites then went on to camp at Parc National du Canada Forillon at the Cap Rosier section that had even nicer sites. The camping had been incredible even if it has been a little wet… I’m learning that camping in the rain can be fine.

We’ve stopped to see lighthouses at Point-au-Pere, Pointe-a-la-Renommee, and Cap-des-Rosiers.

The weather was perfect yesterday and we spend the day at Parc Forillon.  I won’t even try to describe how beautiful it is — I will have to post pictures.

We’re stopped to visit Jean-Francois’s uncle in Gaspe waiting for the rain to let up so we can go on to Parc National de Ille Bonaventure and Rocher Perce. After that we will be heading to New Brunswick.

Pictures of the north coast of Gaspe:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/quebec/n_gaspe/index.html

Pictures of Forrillon:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/quebec/forillon/index.html

Friday and Saturday 7/24/2009 – 7/25/2009

Days on the road: 26 & 27
Day mileage: 0
JF total mileage: 5975
Gale total mileage: 3951
States/Provinces: Quebec

Stayed in town to go to Jardin des Glaciers and visit Jean-Francois’s cousin Nicole and Gaston. Forecast for Saturday was 90% chance of heavy rain so we are sitting out a day to let the rain pass.

If you’re in Baie-Comeau you should allow 3-4 hours to visit Jardin des Glaciers and learn about the Laurentide glacier: http://www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/attractions-directory/trail/jardin-des-glaciers_9206631_2.html