Thursday 7/23/2009
Days on the road: 25
Day mileage: 377
JF total mileage: 5975
Gale total mileage: 3951
States/Provinces: Quebec
Headed back to Baie-Comeau stopping to see the village of Havre-St-Pierre and Riviere-Au-Tonnerre (Thunder River).
Pictures of the ride to and from Natashquan:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/quebec/natashquan/index.html
We rode out to Natashquan and took route 138 until it ended at the Natashquan River. When I say ended, I mean ended. There was 18 KM of gravel after Natashquan, warning signs, and then the gravel cascaded down a steep hill to the river. When you looked across the river trees had been cleared to extend the road at some future date, but there was nothing else there. I felt like I had ridden to the end of the world.
The views along the St. Lawrence both out and back were breath taking. We camped along the water at Longue-Pointe de Mingan and in Natashquan where I have been introduced to black flies and monster mosquites — both of which seem to love me (lucky me). I have become a firm believer in DEET.
There’s been a lot of road construction since all the repairs must be done during summer months, but the traffic is so light there haven’t been any delays. Most construction areas are controlled by timed lights to let traffic only go one way at a time and it works great.
It’s supposed to rain heavily tomorrow, so we’ll wait a day to cross to the south shore and continue to Gaspe on Saturday. I’ll work on pictures tomorrow so pictures and more detail will be posted later.
Wednesday 7/22/2009
Days on the road: 24
Day mileage: 125
JF total mileage: 5598
Gale total mileage: 3574
States/Provinces: Quebec
Jean-Francois and I got separated and I didn’t stop for fuel at Havre-St-Pierre despite signs that it was the last fuel until Natashquan so arrived with very little fuel left — made for an exciting last few miles.
We set up camp a short walk from the St. Lawrence and I rode with Jean-Francois on 18 km of washboard gravel road to the end of route 138.
Tuesday 7/21/2009
Days on the road: 23
Day mileage: 317
JF total mileage: 5441
Gale total mileage: 3449
States/Provinces: Quebec
We left Baie-Comeau on route 138 toward Natashquan. We stopped at a lighthouse, ate lunch at a roadside park in Port Jacques Cartier, rode through Sept-Iles, and stopped at Longue-Pointe-de-Mignan to camp along the St. Lawrence within sight of the Mignan islands. Great camping spot that I’d highly recommend: http://www.campingquebec.com/cdcq/fiche_camping.asp?no_cdcq=851
I left the campground slightly ahead of Jean-Francois and expected to have him catch up, but ended up making the ride to Natashquan by myself. It was a little scary because I was borderline on having enough fuel and I was hesitant to get off the road to go to a town because I didn’t want Jean-Francois to miss me and start to worry. There were signs warning there was no fuel until Natashquan.
The road varied between running along the water and heading a little inland to go through pine trees and the was very little traffic in this part of the world. There were beautiful views of the St. Lawrence along the way.
I was at 220 miles on my 4 gallon tank when I pulled into a gas station with great relief right outside Natashquan. We set up camp at the municipal campground on a large site with no one around us.
I rode behind Jean-Francois to do the 18 kilometers to the very end of Route 138. It was a strange sensation — like coming to the end of the world. The road just stopped at the Natashquan River. You could look across the broad ride and see where it had been cleared to extend the road, but it looked like the end of civilization. Jean-Francois said the current premier of Quebec had made a campaign promise to finish the road for the people living out there.
We walked the beach and got great sunset pictures back in Natashquan and then met two BMW riders on the way back to our campsite who were camping nearby — Michel and Jean. They had a fire going to keep the black flies away so we stayed and talked with them — really nice people. Michel was on an R1200 and Jean was on a F650 so it was fun for me to talk to another F650 rider. The fire was very effective at keeping the black flies away.
Having grown up with black flies, Jean-Francois started educating me on the use of bug spray to keep them off. Since the only exposed areas were from the neck up and our hands, they at least had little target area. If you put DEET only on your face and neck, then the black flies go up into your hairline to bite you there. You have to apply the DEET up the back off your neck and into your hair. You also have to spray your hair (or spray it on your hands and wipe it on your hair) or they will bite you on the top of your head. The best thing to do is wear a hat and even spray that with DEET.
I was now fully committed to doing whatever I had to to prevent more bites, but I have to tell you I don’t like the oily DEET on my face and hair. It rubbed off my neck onto my shirt and was a dirt attractant so my collars were brown after riding all day. My shirts looked so bad I thought they were ruined, but I used Dawn Disolver when I got home and it all came out.
Did I mention there were mosquitoes too? Important thing is we were able to get into the tent without allowing any of them in with us…
Monday 7/20/2009
Days on the road: 22
Day mileage: 300 (JF only)
JF total mileage: 5124
Gale total mileage: 3132
States/Provinces: Quebec
I rode with Jean-Francois up route 389 to see the Manic 5 hydroelectric dam where I got my first introduction to the wonderful world of black flies. When we got off the motorcycle to take pictures they swarmed around our heads. The ride and the black flies are worth seeing Manic 5 and the road up there. The pavement is a little pot-holed, but the curves and the scenery are great. The Manic facilities are impressive and we got an explanation of the construction at Manic 5.
We had called about camping and been told that camping was not recommended right now because of bears, but found people camping when we got up there. We rode back to Baie-Comeau since we didn’t have the camping gear with us.
Baie Comeau and Manic pictures can be seen at:
http://motorcycle-journeys.com/past/canada_2009/photos/quebec/manic/index.html