Aug 24, 2009
Since our last posting we have traveled a few miles, viewing the extreme east end of the Gaspe Peninsular. We are now on the north side on the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River. We have had a few anxious moments. First we were concerned about Hurricane Bill, which seemed to be headed toward us --- due to arrive yesterday. That concern turned out to be unjustified. We had a little light rain on Saturday night, and a somewhat overcast skies yesterday morning, and that was it. The hurricane turned east and pretty much missed us completely. The other concern has been that our levelers are not working. They do not retract properly ,and we have are concerned that we will be stuck with levelers down, unable to move – in a French-speaking town, miles from RV repair facilities, no telephone or Email! We finally did get through via Email to learn how to make temporary repairs. Still it is a source of anxiety and tension every time we set up or get ready to leave.
As mentioned above, we spent a couple of days at the town of Perce. This pretty little town is on the east end of the Peninsular. The most important feature is a long thin rock wall out in sea with a hole at bottom of the wall towards the end. You can see this icon of the Gaspe Peninsular in the first picture, with a second picture taken from the dock at Perce, with a beautiful woman in the foreground.
Perce was, at one time, a fishing village, but it seems now mostly devoted to tourists. There are series of buildings that once were devoted to the cod fishery and the sun-dried cod business, discussed in our last posting. In one of these was a very nice art exhibit featuring two or three local artist. Unfortunately we can’t recall the names of the artist, but I have included a photo of a painting of fishing boats, to give you an idea of the exhibit.
We move on along the peninsula and stayed a couple of nights near the Forillon National Park. This park is on the north side of the Bay of Gaspe. It has mountains hiking trails, beaches, and rocky cliffs overlooking crashing waves. The northern end of the Appalachian Trail ends here. Much of the park is only accessible by hiking or biking. We took a short hike along the cliffs overlooking the sea. We visited a museum that was once a general store serving the residents and fisherman in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The store in many ways reminded me of the general store operated by my family in my youth (the middle 1900’s, now I think if it!) We also visited a museum of what was once the home of a local fisherman. It was an interesting house, with four bedrooms upstairs, as well as a sewing room in an attic, over the kitchen. Of course it was heated with woodstoves, lit with kerosene lamps. There was a barn with room for a few chickens, two or three cows, and a stall for a horse. We were told that food was supplemented in the winter by trapping and hunting. These families survived by fishing and substance farming. The fishing catch was cod, which was then sundried as previously described in an earlier posting. The dried cod not reserved for personal use, was traded at the store for food, clothing and fishing gear. The dried cod traded at the store eventually ended up at one of the large fish export companies that used cod dried by local fisherman to supplement the cod that they processed themselves for export.
As we moved on, we traveled down the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence. At Cape Rosieres we photographed a very handsome light house overlooking the Gulf. The views along the north side of the Peninsular are striking. The road winds along the cliffs and beaches of the sea, and then suddenly swerves up into the mountains, where there are forest and beautiful little lakes, and then suddenly swerves down into little fishing villages, with ever-present church with a steeple. The churches are particularly beautiful --- each church having an individual style – sometimes in architecture sometimes in color. The final picture shows a typical village taken from the top of a hill overlooking the sea. You can see the church, and if you look carefully, in the background, you can see a road winding down out of the mountains.
Yesterday afternoon, we came to Saint Maxime du Mont Louis. We drove down to the dock and watched a boat come in with three fishermen on it. Apparently they came in mostly for more bait. Madeline starting talking to one of the fishermen was given a gift of five sea urchins. She did not know what exactly to do with them, so they were left on the dock. This is a beautiful little town, and today is a beautiful sunny day so we may stay here a day or two.
Since our last posting we have traveled a few miles, viewing the extreme east end of the Gaspe Peninsular. We are now on the north side on the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River. We have had a few anxious moments. First we were concerned about Hurricane Bill, which seemed to be headed toward us --- due to arrive yesterday. That concern turned out to be unjustified. We had a little light rain on Saturday night, and a somewhat overcast skies yesterday morning, and that was it. The hurricane turned east and pretty much missed us completely. The other concern has been that our levelers are not working. They do not retract properly ,and we have are concerned that we will be stuck with levelers down, unable to move – in a French-speaking town, miles from RV repair facilities, no telephone or Email! We finally did get through via Email to learn how to make temporary repairs. Still it is a source of anxiety and tension every time we set up or get ready to leave.
As mentioned above, we spent a couple of days at the town of Perce. This pretty little town is on the east end of the Peninsular. The most important feature is a long thin rock wall out in sea with a hole at bottom of the wall towards the end. You can see this icon of the Gaspe Peninsular in the first picture, with a second picture taken from the dock at Perce, with a beautiful woman in the foreground.
Perce was, at one time, a fishing village, but it seems now mostly devoted to tourists. There are series of buildings that once were devoted to the cod fishery and the sun-dried cod business, discussed in our last posting. In one of these was a very nice art exhibit featuring two or three local artist. Unfortunately we can’t recall the names of the artist, but I have included a photo of a painting of fishing boats, to give you an idea of the exhibit.
We move on along the peninsula and stayed a couple of nights near the Forillon National Park. This park is on the north side of the Bay of Gaspe. It has mountains hiking trails, beaches, and rocky cliffs overlooking crashing waves. The northern end of the Appalachian Trail ends here. Much of the park is only accessible by hiking or biking. We took a short hike along the cliffs overlooking the sea. We visited a museum that was once a general store serving the residents and fisherman in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The store in many ways reminded me of the general store operated by my family in my youth (the middle 1900’s, now I think if it!) We also visited a museum of what was once the home of a local fisherman. It was an interesting house, with four bedrooms upstairs, as well as a sewing room in an attic, over the kitchen. Of course it was heated with woodstoves, lit with kerosene lamps. There was a barn with room for a few chickens, two or three cows, and a stall for a horse. We were told that food was supplemented in the winter by trapping and hunting. These families survived by fishing and substance farming. The fishing catch was cod, which was then sundried as previously described in an earlier posting. The dried cod not reserved for personal use, was traded at the store for food, clothing and fishing gear. The dried cod traded at the store eventually ended up at one of the large fish export companies that used cod dried by local fisherman to supplement the cod that they processed themselves for export.
As we moved on, we traveled down the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence. At Cape Rosieres we photographed a very handsome light house overlooking the Gulf. The views along the north side of the Peninsular are striking. The road winds along the cliffs and beaches of the sea, and then suddenly swerves up into the mountains, where there are forest and beautiful little lakes, and then suddenly swerves down into little fishing villages, with ever-present church with a steeple. The churches are particularly beautiful --- each church having an individual style – sometimes in architecture sometimes in color. The final picture shows a typical village taken from the top of a hill overlooking the sea. You can see the church, and if you look carefully, in the background, you can see a road winding down out of the mountains.
Yesterday afternoon, we came to Saint Maxime du Mont Louis. We drove down to the dock and watched a boat come in with three fishermen on it. Apparently they came in mostly for more bait. Madeline starting talking to one of the fishermen was given a gift of five sea urchins. She did not know what exactly to do with them, so they were left on the dock. This is a beautiful little town, and today is a beautiful sunny day so we may stay here a day or two.
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