First destination 21 September

We arrived in Quebec City on Sunday pm without too much hassle, having flown standby for the first time. Our auberge was right in the middle of the old city.
Bit of trivia: QC is the only North American walled city north of Mexico City. Overall impression: a prosperous city with substantial looking buildings some with bright red or green painted roofs some made of attractive copper, vibrant floral displays everywhere, people very courteous but all determinedly French speaking.
A very worthwhile visit to a museum brought home to me the diversity of the history of the French speaking people of North America. I hadn’t really thought about the French origins of New Orleans. The early French explorers and, subsequently, the Acadian settlers who were expelled by the English, sailed up the St Lawrence River from Quebec, across the Great Lakes then made their way down the Mississippi.

On the road Tues 22 Sept

Driving along beside the St Lawrence River through a fairly uninteresting agricultural area with a thin strip of housing running almost continuously along both side of the road, we picked a motel randomly, quite late in the evening. Next morning, we found it was across the road from a lighthouse. Nearby was the wreck of The Empress of Ireland - this was the the second worst maritime disaster in history, after the Titanic, with the loss of 1200 lives.

Gaspé Peninsula, Wed Sept 23rd

Next day there was hardly any traffic and the road was good apart from several patches of major roadworks. As we neared the head of the peninsula the terrain became more rugged and forested and as a result the scenery became more colourful.
Wildlife seen: chipmunks, a groundhog, a deer (on the back of a truck!), a fox, and a whale just glimpsed not far off shore as we were waiting at some roadworks.
We stayed in a hostel on the edge of the Forillon Forest Park. It was virtually empty so it was very peaceful.
Local dish sampled (and survived) by P: poutine, which is Quebec's fast food masterpiece(!) consisting of French fries with cheese curds coated in gravy!!

Gaspé Peninsula Thurs 24th Sept

We did a couple of walks in the forest park: one to a tower with fantastic views. The trees blanketing the hills were a lovely mixture of greens, yellows, golds and some reds. The other was to the lighthouse at the very end of the Gaspe peninsula. No black bears seen though we were warned they were around in the park, but we did come across 3 porcupines (on three separate occasions). One taught us something new - porcupines climb and eat in trees.

It's turning a bit chilly. Overcast for some of the day, but by late afternoon the sky was completely clear, which was nice for our evening guided visit to a beaver lake. The beavers became active as dusk approached, and it was a magical end to the day.