The Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspé is a huge peninsula bounded on the north by the St Lawrence River, on the east by the Gulf of St Lawrence and to the south by the Bay of Chaleur. Around the outside edge of this peninsula ran Quebec Highway 132 – our route of exploration. Only a two lanes wide in most spots, Highway 132 was in relatively good shape with some pavement breaks and patches. The section along the north coast was the most challenging with numerous twists and turns, accents and descends through rugged, hilly terrain where grades of up to 18% were not uncommon. By comparison, the rest of the route around the southern coast was more level and less challenging to navigate. As an added bonus, the highway ran along or near the water’s edge for most of its length, providing amazing views of water, shoreline and quaint costal villages.
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| Map Of The Gaspé Peninsula - Click to Enlarge |
As an aside, Highway 132 was actually the longest highway in Quebec, beginning way down in the south west corner of the province and ending at the Village of Sainte Flavie after looping around the outside of the Gaspé Peninsula. Perhaps the best way to describe the route’s layout is to visualize the letter “P” on its side. The top loop was the part that goes around the outside of the Gaspé Peninsula and where the loop ended was Sainte Flavie – the start and end point of our Gaspé excursion.
The Adventure Begins
Our start point, Sainte Flavie was a small village located on the north shore of the Gaspé Peninsula about 30 km northeast of Rimouski, the largest town in the region. To seaward (river-ward?) lay the St Lawrence River, although by this point the St Lawrence bore little resemblance to a river with the far shore being more than 30km to the northwest.
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| Sainte Flavie, Gateway to The Gaspe |
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| Downtown Sainte Flavie |
Like so many other communities along the route, Sainte Flavie consisted of little more than a large church surrounded by some homes, a few businesses and a restaurant or two.
From Sainte Flavie, Highway 132 headed east along the coast through several more small villages before reaching the port of Matane. Matane was known for it’s shrimp and the many processing plants down along the docks seemed to bear this out. Matane was also our stop for the night. On the western edge of town was a nice RV park named, “Camping Parc Sirois La Baleine”. “La Baleine” translated to “The Whale” in English and had I not remembered that from my high-school French classes, the huge, white, fiberglass “Baleine” outside the park office might have provided a clue. The park was located across the road from a beach and had the weather had been warmer, it would have been temping to go for a dip.
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| Camping Parc Sirois La Baleine - Note the Large White "Whale" Office |
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| Camping Parc Sirois La Baleine - Camp Sites |
Exploramer Aquarium
After Matane, the next community of any size was Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, the location of a lovely little aquarium called, “Exploramer”. The facility specialized in the research and interpretation of local marine life. In addition to several aquarium tanks showcasing native species, a couple of touch pools allowed visitors could get, “up close and personal” with some local crabs, starfish and other species of indigenous marine life. The star attraction however, was a beautiful blue lobster, which was apparently extremely rare. As befitted a “star”, this lobster had its own tank and was not touched by anyone.
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| Exploramer Aquarium |
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| My Wife Maureen, Makes A New Friend |
According to aquarium staff, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts was more or less the dividing line between the St Lawrence River and the Gulf of St Lawrence. It had something to do with the salinity of the water and height of the tides however, I didn't notice any difference when looking out over the water.
The North Coast
What I did notice was a difference in the landscape. The change was dramatic. Up until Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, the land along the coast had been relatively flat. Now, it became quite rugged as the Chic Choc Mountains, which dominated the interior of the peninsula, expanded northward to meet the sea. In many ways the area reminded me of the Cape Breton highlands.
Settlement along this part of the peninsula was relatively sparse. The few villages we did pass through were located at the head of a bay or inlet where there was usually a little flat land to build on by the water.
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| North Coast, Where The Mountains Meet The Sea |
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| Typical North Coast Shoreline |
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| Many Steep Hills |
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| The Village of Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis |
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| RV Park at Camping Parc Et Mer Mont Louis |
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| The View from Our Back Window at Camping Parc Et Mer Mont Louis |
The Eastern End Of The Peninsula
We enjoyed our stay at “Camping Parc Et Mer Mont Louis” so much, we were tempted to remain a little longer however, we were anxious to see what lay ahead so, bright and early the next morning we were back on the road heading east. The terrain continued mountainous and the views, spectacular. After passing through a few more small villages tucked into bays and coves, we reached the eastern tip of the Gaspé at Cap-des-Rosiers, the home of Canada’s tallest lighthouse (34 meters high).
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| Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse - Tallest in Canada |
Nearby, Forillon National Park of Canada offered a variety of land and water based activities plus areas to camp. Much further inland was the larger “Parc national de la Gaspésie” or Gaspé National Park.
Turning south around the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, we soon reached the town of Gaspé. With a population of 15,000+, it was the largest community in the area. We happened to arrive about mid-afternoon and the place seemed to be filled with tourists. Traffic was heavily congested and parking, especially for a truck and trailer was virtually non-existent. Perhaps the cruise ship anchored offshore offered an explanation for the crowds. Maybe a farmer’s market or some other event had something to do with it. Whatever the reason, we abandoned our plans to stop and explore. To “keep on truckin'” seemed the wisest course of action.
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| The Town of Gaspé. |
The Village of Percé
60 km further south was the Village of Percé, our destination for the night. The approach into the village was down a long, steep hill with a 17% grade. About half way down, amazing views of the famous Percé Rock opened up, which were both delightful and distracting. At the bottom of the hill lay the village of Percé; it’s main street, a 50 kph speed limit and a multitude of tourists walking back and forth with little regard for traffic. This was one hill where RV’ers definitely needed to keep their speed down, their focus on the road and their wits about them.
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| Down a Long Steep Hill to the Village of Percé |
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| At the Bottom of the Hill - Downtown Percé |
With an abundance of hotels, motels, RV parks, restaurants and souvenir shops, it wasn’t hard to guess what occupied most of the 3000 residents of this small village. While the famous Percé Rock was definitely the main draw, it certainly wasn’t the only item of the menu. Just beyond the famous rock for example, lay Bonaventure Island where 50,000+ nesting pairs of Gannets (a type of sea bird) made their home. Boat tours constantly shuttled tourists out and around both islands.
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| Tour Boat |
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| The Famous Percé Rock |
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| Gannet Nests on Bonaventure Island |
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| Gannet |
We were lucky enough to find a site at “Camping Du Village” an RV park just above and behind the village. Not only were we treated to incredible views of Percé Rock from our site, we were also close enough to downtown to be able to walk everywhere.
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| Camping Du Village RV park |
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| View from Our Back Window |
Our time in Percé passed quickly and we were more than a little gloomy to be leaving. The village had a friendly, welcoming vibe plus, the scenery, activities and attractions had all been marvelous.
The South Coast
Continuing along Highway 132, we rounded the southeastern corner of the Gaspé Peninsula. Once again, the landscape changed. The Chic Choc Mountains receded to the north and the terrain along the coast became flatter. Woodlots, pastures, cultivated fields and dwellings replaced the crags, cliffs and forest-covered hills. The rocky shoreline we had become so used to gave way to numerous sandy beaches.
Rounding the corner of the peninsula also brought us to the Bay of Chaleur, the body of water, which bordered the south coast of the Gaspé Peninsula. Because the bay was relatively shallow, the water tended to be warmer than the Gulf of St Lawrence making those sandy beaches very handy indeed. The south shore of the Gaspé was also much more populated with more communities, larger communities and more people living in-between those communities. The communities themselves were an interesting mix of First Nations, Québécois French, Acadian French, and United Empire Loyalists.
As this area had been settled for hundreds of years, many of the towns and villages featured historic sites and attractions. At the village of Paspebiac for example, Maureen and I visited the “Site Historique du Banc-De-Paspébiac”, a restored fish processing center turned museum which had been in operation for more than 300 years.
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| Site Historique du Banc-De-Paspébiac |
United Empire Loyalist
Just down the road from Paspebiac lay the community of New Carlisle. Settled by United Empire Loyalist after the American Revolution, it was the only town on the south coast where English was the principal language. It was also the place where Rene Levesque, founder of the Parti Québécois was raised. How ironic was that? The founder of the political party which made French the only official language of Quebec and almost pulled the province out of Canada was raised in loyalist, English speaking village. I’m guessing the virtues of the English language and loyalty to the crown did not rub off on young Rene. To be fair however, the town’s folk were gracious enough to recognize his achievements by erecting a statue in his honour.
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| Statue of Rene Levesque |
The Acadians
The next community past New Carlisle was the village of Bonaventure, site of the “Musée Acadien Du Québec”, a museum and cultural center dedicated to the preservation of the Acadian heritage. In case your Canadian history is a little rusty, the Acadians were French settlers living in the Maritimes who were deported when the English conquered the area in the mid 1700’s. Rather then suffer deportation, many fled north to the Gaspé Region, which was still under French control at the time. While the Acadians share a common language with the people of Quebec, their culture and heritage was vastly different as this museum ably demonstrated.
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| Musée Acadien Du Québec |
Carlton-sur-Mer RV Park
It was getting late by the time we reached the village of Carlton-sur-Mer about 20 km further west. Time to find a spot for the night. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon one of the nicest RV parks of our trip. Run by the village of Carlton-sur-Mer, this municipal campground occupied a large sand spit jutting out into Chaleur Bay. The park contained around two hundred large, graveled sites with a variety of services. Many were beside the ocean, just meters away from a beautiful sand beach. We managed to snag one of the sea side sites for the night. The view, the beach, the site, the facilities were all fantastic – so much so that we decided to extend our stay. When I returned to the office to make the arrangements however, I discovered the park was fully booked for the next 3 days. It was the Labour Day weekend and I had completely forgotten! Like it or not, we would have to move the following day.
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| Carlton-sur-Mer Camp Grounds |
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| Carlton-sur-Mer Camp Grounds - View from Our Back Window |
The next day, after leaving the park, we spend some time exploring the village of Carlton-sur-Mer. Besides the usual shops, stores and eateries, the village also boasted a magnificent microbrewery called, “Le Naufrageur”. Translated to English, the name means, “The Wrecker”, which is a type of pirate. Apparently, not all Acadians were peaceful farmers and Chaleur Bay was a popular hangout for local smugglers, buccaneers and freebooters. The microbrewery paid homage to these famous ancestors by not only brewing great beer but by printing their stories, legends and tales on the bottle labels. A brew and a history lesson, all in one – how great was that?
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| Le Naufrageur Microbrewery |
Dalhousie, New Brunswick
Leaving Carlton-sur-Mer, we were in a quandary as to where to stay. Other campgrounds in the area were also full and there were no Wal-Marts within a 100 km. Thanks to my “ALLSTAYS” iPhone app – an app that every RV’er should have – I was able to find a spot at the the Inch-Arran RV Park on the south side of the Bay of Chaleur in the town of Dalhousie, New Brunswick, about 90 km away. It too was a municipal park with reasonable rates, also on the water and very well maintained. While the beach wasn’t quite as close, the ocean views were just as spectacular. In addition, a snack bar, restaurant, grocery store, and laundry were just steps away. All in all, it was a wonderful place to spend the holiday weekend and not too far out of our way.
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| Inch-Arran RV Park - Dalhousie NB |
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| Inch-Arran RV Park - Another Fabulous Vista |
Matapédia
Tuesday morning, we were back on Highway 132 heading north along the Matapédia River. The Matapédia had a reputation for being one of the best salmon fishing rivers in the region as well as a fly-fishing mecca. So popular was the sport here that a museum – “Musée de la Forêt et du Saumon de Sainte-Florence”- in the village of Sainte Florence, Quebec had several exhibits dedicated to the sport. Their prized display was the world’s largest tied fly, as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records.
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| One of Many Covered Bridges Along The Matapédia River |
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| Musée de la Forêt et du Saumon de Sainte-Florence - World’s Largest Tied Fly |
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| World’s Largest Tied Fly - The Details |
Journey’s End
We passed through several more small communities before stopping in the town of Mont Joli. This community had achieved some measure of fame in recent years for its murals. Many of the huge works of art depicted various historic milestones from the community’s past. Others appeared to be done by artists who were simply being creative. A brochure was available to help visitors find and view all the art works.
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| One of Many Murals of Mont Joli |
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| Nearing The Village of Sainte Flavie |
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| The End Of Highway 132 & Our Journey |
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