Friday August 22
August 22 Friday du Bic National Park
What an amazing day we have had, the weather has been just perfect, really warm with blue skies, and we have visited some wonderful places.
Ian had me up and away before 9 this morning, taking the back road from the camp to Kamouraska. Thank you Nicole for making sure we visited this place….one of the best. The most charming old French village set on the shores of the river. We drove in and parked opposite the church, and saw this old car, with the root of a huge tree on top of it. An older gentleman, with flowing white .hair walked out from the bakery and proceeded to get into the car. Of course we had to have a chat to him, a real charming character, who we found out was one of Quebec’s most famous sculptors, Armand Vaillancourt, who does a lot of work with timber. We wouldn’t have realised, except some people recognized him from magazine articles and stopped to have a chat. He had been east collecting his timber, and was so happy to have a talk to us. The next thing he beetled off into the bakery to get his friend to explain to us where one of his sculptures was, she emerged from the bakery, an absolutely charming lady who was also a painter. So for about 10 mintues we chatted, laughed and met some fantastic people…and I took photos. Along with a group of people on motor bikes who Armand wanted to have a chat with! What a start to our visit to Kamouraska.
We wandered the little streets down to the quai and back, the most beautiful old quaint houses. Evidently this was one of the early French settlements in Canada.
After meeting Denise from the Boulangerie Niemand (bakery) we needed to go and buy something from her store….and that was another experience. They make sourdough bread handmade and cooked in a stone oven. We bought a baguette ( the most divine bread, really chewy…wish we could get some in NZ), and two sinfully delicious pastries. People were pouring into the store which is obviously extremely popular. Popped next door for some coffee, and then indulged ourselves with our morning tea!
The trip back to Riviere du Loup took us through some great cropping land, very flat, with huge areas of wheat and hay with many barns of beef and dairy animals, quite different to what we had been through. Just outside the city we found a picnic area beside the river, so stopped for a light picnic lunch, delightful with such great weather.
Bought some supplies in Rivere-du-loup and north to Parc du Bic, a national park right on the coast, which had been recommended to us. Found that the only available camping sites were right beside the road, but decided to take a site. Before we parked we drove about 5 kms into the park to the estuary area and went for a great walk along the shore. On the return, we heard a noise in the bush, and could not believe our eyes when we startled a deer in the bushes. Wow, I started shooting her with my camera, and she didn’t seem too worried. I was only about 5 feet from her, with the backdrop of the water…magnificent. Finally she wandered across the path and in the middle of a field a little fawn jumped up to join her….just made the whole visit so worthwhile.
It was 6 before we finally parked the van, and settled in for a few drinks.
What an amazing day we have had, the weather has been just perfect, really warm with blue skies, and we have visited some wonderful places.
Ian had me up and away before 9 this morning, taking the back road from the camp to Kamouraska. Thank you Nicole for making sure we visited this place….one of the best. The most charming old French village set on the shores of the river. We drove in and parked opposite the church, and saw this old car, with the root of a huge tree on top of it. An older gentleman, with flowing white .hair walked out from the bakery and proceeded to get into the car. Of course we had to have a chat to him, a real charming character, who we found out was one of Quebec’s most famous sculptors, Armand Vaillancourt, who does a lot of work with timber. We wouldn’t have realised, except some people recognized him from magazine articles and stopped to have a chat. He had been east collecting his timber, and was so happy to have a talk to us. The next thing he beetled off into the bakery to get his friend to explain to us where one of his sculptures was, she emerged from the bakery, an absolutely charming lady who was also a painter. So for about 10 mintues we chatted, laughed and met some fantastic people…and I took photos. Along with a group of people on motor bikes who Armand wanted to have a chat with! What a start to our visit to Kamouraska.
We wandered the little streets down to the quai and back, the most beautiful old quaint houses. Evidently this was one of the early French settlements in Canada.
After meeting Denise from the Boulangerie Niemand (bakery) we needed to go and buy something from her store….and that was another experience. They make sourdough bread handmade and cooked in a stone oven. We bought a baguette ( the most divine bread, really chewy…wish we could get some in NZ), and two sinfully delicious pastries. People were pouring into the store which is obviously extremely popular. Popped next door for some coffee, and then indulged ourselves with our morning tea!
The trip back to Riviere du Loup took us through some great cropping land, very flat, with huge areas of wheat and hay with many barns of beef and dairy animals, quite different to what we had been through. Just outside the city we found a picnic area beside the river, so stopped for a light picnic lunch, delightful with such great weather.
Bought some supplies in Rivere-du-loup and north to Parc du Bic, a national park right on the coast, which had been recommended to us. Found that the only available camping sites were right beside the road, but decided to take a site. Before we parked we drove about 5 kms into the park to the estuary area and went for a great walk along the shore. On the return, we heard a noise in the bush, and could not believe our eyes when we startled a deer in the bushes. Wow, I started shooting her with my camera, and she didn’t seem too worried. I was only about 5 feet from her, with the backdrop of the water…magnificent. Finally she wandered across the path and in the middle of a field a little fawn jumped up to join her….just made the whole visit so worthwhile.
It was 6 before we finally parked the van, and settled in for a few drinks.
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