Tues. 6th October ’26
We went to bed last night dreaming of whale watching from the coast and on the ferry across the St Lawrence River. We woke in the night to the sound of the wind blowing the chairs across our balcony. At breakfast we received an email to say all sailings were cancelled on 6th October. This was received with mixed feelings. I am not a good sailor so was not looking forward to a rough crossing – but there was the possibility of spotting belugas. The alternative is an 8-hour drive via Québec, where the nearest bridge over the St Lawrence River is.
We resign ourselves to the drive and, actually, we were fortunate to get early notice of the cancellation. It’s going to be two stints of two hours driving each. Doable but no dawdling or sightseeing on the way drinking coffee and munching emergency chocolate as we go. We knew the road back to Saguenay, including the roadwork delays. After that we were going direct(ish) to Québec but did not realise it took us over the mountains at a height of 1,000 metres. As the road climbed the temperature fell until we were surrounded in falling snow. Luckily, it did not settle but not my favourite driving conditions.
We cracked on and were pleasantly surprised by the chicken noodle soup option at Tim Hortons fast food restaurant and quick service was what we needed. We made good time and passed Trois Pistoles, where our cancelled ferry would have docked and we were only two hours behind schedule. Sadly, not enough time to stop at the Historical site at Rimouski where the Empress of Ireland sank in 1914 with over 1,000 lives lost, Canada’s worst Maritime disaster. Best not to think of that in this bad weather. Still, we arrived in Matane at 5:30pm in time to check in before walking into town and find some well-deserved craft beer.