Thurs. 8th October ’26
Overnight a small cruise ship had appeared in the harbour which we noted on our way to breakfast at a cafe in town. Heading back to the hotel at 8:30am as everywhere was so quiet we thought we would take a peep at the founding monument, commemorating where Jacques Cartier landed in 1534 and claimed the territory for France. Well, I did not expect to be swallowed up by a tour group that early, before I was barely awake. Phew! We escaped before being herded into a museum building – and then, who knows, off on a cruise.
Due to the weather forecast of rain all day, we have decided to postpone our sunrise trip until tomorrow. This also gives us a chance to have a recce this afternoon to see what the focus is. Instead, we select the Les Graves walk to the end of the park/promontory with yet another lighthouse and set off promptly to try and beat the rain. The main path is a gravel track but AllTrails takes us down grassy tracks to the coastline/riverbank (I am not sure which it technically is, but it is the Gulf of St Lawrence). We are a bit worried as there are warnings for bears and we had to hand back our bear spray in Victoria as we could not take it on the plane. No need to worry, no bears today.
The initial drizzle soon got more persistent, but luckily the interpretation centre next to the lighthouse was open, so we could take refuge and drink our flask of coffee. The worst of the rain was soon over and we were able to get out and explore more. Revived by coffee and Mars bar I felt more positive about the path down to the viewpoint. Good call as the views were great and this was labelled Lands End (but not that one). Here is also the beginning of the (International) Appalachian Trail which goes all the way to Springer Mountain in Georgia some 4,500km away. Not doing that walk any time soon!
The first part of the return walk was a lovely path through the trees. Much more interesting than the gravel track we came on. Fortunately, we did not meet any bears or moose. We were soon back on the level travel track and covered the last 2km in about 26 minutes. Power walking training of shoulders back and roll your feet meant we could maintain a cracking pace. We are glad to get back in La Bête, aka our seven seater beast of a car but at least it has heated seats.
Stopping at Hyman and sons, general stores building I was surprised to read that a lot of the early settlers were from the Channel islands. I was not able to find out more as we were tired from the walk and ready to find lunch. I trusted Dave to find a place for lunch and he found a camp ground reception which did grab and go snacks. The lady took pity on us and made us toasted ham and cheese rolls and hot coffee. How does Dave find these quirky lunch stops?
As mentioned yesterday there are many lighthouses on this coast including the tallest in Canada, so yes we had to stop there. It is Cap-des-Rosiers and closed for the season on 28th August, so no chance of climbing to the top. Still we need to crack on and so head back into Forillon NP after showing our Parks Canada pass (good to get use out of it). Cap-Bon-Ami is a viewpoint on the northern coast of the park with steps down to the beach. There are number of options for sunrise tomorrow and the weather forecast is looking good. Luckily parking is close by even if it is a 40 minute drive from our hotel. Alarm set for 5am, time to hide under the covers and hope for some decent sleep before then.