Time to leave the Outback

 26th September 2022

Today we leave Domaine Valga, revitalised and have enjoyed the slower relaxed pace over the past few days. The staff have been terrific and it was a real bonus to have all meals provided, so we did not have to go out searching for places that may or may not be open.

Our final task was to sample the maple syrup produced by the family. Breakfast this morning is pancakes, and there are heaps of them. Fresh fruit to go with the pancakes and local maple syrup was a nice finishing touch. It is not a breakfast that I would normally eat, but it was irresistible.

Pancakes with local maple syrup

With very full stomachs, we checked out and headed of to our first stop for the day, Bic National Park. Unfortunately the rain is back with us, so it is not ideal conditions for bush walking, but we will see how we go. The Park is on the coastline and about 45 minutes from Domaine Valga.

It is when we arrive at the Visitors Centre that we discover that Nationals Parks are not all administered by one body. We thought when we bought an Annual pass that we would get free access to all National Parks in Canada. Not the case, this one is administered by the Quebec Government and our pass is not valid.

As far as National Parks go, this one is quite small there are lots of hiking trails, but the rain is now pretty steady and we are not really equipped for long hikes in the rain, nor is their much enthusiasm for it.

Near the car park of our first stop, we finally see some wildlife, even if it is only a fox

A short walk from the car park, we  are looking out over a bay at low tide. It will come in here by about 3.5 m at high tide which should submerge a lot of the dry area we are looking at. There are supposed to be seal colonies in this park further around towards the headlands so we hope to see some.

At our next stop the rain is still steady , but we decide to go a short distance along the path to see what eventuates.

To look more like a European tourist, John selects a walking stick from a few free ones at the entrance to the trail

We weren't far down the rail when we were confronted with a very steep path down to the shoreline with rope rails along the side to hang on to for safety. There was a fairly rapid retreat to the car, as under these wet and slippery conditions no-one was keen.

Even the trail leading to the steep decline was uninviting

Further on we came to another visitors centre which was near a cape where we were supposed to see seals. The only ones we saw were out the front of the visitors centre and were made of fibreglass.

We did, however see a squirrel feeding on rosehips from the visitor centre garden.

The final part of the park required us to renter the highway and travel of few km before cutting back to the coast to renter near a cape that was roost for migratory birds.

It is a pretty rugged coastline and had the weather been better, I am sure the various hiking trails would have been well worth the effort of a visit. Unfortunately for us, the rain did not make this an option.

Driving conditions on the road have been poor with intermittent rain and spray from passing cars. We saw one idiot in a ute pass us on an outside lane doing about 150 km/hr. Fortunately the police saw him too and soon after he passed we had a police car with siren and flashing lights bearing down on us. We pulled aside to let him past and he had the offender about a km down the road. We were also overtaken but a ute towing a trailer with a dead deer in it, with a leg hanging over the side.

Overall, we had a good drive around and a few short walks before moving on to the location of our overnight stay. Our check in time is 4 pm, so we have a drive by to check out the location and call in to see if the restaurant is open for lunch. I had been advised earlier that they are not  open on Monday or Tuesday, but took the opportunity to get a recommendation for a cafe in the nearest main town, Riviere-du-loup. It is quite a sizeable  town and is where we have booked a restaurant for dinner.

The cafe recommended was a good find, and we had a light lunch before driving back to Auberge sur Mer, in Notre- Dame -du- Portage, when we are staying the night. It is right on the bank of the St Lawrence Seaway.

Auberge sur Mer, our home for the night

The rain continues and the team is happy to snuggle up indoors, rest and be ready to go to dinner. John discovers there is a bar downstairs, so we managed to fit in a pre dinner drink before heading back into Riviere-du-loup for dinner.

The waitress/owner is very chatty and speaks good English, so we had quite a good discussion before we finally had to leave to meet our booking time.

Dinner tonight is at the La Griffe Restaurant in the Hotel Levesque in Riviere-du-loop, only about a 10 minute drive away. It is a newish hotel/conference centre.

Lobster is now an option on menus rather than the lead item, and our carnivorous tendencies are starting to take over. We all had a  meat dish for our main (salmon for entree though), and the food was generally very good.

This was my Tomahawk Pork Chop