Grand Jardins National Park

Thursday - Grand Jardins National Park

The rocky outcrop behind Olivia ... that was our destination!

The area of Charlevoix is known for its rivers and mountains. Isle aux Coudres, where we went yesterday, is very much the river - its an island surrounded by the St Laurence River. So today, we decided to explore the mountains. We headed inland, climbed elevation (more 18% gradients) and soon found the landscape changing to pine trees and forest land. 

The Canadian woods ... tall, green trees!

It was a very warm day so we decided a 2 hour walk would suffice. It a steep walk and we climbed 250 metres - but the walk actually only took 90 minutes. The barren, rocky hill behind Olivia in this photo is what we climbed! The up trip was much slower than the down trip! It was beautiful scenery - probably more typical of Canadian forests that most Canadian tourism sites promote. Very green; very tall birch and pine trees and very heavily forested. We are all in a little dilemma - we are keen to see a bear but we don’t want to see a bear … particular when we are walking! This was an area for bears so there was a little trepidation! We did manage to see other wildlife however - a porcupine, hiding in a bush with all its spikes upright, showing its fear; then a thin snake, about 40 cm long - its tongue was hissing madly. 

Isle aux Coudres

Wednesday - exploring Isle aux Coudres

We stayed in a van park just outside of Baie St Paul and on Wednesday, headed over to Isle aux Coudres to explore. Isle aux Coudres was one of the first areas discovered by Jacques Cartier as he was exploring this new country sometime around 1540. It is a small island, only accessible by a vehicle ferry. Bertha was allowed on board, so off we went. The island is 10.4 km long and only 3.6 km wide, with a 23km bike path around the perimeter. Perfect for us in a day. There were a few hills … in Sophie’s opinion it was primarily hills, so she whinged … but we made it around. There is very little english spoken on the island so we had fun conversing in French. 

The welcome sign on the island says “the rhythm of the tides” and it certainly has that slow, relaxed feel to the place. The island is very much a sleepy hollow, with a population of 1 700. It supports a school and several churches but not much else. Even cafes are limited. It is exactly how I imagine Prince Edward Island would be. Unfortunately, we won’t make it to PEI while we are in Canada in 2014- it was on my wish list - but this small island had beautiful, wooden houses with large gables of all colours (not brick as its not such a good insulator), rolling hills, stunning wild flowers and amazing scenery. For all the Anne of Green Gales readers … at one stage, Olivia stopped and said that she could imagine Anne and Diana running through this particular paddock full of wild daisies, with the Haunted Forest in the background, between their houses. It was beautiful, but very much a quiet town. It also reminded us of Batemans Bay in the quieter periods, but much smaller. We can imagine in high summer, on a great day, it would be packed. 

Baie St Paul and Tony's favourite meal

region of Charlevoix - Tuesday afternoon

Baie St Paul, the biggest town in the region of Charlevoix, has a population of 7 500. It is primarily a summer destination, with hiking, swimming, islands, whale watching and art being the main attractions. We arrived in rain …. and rain …. for the whole afternoon. We found a cafe where we could relax and hang out … and hope that the rain stopped. It didn’t. But Tony had one of his best meals of the trip thus far: an adult version of poutine, with crispy squid and octopus as the chips element, then feta, olives, caramelised onions (with maple syrup) and a few chillis as the topping. He was in his element! Accompanied by a local beer, it was another unexpected bonus!

We stayed at the cafe for as long as we could justify, before heading to find our van park. As lovely as it appeared, we really couldn't explore at all as the rain was heavy. We spent an evening updating diaries, sorting photos, playing on technology before finally cooking our meal on the gas cooktop inside Bertha - the first time we've had to cook indoors this trip.