We were up relatively early as we (I) wanted to be on the road early.
Our sleep was great followed by a quick breakfast at Timmie’s, a lunch sub pick up at Subway and on the road by 8 AM.
We spent all day on highway 132 hugging the Gaspe Peninsula as the St Lawrence turned from a river into a big ocean. We went through MANY seaside villages, many of which were wonderful to see. We were not in hurry which was good as the road speed maxed out at 90 km/hr but we were always slowing down for villages and tight corners. It was a wonderful day driving. Having said that, I was tired when we got to Perce for the night.
We stopped at La Martre to see a lighthouse. It was closed but the lighthouse itself and the view of the sea was great.
We made numerous stops throughout the day as”the spirit moved” including the one below at Grand Vallée
I had wanted to leave early as from everything I had read Forillon National Park would be awesome, and it was except I was hoping for more than just major hiking paths (i.e. 5 or more kilometres through mountainous paths). Many from waterfalls or lakes or something.
Our first stop right near the park gate was another nice lighthouse.
Here is a photo taken at the interpretive centre.
The most famous photos of this park are taken at Cap Bon-Ami
We attempted to climb towards the view point on top of the mountain (look closely) however old age, tired legs and pounding heart beats prevented us from going any where near it.
We satisfied ourselves at viewpoints closer to sea level. The photo of the cliffs does not show very easily the hundreds of birds nesting in the nooks and crannies. I really liked the rock formations as well.
We finished our day of driving by working our way to the town of Perce (the ‘e’ has a flex accent over it so it sounds like Pier Say).
The final few kilometres into the town was really beautiful on a twisty turny road, before we ended up in the bay area here.
The hotel we booked on-line was located on the far side of town up on the hillside. When we got there, on the locked restaurant door, was a sign saying to go back into town and register at a restaurant there. So, we are thinking “Oh No ! ”a hotel without supervision! Yikes!! What had happened was “our” hotel does not actually open for tourist season until tomorrow so anybody that registered there were re-accommodated in a hotel right in town (same owner) and honestly it is Fantastic!. We are right in the heart of things, although the tourist season isn’t fully “on” yet and there aren’t many people around-OK by us!. The view from our motel about 5 PM today.
We walked right down to the malacon and meandered to the pier you can see in the distance in the photo. There we watched gannet birds dive bombing for fish right in front of us! So interesting to watch them.
We slowly made our way back to our new place and after a bit we went to supper in the red building (in the photo above) which contains the restaurant. The food was tourist priced but the view of Perce rock made it very enjoyable.
We are quite tired today and are enjoying a quiet evening in the room (with a glass of wine)
The following photo was taken a short while ago
