There are only a few things I hate about camping and one of them is packing up a tent in a rainstorm.
It was raining so hard when we got up that we skipped our camping breakfast and ate in the car.
Then we headed east in heavy fog.
Our next stop was the Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse National Historic site. It’s the site of the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in 1914, the worst peacetime marine disaster in Canadian history.
Since there was too much fog to have much of a view, so we skipped climbing the 128 steps and two ladders to get to the top.
Instead we went to see the HMCS Onondaga (S73), the only submarine open to the public in Canada
HMCS Onondaga (S73)
A 16-cylinder submarine engine
Then we went to investigate the tide pool.
The rocks were pretty slippery.
We found some tiny fish.
Our next stop was the Fromagerie du Littoral in Baie-des-Sables to get some picnic supplies. We chose Le Rayon d’Or cheese, some mead (not a typo) pâté, and an apple maple butter.
We stopped in Cap-Chat for lunch, and to see the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence. It isn’t quite the Ocean, but it was salty and cold.
Cheese review: the Rayon d’Or was a probiotic semi-soft Saint-Paulin-style cheese. It was excellent. The Mont-Saint-Mathieu was a meltingly soft triple cream cheese, a bit like a Brie, but much better. I preferred the Rayon d’Or over the Mont-Saint-Mathieu, but will probably buy both again. They were excellent.
Mont-Saint-Mathieu, Fromagerie des Basques ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rayon d’Or, Fromagerie du Littoral ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We had the cheese curds for breakfast and they were the squeakiest we had ever had, very good. I liked the saltiness, but others preferred Saint-Guillaume, which is both less squeaky and less salty.
Grains de fromage, Fromagerie des Basques ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The surprise winner though was the maple apple butter, a last minute impulse buy.
Our day ended with a quick visit to the lighthouse at Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Sainte-Madeleine, then to stay with family near Parc Forillon.
Some stats:
- Tiny fishes: some
- Cheeses: 3
- Total distance: 950 km
all the stars in the sky 