Long drive;Gaspe,Matane, Levis,Quebec City

  Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Sunday, August 28, 2005

With a long drive ahead of us (about 10 hours) we packed up our cars, had muffins leftover from yesterday, various juices and fruits, then hit the road.

The heat had pretty much gone out of the day and the weather was offering gusts of rain and cloudy skies.  Initially we headed inland on route 198.  This is is a 132 km two-lane highway which cuts through the Appalachian Mountains in the Gaspé Peninsula. It acts both as a shortcut to get to Gaspé without having to go through many small villages and steep climbs on Route 132, and it also is the only link to Murdochville, the one municipality along this long stretch of highway.

From Gaspe to Murdochville the scenery is sparse, high and occasionally wooded.  After about an hour and a half, you come round a bend and voila – Murdochville -  it is a bit of a culture shock.  It is a small copper mining community surrounded by high mountains.  After an underground fire in 1987, the mine was pretty much closed by 1999.  Since then, I gather it is struggling for survival with several large wind turbine projects.

We had a lunch on the road which consisted of assorted cheeses, meats and bagettes.  Just after we rejoined route 132, there was an odd collection of inukshuks which I gather it is tradition to put up.  We did our bit and carried on.


It began to rain steadily at about Matane and was therefore too wet to tour the Jardins de Metis, which was something I'd really wanted to do.  It was soggy, rainy and just not a good idea.  So – next time. 

Arrival about dinner time and we set off for pub food and beer at Le Turf Pub http://www.turfpub.com/ on Cartier Avenue.  Yes, the menu et all was in French but not to worry, you could order practically anything and enjoy it.  Super food after a long drive.  Beer was good and we were getting ready to see our Dutch friend off tomorrow so a tinge of sadness in our last meal together.