Iles Hopping

Waterfront View
I love these red rocks at one end of our Iles de la Madeleine beach:

Day 9: July 4
The day started with blue skies and the rising sun shining in the window after a night of wind and rain.
We decided on a drive north and saw these sights:
…an ususually-shaped windmill (like one we saw last year on the Gaspe):

…wild, breaking waves on a different beach:

…a salt mine:

…sadly, no shorebirds, even in the Wildlife Refuges!
A poignant stop at Sea Cow Path where, once, 400 to 500 walruses were dragged ashore:

We stopped at the Pointe de la Grande Entree harbour (and its unusually-named boats!):

…saw a great potential purchase on Grosse-Ile ($10,000 including an acre) at a lobster-fishing harbour:

…and observed lobster pots stored everywhere (similar to Newfoundland), even beside a graveyard:

We came back for lunch, then I took a beach walk. Yesterday, we saw a seal; the best I could do today was this: maybe a Navy S.E.A.L.?:

Later, we spent some time on our beach chairs, then I walked again to the red cliffs. More people are arriving at the campground (we were amused by the guy spending a LOT of time putting up his bug tent in the strong winds (which in fact mean no bugs!).
Here’s another view of our campsite:

Day 10: July 5
It was another great day for a drive. We went through the Cap aux Meules “business district” (complete with Tim Hortons, as witnessed by abandoned cups on the roads). Our first stop was Martinique Beach (no birds or Sand Dollars as advertised):

The houses are beautiful, multi-coloured and well kept. People are very house-proud:

We headed to La Grave, the first touristy place we visited here, complete with loads of people and small and large tour buses! But it’s also very pretty:

…and has a great beach where we hit the motherlode of glass and pottery shards:

Next stop was the Bassin Lighthouse and lunch:

…and many more beautiful houses (many for sale; too bad this isn’t PEI).
On our way back, we stopped at “Bird Shit Rock” (NOT a bad French-to-English translation, just our name for it) filled with Cormorants, Gulls, and even some chicks:

We stopped for groceries at the IGA and got cheap beer (30 Coors Light cans for $38)!
I took my one-hour beach walk (there are 300 kms of beach on the Iles). I would have loved this souvenir (the current owner was still in residence):

…but I found this little Sand Dollar:

We took a post-dinner bike ride, and I headed for the regular Tuesday Music Night at the campground office (two fiddles and a guitar). They were amazing: a perfect way to end a perfect day:
Here’s a “backyard” view from my chair (of my favourite house with, by chance, a boat driving by!):

Day 11: July 6
The sun rose brightly again, but it was a dull, chilly (mid 55F/12C) day. But we started with a beach walk:

After lunch, we decided to drive the last roads on the Iles.
First was Chemin de Noel (no Santa Claus, but there WAS Christmas tree!). Then the Cap de l’Hopital beach (with a kite surfer AND some unexpectedly beautiful glass):

There was Cap de la Belle Anse harbour and the Cap Herisse Lighthouse (where the red sand is sadly being blown away):

There were so many more beautiful houses and a little tourist stop at the Site de la Cote with boutiques, a harbour, and a statue dedicated to Les Pecheurs:


Next stop was at the Helene des Iles Patisserie for a Broche a Papa (OMG!!!):

…a stop at L’Echouerie and the Cap Alright Lighthouse:

…and a different view of our campground (and fabulous beach) from on high:

Day 12: July 7
You’re going to have to believe that the sunrises through the bedroom window are beautiful!
Today is our last day here, so we decided on one more drive north. We solved the problem of what people were picking among the dunes: teeny, tiny wild strawberries. Delicious, but so small.
We stopped at the Pointe-aux-Loups fishing harbour:

…then at the Plage de la Dune Nord (yep, speaking French now!):

Once again, we noted that there are trailers “squatting” among the dunes in places:

…but very few places to boondock (No Parking between 10 PM and 7 AM).
We honoured Prince at Pointe de Old Harry:

…and admired the Grande Echouerie Beach (that’s another place they dragged seals and walruses onto the beach in the past!):

On the way back, we stopped in Grosse Ile, an English village complete with Anglican church and gorgeous organ, altar art, and contemporary and a location-specific stained glass window:


…oh, and good Fish and Chips at B & J’s (sorry no picture; we dove right in).
On our return, I took a final 2.5 mile beachwalk and finally found where all the birds are hiding:

…by the way, the Garbage Dump is just beyond the dunes on the left!
Back home, I got one last great view from my chair of our neighbour’s amazing kite:

Here are some final words on the Magdalen Islands:

• come if you can; the ferry ride is reasonable and the destination is amazing
• there are very few non-Quebecers here; we have seen maybe 10 cars from other provinces
• camping is a bit expensive (by our standards), but the beach at Camping des Sillons makes it worth the price (we think it’s the best campground here)
• there are many other types of accommodations across the islands
• driving is easy and there are many fabulous beaches with good parking and access (there was only one paid parking beach)
• few people speak English (the people from the campground did), but it was never a problem; we relied on our highschool French for understanding, but anyone can cope
• there are great sights and a great feel

Harbours to Havre

Waterfront View
Here’s David (and our amazing new Costco beachchairs!) enjoying the afternoon on the Dune du Sud beach on the Magdalen Islands:

Day 6: July 1
It was a beautiful Canada Day, complete with a visit from Janet Honsberger and red attire:

We took full advantage of this gorgeous day. We spent the morning riding Panmure Island and looking at real estate. Not exactly what we’re looking for, but the location was great:

We realized we had seen hardly any birds other than too many loud crows (they fledged from a nest across from us the second morning here, so things were a bit quieter), Song Sparrows and Robins. Then Great Blue Herons and Yellow Warblers appeared!

As we were visitng with Janet, our quiet little spot was filling, especially when five vehicles from Quebec arrived and formed a compound a couple of sites over. There were Grandmere, Grandpere, four adult kids and spouses, and their kids, all on three adjoining sites! So, the view from my chair was this:

Turns out they were the quiet ones; the woman behind us (from PEI) and friends played some throwing game and she “whooted” for hours! Time to move on, though we loved it here.
Day 7: July 2 (my Mom’s birthday)
After a stop in Montague for groceries (but a little early for the day-late Canada Day festivities), we did some more coastal exploring. First stop was the fishing harbour at Launching. It is a beautiful, efficient place which was quiet today since the lobster season ended on June 30, and everything was pretty much put away. We had a great chat with Kenny, a lobster fisherman (with his daughter for the first time this year) and boat builder. I love these harbour visits we’ve had all over the East Coast:

Kenny told us these piles of floats we were seeing were for Mussell farming:

Look who we saw:

Next stop on our harbour tour was Annandale:

…followed by lunch at Sally’s Beach (oh, I love beaches):

More touring and analyzing shorelines found us at at the East Point Lighthouse:

…where I learned that the “Lighthouse Quilts” were really “Heritage Trail Quilts”:

We visited one more harbour (North Lake) and circled back to Souris to wait for the ferry. We watched Kite Boarders:

…and, of course, I searched for beach glass:

There’s a pretty rare piece of black glass in that handful.
After dinner, we headed to the ferry terminal and got another lighthouse (a real “safe harbour” day!):

…then actually fell asleep until we boarded at about 1:30 AM. And, yes, Mandy hid on the top of the slide the minute we boarded. Clever girl.
July 3: Day 8
It was an uneventful, snoozey crossing and we got to the beautiful Magdalen Islands around 7:00 AM. We headed straight to our campground, Camping de Sillons, and were able to go right to our site (#6, $43.65 E/W/S) where we’ll stay until Friday. It’s quite a little community of cottages and, right now, seasonal campers. We hear it’ll be full for weeks in about two weeks, so we’re happy to be here now, because THIS is how congested the 22 km beach is:

I walked the beach a couple of times while David and Mandy got caught up on sleep. Then we walked some more later (that red cliff beach was filled with people in the late afternoon). It was a sunny, fairly warm and very windy day, typical of this lovely place,
Here’s a view of our View:

Island and Isles 2016

Waterfront View

These pretty girls, mother and daughter, were exercising along the beach on Panmure Island, PEI!

Day 1: June 26

It’s summer, so it must be time for a trip to the East Coast. We have decided on Prince Edward Island, with a side trip to the Magdalen Islands of Quebec. Yay!

We had another uneventful journey through Ontario and Quebec and were glad that we were heading east; the traffic and accidents seemed to be westbound. If you owned a motorcycle, especially a trike, or a convertible, on this sunny day, you were on Highway 20! There will be lots of sunburns tomorrow!

We got as far as the Walmart in Riviere-du-Loup and joined at least 20 other RVs there. Here’s the French-only view from my chair:

Day 2: June 27

It was a quiet night but a so-so sleep as we get re-accustomed to the bed.

As we headed through New Brunswick to the Confederation Bridge, we realized that our first trip ever together was to PEI 30 years ago! Ahhh…

It was another uneventful, long day of driving, and we pulled into the Brudenell River Provincial Park (Site 30 E/W $31.81). I spent a long time on the Internet and phone booking our ferry and campground for the Magdalen Islands then caught this sunset view over the Brudenell River:

Here’s the view of the View:

Day 3: June 28

Since we are booked for the ferry on July 3, we decided to head to Panmure Island Provincial Park since it’s on the beach and will be a great place to hang out for a couple of days. It’s a beautiful location with a campground that is essentially nothing more than a field with services:

And there is no one here (we’re one of three campers). This is the view directly from our Site 36 ($29.70 E/W) onto St. Mary’s Bay:

…and just over those dunes in the distance is this beautiful beach:

I walked the beaches then rode my bike to the Panmure Island Lighthouse:

Later, we walked the beach and rode the route again. It’s beautiful here.

Here’s the view of our campsite:

Day 4: June 29

It rained all night and much of the morning, so we laid low. When it cleared, we rode the bikes and walked the beach. Oh, and got icecream after dinner. Yep, that’s it!

Here’s a sunset view from our site:

Day 5: June 30

Another rainy night and promise of an overcast day, so we decided to take a drive along the coast and visit some more lighthouses. We drove past “our” lighthouse again and caught the three Belgian horses posing:

Then there was Cape Bear at Murray Harbour:

…and the Wood Islands Lighthouse:

…and finally, the Point Prim Lighthouse:

…complete with it’s own “Barn Quilt” (not sure yet what they’re called when they’re not painted on a barn):

We had lunch at Point Prim and made our way back in time for me to do a beach (and beach glass!) walk:

After dinner, we rode to the beach and ran into our horses and their owner, Mr. McCleod. His wife’s father, grandfather and great grandfather were all Panmure Lighthousekeepers!

Here’s a view of our amazing Eureka screen hut that protects us from wind, rain and bugs!