trois pistoles waterfront
Trois Pistoles waterfront

I am writing after a full but relaxing day.  I don’t think we drove more than 200 km, but we managed to fill the day.  We left St. Jean Port Joli after breakfast. We drove to Riviere du Loup by way of Kamouraska.  Kamouraska is the subject of a novel I read back in high school.  It was all about the hardships of the early settlers in this region, basically about the miseries of winter (and looking it up, I find that my recollection of the novel has nothing to do with the book at all).  But I remembered the romantic name and was glad to finally visit.  Many of the small towns in this area are artist colonies and this one is no different.  The bakery caught our eye, so we stopped there first for a loaf of bread and a croissant each.  We ate and walked, visiting the general store and the local church, St. Joseph de Kamouraska, another story of destruction by fire and reconstruction.  A nice young man gave us a quick tour as I asked questions about the Stations of the Cross and the wonderful stained-glass windows.  Leon looked around at all the saints but couldn’t find St. Barbara, the patron saint of the Artillery.  I don’t think she is a Catholic saint, so I doubt we will find a statue of her in a church around here.kamouraska general store

On we drove to Rivière du Loup, which was named after either the seals (loups-marins) or a ship called Le Loup which was stranded at the river’s mouth.  We’ll never know.  We did our grocery shopping, some quick banking and stopped for lunch at a park where falls generate electricity.chute park riviere du loup

Lunch consisted of small local shrimp (crevettes de Matane) with mayo and lettuce on fresh bread.  Yum!!  We were parked beside a van that had a sign on it about an escargot world tour.  Of course, we had to ask the people what that was about.  They told us they were from Brittany, travelling the world in their camper over the next several years.  Their current trip was to take them across North America, up to Alaska and down along the west coast to South America.  Total travelling time – 3 years!  Sounds like fun.  We exchanged ideas on where to visit along the St. Lawrence south shore and where to camp for free and then we were off. Big shout outs to Nadine and Jean Paul!

trois pistoles panoramaOur current campground is right on the sea.  Yes!!!  The river is no longer called that here.  We are now on the banks of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the water is salty and the whales come to visit in the summer.  No whale sightings yet, but what a fantastic sunset!sunset trois pistoles 2sunset trois pistoles