Sunday 10 August 2014

3 weeks in Canada (Quebec and Ontario)

A summary of our trip to Canada:
- 21 days
- 2 provinces: Quebec and Ontario,
- 3800km driven
- one tent pole broken
- one camera dropped, mirror shifted and repaired
- very relaxed 3 weeks (with several minor exceptions, e.g. for the two bullets above)
and.....
- one baby girl conceived (we only found out later of course, once we were back home)!!! :D

Day 1-2: Quebec City
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Day 3: Quebec City - Mont-Trembalnt National Park, (320km)
Day 4: Mont-Trembalnt National Park

Day 5: Mont-Trembalnt National Park - Gananoque, Ontario (390km)
Day 5: Cruise on Thousand Islands




Day 6: Gananoque - Kingston, Sand Banks - Barcovan Beach (220km)



Day 7: Barcovan Beach - Toronto (170km)
Day 8: Toronto
Day 9: Toronto - Niagara Falls - Sauble Beach (430km)


Day 10: around Bruce Peninsula







Day 11: Sauble Beach - Bainsville (666km)
Day 12: Bainsville - Montreal (90km)
Day 13: Montreal





Day 14: Montreal - Montmorency Falls - La Malbaie (400km)
Day 15: La Malbaie - Tadoussac (70km)


Day 16: Tadoussac - Desbiens (200km)



Day 17: Lac Saint-Jean



Day 18: Desbiens - Jacques-Cartier National Park (160km)
Day 19: Jacques-Cartier National Park



Day 20: Jacques-Cartier National Park - Quebec City (40km)
Day 21: Quebec City

Day 22: Return home


The original trip plan was different, with much shorter driving, but we needed to adjust our schedule to different conditions. First of all - the weather. When we arrived at the Bruce Peninsula the forecast was not too promising:10 days of constant rain. We gave it a try and indeed it was not lying.... And... on that day I dropped our camera (the only one on that trip)... Therefore we decided to drive first to Montreal, where we could find a camera repair shop and than further to the East part of Quebec. In the end the camera was fixed in two days, we enjoyed that time in Montreal a lot and the East of Quebec was sunny :-)
A highlight of the second part of the trip was river kayaking in Jacques-Cartier National Park. At first it was pretty scary as dr TBBE is not a good swimmer and we did not have any prior experience with kayaking... It was an adventure at times, but we both loved it! Because campings in national parks in Canada are very much occupied and we did not (want to) book in advance, we stayed in a nearby place that happened to be the best or the second best camping in that trip. Aventures Nord-Bec   is not only a camping with great spots and good facilities, but the owner and his employees are very warm and helpful people. We also visited their kennel with 100 husky dogs - highly recommended if you like dogs!