A Touch Of Quebec (Canada)

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Edit:
Since the topic has been split into various threads, here are the links to all the parts, in their chronological order.

Checking on Uncle Sam....travel notes, beer and aspen-gold


Peaks + Perks....New England (US) picture book


A Touch Of Quebec (Canada)


Lobster-Tales (Maine, US)


A World Of Its Own...Colorado + The Rockies



Enjoy! :scull:

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...it's now into weird 'n wacky Quebec, where nobody wants to speak a word of English within 3 steps of the US border, even fence-posts bear a "saint-" prefix and there's water in unbelievable shapes and quantities.

A quick look at the map shows a bit of a long hike to make it from the last stop at North Conway (New Hampshire) all the way up to the St. Lawrence River at Riviere-du-Loup, one of 3 possible jump-off points for a ferry crossing to the northern bank of the St. Lawrence.

https://goo.gl/maps/jUyJWZrXSj12

It wasn't planned that way. But dipping into the "lowlands" just north of the US border turned into ma bit of an anticlimactic and uninspiring affair, the landscape drab, grey and stretching to the horizon.



First up, shooting north up the narrow neck of New Hampshire towards the border.
Past the Mt. Washington Road again...



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It'll be a long and sweaty 8miles for that punter at the rear of that group :bs


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The US postie-"bike"....and just as cute! :drool: (The Grumman LLV)


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Little Diamond Pond....Coleman State Park, maybe 20k's from the Canuck border.


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Its bigger "sibling", Diamond Pond, just down that gravel road, springs one totally unexpected surprise. Some tiny, cute-as-punch, holiday homes along the lake-shore, garages and sheds tunneled into the hillside...



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...and a model-railway built into the front yard, using the natural features of roots, rocks and slopes for the scenery. No fences, no signs...just like that.
BLOODY AWESOME!!!....and this out here, in the middle of no-where!! :eek::eek::glu:glu



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There's even a local glacier!!:wow:



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The detail is simply stumping!!


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twowheeler

two wheels are best
First up, shooting north up the narrow neck of New Hampshire towards the border.
Past the Mt. Washington Road again...

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My trusty 1986 Rand McNally road atlas is helping trace your route. That must be some road to sign that warning - from memory Mt Washington is the windiest point in North America, or is it the coldest, or both ....
 

twowheeler

two wheels are best
Is that windiest as in lots of strong wind, or as in bends and curves in the roads?

As in velocity of air. National Geographic magazine Dec'82 says it topped 231 miles per hour in 1934. It's at the juncture of 3 seperate storm tracks apparently.:weather:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
My trusty 1986 Rand McNally road atlas is helping trace your route. That must be some road to sign that warning - from memory Mt Washington is the windiest point in North America, or is it the coldest, or both ....


About as high as Mt. Buller or so....but the highest peak of New England.

The treeline is only about 1300m asl. (unlike in AUS, where it's ~ 1800m)...which makes for a lot of bare, rocky tops in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
With the Atlantic coast not that far away and no other obstructions, that brings a LOT of snow and long+ windy winters up there, as per the myriad of small-ish ski resorts all over the place, most of which even seem too big (with their handful of lifts) to cater for the local communities/ towns.

The north in particular is sparsely populated, the top-half of Maine is a huge lumber area owned by some logging mob with literally 1000s of miles of private roads/ tracks (and VERY few access points).

Then again, if you're a local, you'll have a snowmobile or 3, know some of the company head-honchos and either go ice-fishing for a week in those woods and 100's of lakes or ride straight through into Quebec/ Canada on your ski-doo for a cuppa.

As for our newfound friend.... the frontyard-railroader, who had become suspicious of 2 Aussies and their agitated banter and smoking cameras.
So we got talking, then got the tour of the "loco-shed", the heart behind the whole thing...:drool::clap:



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There's even a little model of the Mt. Washington "tipped-forward" steam-loco (to keep the water in the boiler halfways level on the steep climbs) ...guessed right, the model runs the same cog + center-rail setup as the original!!


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The attention to detail is simply stunning. The heart and soul that have gone into those scratch-built models are even bigger than the incredible end-result. :clap::clap::clap:
:lao:lao



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After the tour of the loco-shed it's a tour of the cute holiday home, then the large timber deck that overhangs the waters edge of Diamond Pond (all perfectly set-up to throw a line into the clear-as-glass and well stocked lake while sippin' a red in the sun and watch the gridiron on the 60" BigScreen TV inside). Or build a model-railway alongside all that...:doh:

The banter, laughs and animated talk takes us to the clapboard-garage at the other side of the dirt-road where 4 snow-mobiles are suspended under the ceiling.

SUSPENDED!! 4 bloody 1/2ton 3-seaters chained under some short girders to prevent them "freezin to the floor.... 6" deep, buddy!!...when there's a bit of a snow melt up the hill, you know?...the water runs through here and freezes everything solid"
No, I don't know...but I sure believe it!! :eek::eek:
If you ever....EVER!!...get to Diamond Pond in northern New Hampshire....make sure you'll follow the tiny gravel road right to the end.
Then take the model-railway from there!!
:drool::drool:


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John_Johnny

Long Timer
Love the miniature railways. Next time we do a Longwood lunch, we should do the Kerrisdale miniature railway as well.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The gravel of the Bear Rock Rd. got us back to the asphalt, tacking north to the nearby Canadian border (while Maine is only 10k's to the east), stocking up on some excellent supplies of the 30-flavour strong fudge-bar at the Second Connecticut Lake Roadhouse.


If it could talk...:???:


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A couple of days later we knew EXACTLY what that first sign on French-Canadian soil meant: Up yours with the rough end, you bloody Anglo-Saxon bastards! :killingme
It might have just been this particular pocket/ strip of Canada, but boy, the changes are quite drastic (if one cares to look).


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With the border at the back, looking north into Canada and the small Parc National du Mont Megantic.



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Another thing to get used to... every bloody fence post or cracked dustpan is a "Saint-something":looney::looney:

Never seen to many Virgin Mary's, private shrines, crosses and all sorts of other religious artifacts and prayer paraphernalia in every 2. or 3. front yard
(of private homes, small factories, schools, halls etc etc!!), nailed right next to the front door, "overlooking the yard", mounted to the garage roof etc etc. And we're not talking small figurines or ornaments, oh no...but full-sized statues to 5m tall crosses incl. disco-lights and all!!:eek::eek::eek:


It all starts 20m from the border...


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Tacking north-east into that 60km wide corridor between the St. Lawrence River and the US border to the south, the farmland and green paddocks are gently rolling away...it's somewhat dull and featureless.
Apart from some of the religious stuff...like churches...



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....or Harleys !! :glu:glu (yeah, yeah, bugger off!!...sometimes one just gets desperate :bt)
Saw these beauts standing outside the back of a small, local panel shop.
Had to stop when I saw that delicious custom-Sporty with 23" custom wheels and fat-spokes at both ends, springer front-end and all... :clap::clap:



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The more usual fare around here

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How about a 26" front wheel....
and an arse that doesn't get off the ground, can be used as center stand and needs a running motor to pump up the air-suspension?


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I think I'll better quit here, but that little Sporty I DO like!! :glu

After some more laughs, mumbling around in plenty of broken French and a fresh set of directions (Hallelujah:doh:), it's off to Lac Megantic for the overnight stay, some "proper food!!" and a bottle of red from the Tupperware-crystal on the sun-soaked verandah.

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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
A quick+ dirty map for a bit of "wandering + wondering" up the southern
St. Lawrence corridor

https://goo.gl/maps/wCh1n4xZzsy


Near Saint Gideon de Beauce


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Saint George to Sainte Justine



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A dark and foggy afternoon at Cap Saint Ignace (see where this "Saint" thing is going? :doh::D)


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Due to the inability to lay our hands on some Canuck-Dollars as the local banks didn't like the Aussie-Visa cards, we missed out on the annual beer-fest in Riviere-du-Loup that we just stumbled on by chance....this really isn't one to be missed if anywhere near!!! :so

A dozen local craft-breweries brewing it off for this one, the food is great and the song+dance worth hanging around for....just have some C A S H ! ...no cards taken!


A dripping-wet and foggy morning for a slow 25km crossing of the St. Lawrence...a foghorn-concert across the wiiide river across to Saint Simeon (not running short of Saints on the North-Shore either W-))

https://goo.gl/maps/vixrnxE7LpS2

Ferry website here


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Some glimmer of hope about halfway across...as the foghorn still makes you jump out of your jox every 2 minutes :eek:


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Leaving this behind...

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"Yeah, the paint was cheap, so we used a bit more..."
..thicker than the fog an hour ago.


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Northern bank of the St. Lawrence....and running south-west towards Quebec City.


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Amazing who you meet at the roundabout...


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Drifting further west, along the river...


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