Quebec and Labrador

1/10 – 21/10/2000

 

We left home in early October;

following the Landrover – which we had shipped to Montreal.

We spent our first few days in Canada with Danielle’s sister (Andrée)

and her family.

Once on the road, we headed up the south bank of the St Lawrence River.  We stopped for lunch at Notre-Dame-du-Portage;

before spending the long Thanksgiving weekend at Rivière-du-Loup.  The Autumn colours

were a beautiful setting for the town’s wooden Victorian buildings.

We took the opportunity to have our heater fixed, before continuing east to Matane; where we took the ferry for the two and a half-hour crossing of the Gulf of St Lawrence;

to Baie-Comeau on the north bank.  We camped by a lake.

Next day,

we passed the Manic-2

and Manic-5

hydro-electric dams on the 500 km, well-graded, gravel road to Fermont,

which, as its name (‘Mountain of Iron’) suggests is a mining town. The locals were making early preparations for Halloween.

It was also the hunting season – not a great time to be a moose!

Next day, we crossed the provincial border into Labrador; pausing at Labrador City to shop.

The roads became increasingly wintry

as we continued north-east to Churchill Falls;

a settlement of 600 people who work at the huge hydro-electric plant.

The chamber for the underground generating station is carved out of solid granite; 1,000 feet below ground.  The reservoir feeding the 11 turbines is as large as the province of New Brunswick.

After a very cold night (the water froze in our tank), and an hour or two in the settlement’s gym and sauna,

we drove the remaining 300 Km to Happy Valley-Goose Bay – set on the coast of Lake Melville; which opens into the sea.  The town is home to a large military airbase.  During our four days there, waiting for the ferry, we visited the nearby sites.

At, North West River,

we visited John Goudie, an artist who carved the  iridescent labradorite stone,

and bought a carving as a birthday gift for Danielle.

Muskrat Falls is close to an old trading post of the Hudson Bay Company.

On our last day in Goose Bay, one of us took a walk at Lake McLean;

the other visited the studio of Georgina Broomfield, an inuit sculptor.

The ferry from Goose Bay to Lewisporte, Newfoundland,

only runs until November; when the bay freezes over.   We spent two nights in our cramped cabin;

docking briefly at Cartwright on Labrador’s Atlantic coast.