Local day trip to Little Lakes and Ball's Bridge

Maitland River

This time of year we like to do little day trips around our area. Fall leaf colours are just starting around here, a bit later than some earlier years. It was still a great day to roam around some back roads.

Even before we got to our nominal destination, it's an enjoyable ride:

From an active bridge over the Maitland River

Someone has a nice back yard

Not too much colour yet around the Little Lakes, but starting to show:

Do you see the Heron?

 

Here's a fuzzy enlargement of the Heron

Ball's Bridge is a historical bridge over the Maitland River. So many of these old bridges have been demolished as they became unsafe for highway or even farm wagon loads. Luckily this bridge was saved in 2007, and has had some recent enhancements for recreational use. 

If you're interested in some bridge construction details and why it is of historical interest, here's a link to more info and more pictures:

 <Ball's Bridge History>

  

The bridge has been cleaned up since we were last here, maybe a year ago. It's a nicer picnic spot now, and we enjoyed our picnic lunch here.

It's great to see an old bridge repurposed like this. You can see that access for large vehicles is prevented, but pedestrians (and likely snowmobiles and ATV's) still have access. Notice the comfy Adirondack style chairs, with little tables too:

The view while sitting in a chair is a bit limited...

Standing up improves the view

Someone built an Inukshuk from river rocks

The red chairs we used for our picnic lunch

 

Something has been added here we've never seen before, to help with launching a canoe or kayak into the river: 

It can even help for people in a wheelchair

The gravelled paths coming down to the dock and up to the bridge are reinforced with a plastic grid, helping with wheelchair use or even walking. The grid makes the gravel path much more stable.

Just a few hours on a nice fall day.

 

 

 

 

 

From Camping Transit PQ to home, 2 days

Sunday, Sep 13 

We took no pictures the last 2 days, at least none that were keepers. We did start to see some nice leaf colour starting to develop in some areas.  

Because we wouldn't be trying to get home today we had lots of time, expecting to stay overnight at the Walmart in Kingston, as we have done before. Before we got to Kingston we left the 401 at the Thousand Islands Parkway, and took the scenic route along the St Lawrence River. 

At one point we stopped at a nice lookout and got our lawn chairs out. We'd likely have a picture there, except we no sooner got the chairs set up than it started to rain. The rain continued off and on. I did get a decent nap, and Cathie got in some reading. 

In late afternoon we decided to head in to Kingston and get some supper. Wanting something different, we went to the Me Kong Vietnamese restaurant on Princess Street. Lots of younger people there, students maybe? 

No meal pictures even! Cathie had something lemony with pork and noodles, and a spring roll chopped up and added to the bowl. I had their version of Pad Thai with soy and chicken. Both were really good. We could only eat about half the servings, so had enough takeout for our first supper at home next day.

We did stay at the Belleville Walmart for the night, although it was a bit adventurous. Since the lot is owned by the city and posted for no overnight parking, Walmart can't officially allow overnight parking.  After talking with Walmart Service desk, I read between the lines and decided to stay, well out in the perimeter of the large lot, along with a few other vehicles, hoping to not get kicked out overnight. No problems though, a good quiet night.    

 

 

Monday Sep 14

We decided to take Hwy 7 from where we were, so took #62 north to Madoc and headed west on Hwy 7.  

We ended up going further south that we should have at one point, taking Hwy 7A westerly. But it all worked out well. Traffic was light, and roads were generally good. 

 

Trip distance: 5623 km

Average diesel price $2.50 Cdn/ltr, high was $2.96 /ltr in a Quebec fillup

Mileage average 8.6 L/100K , 27.4 mpg US 

In Ontario diesel prices were generally $2.35 to $2.50. The prices went up everywhere while we were away, so the return trip was more expensive than the outgoing. The van has a good long range which gives some flexibility as to where and when to fuel up. 

If you've made it this far, thank you for following!

 

 

From Camping Gaspe NB to Camping Transit near Quebec City

Sunrise at the campsite

A long travel day today. We hadn't really planned it that way, but it got us positioned to head home a day sooner than we expected.  Good weather today, a fine day to tour part of the Gaspe Peninsula.

 

The morning views from our Camping Gaspe site really made the site:

 

We mostly followed Rte 132, which runs along the Gaspe coast. It's not a high-speed road, with its hills and curves around inlets:

 

A lighthouse overlooking part of northern Forillon Park

No tours for us today

 

Much of the Gaspe drive has attractive rest stops spaced just a few kilometres apart. The drive is somewhat similar to the Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Nova Scotia. We stopped at several of the viewpoints along the way:

 

 

It really is a coastal drive. Sometimes roads look like coastal drives on a map, but disappoint in reality. When the winds are blowing here you can feel the salt spray. They weren't that strong today, but on our previous tour in 2014 they were, and the views are still there:

 

Contruction sometimes, repairing washed-our pavement

 

Sometimes see large ships navigating the St Lawrence River

 

As we approached Rimouski, still on Hwy 132 Ouest, we were thinking we were done for the day. Nice as Rte 132 is, it's tiring driving.

However at one point before we got into Rimouski, a road sign offered us a left turn to get to Hwy 20 Ouest, part of which makes up the Trans Canada in Quebec further west. We decided to try it, for the first time as we didn't know the option existed this far east. Slightly inland and still just 2 lane but clearly a main highway, Hwy 20 (Jean-LeSage Parkway) bypasses the rest of the towns on 132, and at Riviere Du Loup joins the Trans Canada, becoming a 4-lane highway. 

So we got much further than we expected, camping at Camping Transit again as we did on our way east, just east of Quebec City. All pictures today were from Cathie and her cell phone.

 

 

    

Campbellton NB to near Gaspe PQ

Perce rock

 

Today we broke camp from Sugarloaf fairly late for us, about 10 am. We slept in til 8, also unusual (okay, I was up for an hour or two earlier). In bed by 9, catching up on some sleep. 

We just followed Hwy 132 along the coast almost to Gaspe. We were heading to stay in Forillon park overnight but didn't quite make it. Anyway, today we had more coastal views. Baie des Chaleurs is large by itself,and when backed by the Gulf of St Lawrence can seem like a real ocean.

A line of RV's camped on a sand-spit caught our eye, so we went in to see what it was all about. 

Several campers towards the middle of the spit

 

 

Another lighthouse at the end, but not interested after yesterday's tour

Beach area near the lighthouse with a few brave souls enjoying the day

 

Further along, another unique camping option:

It looked rustic all right.

We crossed over many inlets today:

 

 

We didn't stop too much. For some reason we both felt pretty tired today. A bit stiff too, from the walking and steps we did yesterday. Those activities are getting harder for us to do. 

Here's a couple of the many churches we saw today. Some recurring architectural themes for the RC's:

 

Perce Rock was nicely visible today, and we got several pictures with varying light. It can really look different in different lighting:

A tour boat getting real close. Safer than a glacier!

 

The afternoon light can make it glow

A note for anyone driving to Perce - be aware there are several  hills on Hwy 132 with significant grades uphill and downhill, and curves. Not really a place for learning to drive your big rig.

We're not sure where we were when Cathie spotted a couple of freighters coming to port somewhere nearby:

Tonight we are camped at a small campground called Camping Gaspe, near the town of Gaspe. We got a nice waterview site, with electric and water. We've been getting sites with electric since the overnight temps are usually single digit C, and running the electric heater overnight is safer than our little propane heater. 

In the distance we can see buildings on a sand-spit again, and a bridge. So maybe the sand-spit is part causeway? We'll be going by it tomorrow. 

 Tonight we cooked up our sea bass, in a real nice setting:

 

I wish I could say the sea bass matched the setting. We both found it rather blah, and likely wouldn't do it again ourselves. I expect it would be better if cooked differently. We simply salted and peppered, then cooked the skin side first then flipped it once. All according to some instructions we found online. They sure looked and smelled nice though.