from Saguenay to Øresund
4 September 2015
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Friday 4 September 2015--We've gotten lazy the last few days...can I blame
the weather? It's a likely scapegoat at the end of a trip, whether it's good or bad.
Yesterday was a lovely clear day, and this morning is even more brilliant, if that's
possible. We continue along the Route des Navigateurs, the tourist route along
the south shore, headed ultimately for Marc's home in Quebec City.
Just after 11:00, we arrive at Tête d'Allumette, a brewpub pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Well, it's a few miles from Saint-André-de-Kamouraska, a village of 650 souls. And to be perfectly clear, it's only about twenty miles from Rivière-du-Loup. Told you we were getting lazy. The pub is housed in a converted farmhouse, the brewhouse in a newer attached barn. We take our pints out on the terrasse in back, along with a pogo--there is, unfortunately, nothing more substantial to eat. We don't really care. Marc and I agree that this is our favorite brewpub yet. Of course, the crystalline weather has something to do with it, as does the guilty pleasure of a morning pint. Context is everything. We'd be tempted to spend the rest of the day here, admiring the view on the river over a succession of pints, if we didn't have some miles ahead of us. Instead, we roll along the coastal road, passing through the villages of Kamouraska, Rivière-Ouelle, and Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, before stopping in St-Jean-Port-Joli. This artsy town of 3300 is known particularly for woodcarving, as well as its pretty waterfront and marina. And what do you know, there's a brewpub, Ras L'Bock. The pub, above the Café Bistro OK, doesn't open until later in the afternoon, but the bistro is open, and it serves the microbrasserie's beers. We are happy to sit down and have a proper lunch. Now we are in the homestretch. We stick to the coastal road, rather than the faster Autoroute 20, but we have a bit of barn fever, and don't dawdle. Well, except for a pint in Le Corsaire, the brewpub by the ferry terminal in évis. After the sunny terrasses at Tête d'Allumette and Café Bistro OK, Le Corsaire seems rather dark and dismal, I'm afraid. We board the ferry and cross to Québec, then drive to Marc's apartment, where we unload the car. Return to town for dinner at Mille et Une Pizzas, then pints at the familiar La Barberie and La Souche. The former is a co-op bordering the St-Roch neighborhood, which was a gritty area when I first visited Quebec City; it has been largely gentrified in the past decade or so. Of the several brewpubs in town, La Barberie comes closest to embodying the pub spirit we found in the microbrasseries out in the hinterlands. It also has what might be the best terrasse of any pub in the city, looking across a quiet back street to a well-treed park. La Souche is at the far end of Limoilou, a working- class sector of town close by the paper mill. This area seems to be getting a sprucing up, too, in the past few years, although I doubt it will ever be as trendy as St-Roch. [St-Vallier, just beyond St-Roch, seems to be where the trendies are migrating; in March 2016, we visited Griendel, another new brewpub there.] We retire to Marc's apartment for the evening. We have a few beers left over from the cooler, and stay up a bit too late drinking them, and talking about the places we've been. This afternoon, we were anxious to get off the road. Tonight, we are not quite ready for our journey to be over. Next |
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Along The River
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Near Notre-Dame-du-Portage
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Les Pèlerins
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Les Pèlerins
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Tête d'Allumette
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Brewhouse
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Tête d'Allumette
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Tête d'Allumette
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Tête d'Allumette
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Sunny Pints
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Pogos
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Kamouraska
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Kamouraska
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Quai-de-Rivière-Ouelle
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Quai-de-Rivière-Ouelle
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View To Kamouraska
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Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies
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View To Le Massif
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Pilier de Pierre
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Ras L'Bock
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Sunny Pint
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Église Saint-Jean-Port-Joli
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Église Saint-Jean-Port-Joli
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Corsaire
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Corsaire
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Ferry To Québec
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View Downriver
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Approaching Québec
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Mille et Une Pizzas
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La Barberie
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La Souche
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