Monday 25 September 2023---We're off away...I don't know if Ron feels that Percé was worth a four-night stay in a two week trip; it's a small place, and in late September, much of it is already closed for the season. I suppose I could just ask him. It was for me, anyway. It's one of those places I just like to be. I wouldn't mind a longer stay sometime, if I could find a place with a kitchen. It's a long way to get here, though. At this stage of things, I doubt I'll be back. I'm glad I got this chance.

The town of Gaspé, 45 minutes or so north, is considerably larger, with a population over 15,000. We do a drive-through, just to see what it feels like. I thought about a night here, not very seriously. There are some attractions that would be worth a look, like the Musée de la Gaspésie, but on the whole I am not much beguiled. Giving it a miss was the right choice.

A half-hour along, we pass through Forillon National Park. I was thinking of repeating the walk Marc and I did four years ago, out to the lighthouse at the tip of Cap Gaspé, but we got a bit of a late start this morning (thanks, Jimmy), and the four-mile round trip is a bit of a stretch for me these days. We opt for a much shorter trail down to a waterfall, but that turns out to be quite a bit steeper than I want to deal with today (thanks a bunch, Jimmy). Ron goes down, while I content myself with a glimpse of the falls through the trees.

We stop at Cap-des-Rosiers to view the memorial to the victims of the wreck of the Irish famine ship Carricks of Whitehaven, the lighthouse, and the Cimitière des Ancêtres, all visited four years ago. [A recently-made documentary called Lost Children of the Carricks traces the roots of the local Kavanagh/Kavenay family back to Sligo. As of this writing, I haven't found a way to view the complete film, but you can see the trailer, and find more information, here. Coincidentally, one of the musicians who composed and performed music for the film is Kate Bevan-Baker, bandmate of my friend Pat in Montreal.]

We head off along the coast. I had some trouble deciding where to stay this evening--of the places I stayed with Marc, Rivière-au-Renard is too close, and Ste-Anne-des-Monts is too far. I settled on the hotel at Grande-Vallée. I'm a bit nervous about a small independent hostelry in a little town in pretty much the middle of nowhere, but it turns out to be a good choice. The owners are an ambitious young couple who are working hard to provide accommodation at a high standard. The room is nice, the restaurant is excellent, and the view of the bay from our deck would be lovely, if it weren't too cold to sit out. We drove by the pub in the village, over across the water, on the way in, and I'm wondering whether the denizens are as welcoming to tourists as the hotel. We won't find out tonight.