The Island of Doctor Coudres

The Charlevoix region has a dramatic landscape containing rolling terrain – with great lookouts into the Saint Lawrence River I may add – fjords, headlands and bays that will captivate even the most seasoned of tourists. Whether you visit national wildlife areas such as Cap Tourmente, important art and cultural centres such as Baie-Saint-Paul or music festivals in Le Domaine Forget, you will quickly fall in love with the region and never want to leave. Just remembering all this makes me want to hop into the car for a long drive.

With my old pal, Jacques

I especially enjoyed Île-aux-Coudres, a small island named by Jacques Cartier during his adventures through the Saint Lawrence River in the 1500s. The name for this off the beaten track destination originates from archaic French meaning hazel tree (coudriers). They must have had some fabulous homemade Nutella back in the day. The only way to tour the island is by hopping aboard the local ferry service. Bring your bike if you are an avid cyclist. The typical ferry route runs from the town of Saint-Bernard-sur-Mer and docks on the shore of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive.

This once-isolated community survived primarily on fishing porpoise and by building boats. Taming the seas was much more important back then as commercial airliners had really bad service in flight – sorry for the bad joke, I just had to do it. There aren’t too many commuters these days that get to work by boat or Jet Ski. Tourism is now their main bread and butter and like I have shared several times, they really know how to take care of you in Quebec. There are several historic sites to visit such as old mills and farms, pleasant country style hotels to spend a romantic holiday and plenty of local crafts to bring back for your dearest friends and family.

The Ile-aux-Coudres is also well known for its apple products, something I was not aware of at the time. If you are a knowledgeable individual in this department, able to tell the difference between a Fuji and a Gala apple, power to you my friend. For me it’s Granny Smith or bust. The real nectar of the gods in my mind is apple cider. There certainly is nothing like a warm cup of apple cider on a cold winter evening, am I right? Just make sure when you pick it up and take a swing, it’s not actually a 4 liter jug of apple vinegar – been there, done that… and lived to regret it. Read labels people! If you don’t, it’s usually vinegar.

Maman and Dad in front of an old mill

Now, what can I recommend? I suggest you drive around or cycle throughout the island at your leisure and do plenty of window-shopping. You can easily spend a half-day just wandering around even enjoying a good meal while you are there. In regards to the cidreries (cider houses rule, don’t they), I can certainly recommend the Verder Pedneault, located at 3384 Chemin des Coudriers. Two thumbs up, and throw in a toe while you are at it. The sales people were friendly, helpful and willing to share some secrets on recipes and pairings.

La Malbaie – A Not So Bad Bay

Being second only to Russia in terms of landmass, Canada has a lot of space and nature to play in. Few realize that for us, a 6-hour drive is something we consider routine when we hop into our car heading out for a short vacation. If you come visit someone here and you want to see a lot, be ready to spend a significant amount of time in a car watching the countryside through the window with short pit stops at service centres. In other countries, well… you would be in a different country after spending that kind of time in a car – maybe I am overextending myself, but it all helps in proving a very valuable point that I hope I manage to get to at some point.

A cozy rental property in La Malbaie, Quebec

At the end of the summer of 2005, the Bickfords took an amazing road trip – about 6 or 7 hours driving through Quebec (pretty close to home in Canadian standards) – to la Malbaie. Rural Quebec has curious breaks in the countryside such as Eco-museums selling cheeses and other fine local produce, small sandwich shops to buy your casse-croûte and from time to time, the odd strip club in middle of nowhere – it may be somewhere in the Quebec charter of rights to grant equal access to the ladies of the night. The roadway to the final destination hugs the last stretch of the Saint-Laurent River (also known as the Saint Lawrence River) as it pours out into the bay that coincides with your arrival into town.

La Malbaie sits on this great bay – originally named The Bad Bay in olde French – but there is hardly anything bad about it. The pirates and buccaneers have long left, so the crime rate has tanked. The main drag has a small shopping centre with the bare necessities such as a Metro supermarket, clothing stores (picture local brands you never heard of instead of Saks Fifth Avenue) and a trusty Société des alcools du Québec. We were able to buy most of our provisions for our stay there, including horsemeat – I know, it sounds like an animal rights violation – smoked trout, ostrich cold cuts and other meats that would haunt any strong defender of a hardcore vegetable diet.

As the Bickfords are usually discrete individuals, we booked perhaps the biggest vacation home in the whole village. Three people rented a house for 12 people over an entire week. It belonged to an American industrialist back in the early 1900s. In our defense, it was actually cheaper than a small, roach patrol cottage in Ontario and we needed the space of course. Now, I don’t mean to be unpatriotic towards my dear birth province but Quebec does know how to take care of their people and visitors. First impressions are everything, don't you know. The house sat at the highest point of a hill, looking over the town out at the bay and on a clear day, you could make out Rivière du Loup in the distance.

The barbecue in all its glory

Road trips may be quite long in this country but they certainly are worth it for a change of scenery and relaxation. Most areas that service many tourists tend to shift the environment, overwhelming locals and even other visitors. Travellers tend to forget their common sense back home – don’t leave home without it - and respect for others. The region used to be a vacation spot for the rich and famous Quebeckers and Montrealers who stayed at the Chateau Richelieu - a still very pricey resort hotel now managed by the Fairmont hotel chain. I highly recommend this destination for peace, whale watching, fine meals and your budget can go a long way.