Complete contrast to yesterday weather-wise. Grey, cloudy and around 14 degrees with every prospect of rain.

Once again, we had breakfast delivered to the room in takeaway boxes. This time it was a bagel with egg and bacon, plus two hash browns again and a very large cookie. This last formed part of our car snacks.

After checking out, we popped down to the waterfront to take a couple of shots of the St. Lawrence, as we’ll be finally leaving it behind today, and a bloody great recently stone-built church.

I’d decided to follow the advice given to us by the gent in the tourist office and follow Highway 132 all the way around the coast, as it was supposed to be far more scenic and interesting than cutting across the Gaspé peninsula, although quite a bit further. It pretty much follows the southern edge of the St. Lawrence Seaway before it continues to stick to the coast and curves southwards towards the actual towns of Gaspé and Percé, the latter being our destination for the next two nights. The screenshot below may give some perspective:

The advice from the tourist office was spot-on. It was a lovely drive, despite quite a bit of rain. It required a lot of concentration, as it was twisty and hilly for much of it, with Google Maps constantly entreating me to take a different route until it finally threw in the towel.

There was now a much greater sensation of getting into the rural parts of Québec province. Lots of small communities along the way, fortunately with petrol stations, with mainly wooden houses stretched out along the road, all with plenty of space between them. Very few towns of any size and very little traffic on the road. Highway 132 has been extended since 1929 specifically to allow tourists to visit this beautiful peninsula.

After about three hours of very relaxed driving, we pulled over to have a leg stretch and a bite to eat of the comestibles we were carrying in the car. It was raining pretty hard at this stage, but we went for a short stroll anyway.

We pressed on along Highway 132, which had more than its fair share of roadworks. However, at least sometimes you get an indication of how long you have to wait for a green light. A great idea.

Finally got to our destination – the Fleur de Lys motel in Percé. The rain was hammering down at this point and it was windy. Not calculated to raise one’s spirits, which took a further hit when the reception couldn’t find our booking. After a lot of twittering, furrowed brows, apologies and searching through old files, we were finally located and despatched to Room 30 across the road, having reserved a table in the onsite restaurant for tonight’s meal.

Roomy enough, with two queen beds, microwave, fridge and two-ring hob. No plug for the sink, no shower gel, shower over the bath set far too low, manual aircon and a general sense of neglect. Still, only here for two nights….

Went across for our meal. That, too, was a disappointment. Obviously from frozen supermarket packs. It was at least edible, but that’s the worst meal we’ve had since coming to North America. We will be eating elsewhere tomorrow night.

There appears to be a tourist office in the town, so we will make a point of visiting that tomorrow. The weather is at least looking a lot better.

I hope we can find something vaguely interesting to impart to you tomorrow. Please check in to see if that is the case.