Thurso and Wakefield, Quebec

Mont-Tremblant sans low cloud.

Of course the sun came out as we were preparing to leave Mont-Tremblant. This is the view from our accommodation.

We drove down from the mountains to the Ottowa River east of Ottowa to Thurso, Quebec. Why? About ten years ago we visited Thurso in the far north of Scotland because some of Phil's ancestors lived there and one migrated to Australia in the 1850s. So when we saw the name on the map in Canada we decided to visit. Both towns have been cold when we visited.

Ottowa River, Thurso.
There was a bird-watching hide nearby.

Farm at Thurso

Ferry across the Ottowa River at Thurso.
How many ferries are there in Canada?

We then skirted around Ottowa and went to Wakefield. Where we saw a young black bear crossing the road in front of us. We were near houses so it was unexpected but a local told us that this year, following a very hot summer, food is scarce and the bears are coming down to check out bird feeders and rubbish bins. They haven't been aggressive at all but I wasn't taking chances with this one, and stayed close to the car and checked to make sure its mum wasn't behind me!

Young Black Bear, Wakefield.

Private jetties, Gatineau River at Wakefield, Quebec

Covered bridge over the Gatineau River at Wakefield.

Gatineau River

Covered bridge at Wakefield.
It was rebuilt in 1997 after the original bridge was destroyed by fire.

A wedding (and tourists) inside the covered bridge at Wakefield. 

A wedding inside the covered bridge, Wakefield.

Mont Tremblant

Ski resort, Mont Tremblant. The mountain is covered in cloud.

Mont Tremblant is famous ski resort in the Laurentian Mountains north-west of Montreal. It is also a town, about 12 km away, that existed before the ski resort was established, and there is another village called old Mont-Tremblant. It's all very confusing but we liked both of the older villages and only drove into the ski village to have a look. There are several gondolas that take you up to a hotel half way up the mountain or to the top to another venue. And there are ski lifts of course. But we couldn't see any of that because the cloud was so low and there was misty rain.

Lake Tremblant

Waterfall, Diable River

Waterfall, Diable River

Lake Moore

Almost all of the businesses in the town of Mont Tremblant have pumpkins on display. Carved, or not, pumpkins are traditionally placed on the front porch during the Halloween season. Some people go to a lot of trouble with their displays.

The Rivers Route, Quebec

Highway 155 south from Lake Saint-Jean. We started with a plan to visit an open air heritage museum called Val-Jalbert but we ditched that because of persistent rain and near freezing temperatures and ended up just driving south through beautiful river valleys and past lake after lake.

Just north of La Tuque we saw another covered bridge. This one, called Thiffault, was built in 1946.

Thiffault bridge, La Tuque

Ski runs at La Tuque, Quebec

It was at La Tuque we met with some hunters who were on their way to a butcher with the moose they'd just shot. The heads were on their vehicles like trophies. They said they'd been looking for a moose for 20 years and these were the first they'd found! I thought if they were that rare in the area they would be protected. Apparently not.

As we got further south the weather started to clear and became quite hot (25 degrees) and humid. At one spot, an entrance to the Maurice National Park, there were a few flowers and they were covered in insects so I dug out my macro lens and indulged myself.

Fungi