Tuesday, May 9, 2023: A river which is a sea, and the riddle of the three socks.
Info:
The province of Quebec is the largest in Canada. There are 8.5 million inhabitants in an area of 1.5 million km2. In comparison: In my home-country Austria there are 9 million people in an area of 84,000 km2.
The name Quebec comes from the Algonkin word for “narrow passage”, meaning the river becoming narrow. With its French language and its own culture the province is an independent community in Canada.
Reviere-du-Loup is situated at St. Lawrence River – which is a sea – and boasts of it beautiful sunsets.
My opinion:
Again I came to a place by coincidence, just because this is the spot where the Transcanada Highway – here called Transcanadienne – meets the ocean. This time I stayed for three days and didn’t feel like leaving on the fourth day, so we went away only in the afternoon. I didn’t do anything in these three days, except walking along the beach. And walking along the beach. And sitting at the beach watching the waves. And walking along the beach. And watching the sun go down. I just have to come back in fall!
Diary:
I have arrived in my journey. Suddenly everything is relaxed – als if I was in control of anything! Actually, I keep stumbling from one Oops to the next, but it’s not a problem any more. What I have experienced so far, was nothing spectacular – well, there were of course the Reversing Falls and Lunenburg and Rockwood and Peggy’s Cove and … -, but it was on the whole much more beautiful than I had hoped for.
On the highway between St. John and the St. Lawrence River there are quite a number of traffic signs showing moose. Apart from this the Appalachian mountains are similar to Muehlviertel, the granite highland north of the River Danube in my home-country. Only that even in Muehlviertel there’s no snow in May. And there are no moose. Not yet. Things are changing everywhere. In Alberta a state emergency was declared due to the devastating fires in the woods, which were caused by a drought in spring! Some years ago scientists thought that Canada would be one of the winners of the climate change. In the meantime there is no doubt at all: Nothing and nobody can win in the climate catastrophe.
We were driving north. Leopold kept sliding from his seat and hanging in his seat belt, but otherwise everything went well. We didn’t see any moose. But the sign of a certain fast food company which has a store right next to my house at home and where I take away French fries at least once a week. Large. Well. It’s vegetarian, so it must be healthy.
With a distance of 500 km I had intended to make one or two breaks, so the capital M came in handy. A serving of French fries. Large.
What I got, made me freeze for a moment. Large means something very different in Canada to what it means in Austria. About 50 % more, at a guess. But less expensive.
I ate them courageously, the French fries, they are vegetarian, so they must be healthy.
Back to the drive where we didn’t meet a moose. There are two campgrounds in the town of Reviere-du-Loupe, both situated on a peninsular off the coast. Between the peninsula and the mainland is the mouth of Reviere-du-Loup (Wolve-River) into the St. Lawrence estuary. Yes, I got to know a new word: estuary! This is a bay which was formed by a river and which has tides. The St. Lawrence River is the largest estuary worldwide, and it opens up to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first campground was still closed – which was not mentioned on the website -, but Du Quai had opened two days before. Therefore Annie Way got a nice spot with a view to the sea. As for me, the largest estuary worldwide is a sea. Full stop. If it has tides, it’s a sea. As the Du-Quai-Campground is situated on the inland side of the peninsula, we also had a wonderful view to the town, and we were protected from the sea breezes. Since Norway I have been a little bit wind-harmed. A five minutes’ walk, and I was standing on the other side with the ocean in front of me – the St. Lawrence River.
For three days I didn’t do anything but walking along the beaches, sitting on rockes and looking at the sea, and so on. Actually, I didn’t do anything for three days – and I couldn’t get enough of it!
Well, there was one thing I did. The laundry. The washing machines here are quite different from those in Europe, but that was no problem for me. But then there was the thing with the dryer. I have a disturbed relationship with dryers because I have no experience with them. What an embarrassment in Gaellivare in Sweden, when I had to call the technician to be able to open the dryer! Therefore, since Sweden I have been a little bit dryer-harmed. Loading the laundry was not a problem. Not even the choice of the program. To get two one-Dollar-coins, I only had to ask five people.
40 minutes, the display showed, and the dryer started. After 40 minutes I came back, and the dryer had finished. Okay, the tights were a case for the garbage. No problem. My clothes came out of the dryer happily crackling and spraying sparks. Okay. I remembered in my time in the USA having put in something into the dryer in order not to let this happen. I should be able to find something like that. My favourite T-shirt looked as if I would have to loose weight to be able to wear it again, but this could be a mistake. Even my favourite jeans looked suspiciously small.
What really made me wonder were the socks. Three single socks, all of them black, definitely from my collection, but different. Honestly, I do wear my socks in pairs. Of course it can happen that a sock is left in the washing machine … but I looked for it, there was nothing inside. Three single socks … How could I not have a disturbed relationship with dryers?
So much about the riddle of the socks.
The next time I will come to an ocean when I arrive in Alaska. If I arrive in Alaska.
In the morning I said good-bye to all my camping neighbours who had bravely tried to speak English with me in the past three days, checked out and parked Annie Way at the sea-side. And then I took a walk along the beach.
A very long walk.