It used to be that, traveling on a budget, we always sought out a campground. Staying in a motel was only an option if the weather was bad or we couldn’t find a campground.

Now in our elder years, we are a little more inclined to seek out a bit of luxury. A comfortable bed is nice. So is a meal that is not ramen noodles. Fortunately, at this point in our lives – our kids are on their own and college educations are paid for – we have a little more disposable income.

We carry camping gear because it gives us options. Maybe there is no motel available. Or maybe there’s a campground with a view and amenities that is too good to pass up. And carrying our stove, cookware, and food allows us to cook our own breakfast or dinners when staying in a motel if there is no restaurant nearby.

I had emailed several campgrounds ahead of time and they all said we didn’t need a reservation. We only made one reservation ahead of time, for the third night when we stayed in a bed and breakfast in Ste. Flavie. After that, we decided that since we abandoned our itinerary we’d just wing it. That worked out okay because we were traveling just after the main tourist season had ended. We always found a room or campsite available.

Our ride around the Gaspée Peninsula took us thirteen days, making twelve nights. We camped four nights, stayed with a Warm Showers host one night, and the rest were motels or inns. In the end, with lodging, meals, and all other expenses, the two weeks cost us about $2000 in US dollars.

Day 1: The plan for our first day was to ease into it with a 40 mile ride to the town of Ste. Florence which has two campgrounds. The campground just before Ste. Florence didn’t look like much so we went on to the second one. It was nice enough but nothing special. The general store in town had limited provisions. It was only 2:30. What would we do all afternoon?

The campground owner was very helpful. First she told us we could stay in a prét-a-camp for a thousand dollars- oops! – her English wasn’t quite correct. She meant a hundred. Then she told us there was a nice campground a couple miles past Causapscal. I said she was giving away business. She said it was owned by her cousin and that it had a pool. That sounded pretty good so we took off, but stopped to check out an inn – the Auberge La Coulée Douce – along the way, in Causapscal. I thought it was too expensive, at $135. Rob didn’t. He said it was probably only $100 in US dollars so we should stay. (It came to $160 Canadian with tax.) The inn had a restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. Afterwards we went for a walk in town along the river. When we woke up to rain, we were happy to have given up on camping. We lingered over a breakfast of crepes with assorted berries, (petit fruit) whipped cream, and maple syrup, waiting for the rain to stop.

Day 2: We had a reservation at a hotel for our third night which we’d already paid for and couldn’t cancel, so we stayed with our original plan of camping at Camping des Bois et Berges on Lake Matapedia in the town of Val Brilliant. We arrived at 2:00 with plenty of time to swim and play a game of mini-golf. The local grocery store had cooked spaghetti with meat sauce that we heated for dinner. Cole slaw and a red pepper rounded out the meal, not nearly as elegant as the previous night, but you couldn’t beat the view.

Day 3: We arrived at the Auberge Centre d’Art Marcel Gagnon, combination art gallery, bed and breakfast, and restaurant, in Ste. Flavie around 2:00. This was probably the most unique and fun place that we stayed at. After showering and wandering through the art gallery we sat outside by the water watching the tide come in while eating sandwiches and fresh strawberries, napping, checking our itinerary, and admiring the artwork in the water.

Marcel Gagnon’s artwork extended to the outdoors, surrounding the buildings and even going into the St. Lawrence river.

Day 4 was another day of not sticking with our original plan. We arrived in Matane around 2:00 after riding only 34 miles. I wanted to keep going. The campground we’d picked out wasn’t very nice and the town seemed like mostly strip malls. This would be the largest town we’d come to and the only one with a Tim Horton’s, which is where we hung out while we looked for a place to stay further down the road. We found a youth hostel, Auberge Jeunesse du Manoir des Sapins, ten miles away in Sainte-Félicité, that didn’t have any private rooms available, but it did have a camping option for $20/person.

When we arrived the first thing I saw was the Café Crêperie sign which got me all excited. Sadly the café was closed, but it would be open for breakfast.

This turned out to be a great place to stay. We were able to take advantage of all the amenities of the youth hostel which included a kitchen and indoor lounge area. The only drawback was smelling and seeing all the good food the other guests were cooking, when all we had was a meager meal of instant mac and cheese. After dinner, when it was too cold outside, we relaxed in the closed café where we returned in the morning for a breakfast of fruit crepes.

Day 5: With a tail wind all day we mastered half a dozen climbs quite handily and after 43 miles stopped in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts where we found a motel with a lovely setting on the river, the Motel Beaurivage. After snacking, relaxing, and showers, we walked over a mile along the water to the grocery store then over a mile in the other direction to dinner. We found a restaurant at the Motel Manoir sur Mer with a beautiful view of the water. (If you understand French that should be obvious.) We shared an appetizer of sea scallops (three of them!) in a maple syrup glaze which was superb. Rob had seafood lasagne and I had seafood crepes, pretty much the same seafood in a white sauce just in a different presentation. While we ate we watched the sunset. Several of the guests were so impressed with it that they left their tables to get up and take pictures.

Day 6: Weather that is perfect for cycling can be too cold for camping, especially with wind. After convincing Rob that it was too early to stop when we arrived in Mont-Saint-Pierre around 1:00, we continued on to Madeleine Center and found a room at the Hotel du Rocher, which also had a restaurant. Not as classy as the one from the previous night, but it, too, sat right on the water. This was where I tried poutine with shrimp. I can’t recommend it.

Day 7: This was the day we started the very hilly stretch so only rode 31 miles to St. Yvon. There was only one motel – the Motel du Cap – and at first glance I thought it was closed or just a long-term rental place. It looked pretty run-down and only had a small sign further up the road. It was not as cheap as its appearance would suggest – $100 Canadian – and I wondered if the proprietor was taking advantage of an American. (He wasn’t.) It was nice enough – clean is all we really care about when there are no other options. Again, it was right on the water so we had a nice view out the window. This place was not worthy of any photos.

Day 8: We were riding in rain when it came time to set up camp but we didn’t care because we were heading for Des-Rosiers Campground in Forillon National Park where I assumed they would have a shelter. They did.

The rain stopped shortly after we arrived. We had a quiet, private campsite. In the morning we took a walk down to the water.

Day 9: We arrived at a campground in Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie which was across the street from the water and just a patch of grass with a picnic table, not very nice. Rob noticed that the golf course across the road had a sign that advertised “chambres,” his French good enough to realize that meant rooms. We went to check it out and a room only cost $89. It was really nice and we were able to cook our dinner on a private deck outside. In the morning we had breakfast outside at the golf course diner.

Day 10: In Percé we stayed at Camping Côte Surprise with incredible views.

Day 11: After 49 miles we arrived in Port-Daniel-Gascon. We hadn’t planned on stopping but the afternoon had been a bit rough with headwinds and hills so we were ready to be done. Fortunately we found a sweet family-run motel right in town. We were met in the office of the Motel Villa Anna by a mother-daughter team. The daughter spoke fluent English and the mother was intent on showing us everything about the room. Our only disappointment was that we didn’t know about the hot tub until we were ready to leave the next morning. (It was next to the pool which we didn’t explore because it was too cold to swim.)

The Motel Villa Anna had a community feel. The owners lived in a house at the end of the driveway. I asked if they sold all those chairs and the daughter said, no, her father just wants to make sure there are enough for everyone. Similar chairs sat outside every room. Judging from the trucks and vans outside, this was a place where people stayed when they were working jobs in the area. In the evening a couple men sat talking on one of the glider swings.

Day 12: We had the good fortune to find a Warm Showers host for our last night on the road, an evening when we knew it would be raining. We made it to Bruce’s home in New Richmond about an hour after the rain had started. Bruce’s home had been in his family for several generations. Built by his great-great (or maybe just one great-) grandfather as a general store and post office as well as a home, it has seen a number of additions and renovations over the years. A retired educator, Bruce is committed to caring for the home so that his daughters can someday inherit it.

We spent a cozy rainy afternoon learning about Bruce’s life as an educator in various part of Quebec. During the last few days we’d discovered that not all of Quebec is French. There are pockets of English-speaking folks and there are schools that are English schools. Bruce, who is English but bi-lingual, filled us in on all of the complexities of this.

And he fed us well with pasta and a delicious homemade spaghetti sauce. I wrote down the recipe.

Unfortunately, with the rain we were unable to sit outside and enjoy the views from Bruce’s backyard. But it was a stellar way to spend our final night on the road.