 | CANADA |
| CANADA |
POINTE LEBEL
There's another side-road that I encounter, and 6kms along there is a covered bridge, so the signpost helpfully tells us. That has to be worth an investigation.
There's a plate affixed to the bridge with the legend "1945" and so that would seem to me to be the date of construction.
There's also a mention of Emile Lapointe and so I wondered if he might be the designer. However it turns out that he was the Minister of Culture and communications of Quebec, and so one imagines that the bridge is named for him.
It's 104 feet long, by the way, and crosses the Riviere St-Athanase Ouest
Another thing here is a cute little hand-painted notice inside the bridge On te Salue, Grandpère Emile ...etc. etc. ... ""We Honour You, Grandfather Emile", signed by Ti'Louis "Petit Louis".
And this has made me think too.
On our travels around Eastern Canada, we play a couple of games
I'm now going to add a new category to this list
But if we can manage to leave aside the polemic for a few minutes, we can admire the view from here, because as you can see, it was certainly a view well-worth admiring.
I've come from the Pointe des Outardes right over there across the bay and you can see the attraction of the place from here. The fact that we are having some of the best weather that I have experienced for ages certainly contributes to that.
Maybe we should add another category to our list of objectives
There's so much wind around here that I'm astonished that there aren't any wind farms along the North Shore of the St Lawrence. A considerable amount of energy could be created from the wind along here - maybe not as mush as from hydro but certainly without the unpleasant and unwelcome environmental disasters that a barrage and lake create.
I don't recall seeing a single commercial wind turbine along the whole North Shore, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of private turbines that I've noticed.
There is one right here at a house close to the covered bridge, but it isn't rotating. It's going to take something of an effort to make it move again if they don't cut down all of the trees that have sprung up around it.
Another thing that I've noticed is the solar water heater up on the roof. That's quite impressive too. I couldn't see if there are any photovoltaic panels - they would be on the other side of the roof - but they would earn their keep too in a situation and in a sky like this.
And so the overall verdict of this little scenic detour - "yes, very much so - well worth the effort".
Here's another thing too that I haven't mentioned. Yesterday, we didn't spend even a single penny - well, I'm talking in monetary terms here of course. That must be something of a record.
I could do with a few more days like that as the budget does need easing a little. But it won't be today. I need fuel and I need food supplies, especially if this little project that I have in mind comes to fruition.
There's a signpost for the airport a couple of miles out of Bay Comeau and so I'm tempted to go for a wander around. And as something of a coincidence, the airport is exactly 400kms to the metre from where I fuelled up at Quebec. How bizarre!
Cancel the idea of going for a wander around because even in an out-of-the-way place like this, it's "pay to park", "pay to park", even for a quick 5 minutes.
I'd like to go inside the terminal and find some details about flights into the interior, because with two flights daily to Québec City, this opens up all kinds of possibilities. But you can't really if you are going to have to pay for the privilege of doing it.
And you can't even sneak in because it's all camera-controlled these days. Surveillance cameras are in operation, so the sign says. God how I hate them.
It's quite ironic really. The West spent 50 years and more plotting the downfall of the Soviet Union. How the West criticised the USSR for the soldiers standing on street corners keeping watch on the population, and how they laughed at the concierges of the apartment blocks keeping notes on the inhabitants.
So what is happening in the West 20 years after the collapse of the USSR? The West doesn't have soldiers on the street corners and concierges making notes like the USSR - it has surveillance cameras doing exactly the same thing. And no-one in the West (except for me of course) thinks that it's strange.
I'm waiting for the day that some Western Politician is going to stand up and admit that maybe the Soviets had a point.
People say, in defence of surveillance cameras, that they are necessary to prevent crime and to reassure the public. And indeed this is how the politicians have sold the idea of these cameras to the masses. But here's an interesting quote
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked"
Now here's a question for you. Who was it who said that?
The answer is - the Nazi party's Deputy Leader, Hermann Goering. It's reasuring, isn't it, to see that our Western leaders are putting into practice policies that were espoused by the Nazis in Germany.
One bomb in London 7 years ago and the press and politicians whipped up the entire population into a mass hysteria. 40 years ago there was a bombing in the UK every week and no-one even cared all that much. They were even handing out amnesties to bombers. Canada was giving free passage to Cuba to its Quebecois terrorists in the 1960s.
However, let's not forget that the bombers in those days had white skins, of course.
So concluding yet another good rant, the idea that the airport authorities have of collecting a couple of dollars for 15 minutes parking might have cost them a lot more than that in the long term. I can't go in and make enquiries, so I won't be booking an onward flight out of here.
That's what I call "short-termism".
And then, having said that, long-term parking is only $4:00 per day here and that is not extortionate for an airport - not by any means and that opens up a few possibilities as well.
So having no luck at the airport, let's go down and look at the camping on the seaside. 12 kms down this particular road just outside Baie-Comeau is the holiday resort of Pointe-Lebel.
And just a cockstride down the road towards Pointe-Lebel, I come to yet another shuddering halt as right across the estuary of the River Manicouagan over there is something of a spectacular view of Baie-Comeau.
But if you take careful note of the beach just here, you'll see why this place is such a well-known resort area. Sunbathing on that at the height of the summer here on the North Shore would at least be possible, if only the fierce wind would die down.
Down at the far end of Pointe-Lebel, it's another one of these roads that just disappears into a shower of dirt and dust. There are acouple of side-roads, some of which are marked "private - for residents only" so we'll have to turn round and go back.
But down here at Pointe-Lebel, it seems to be all these tiny little cottages and chalets ofl different shapes, sizes and colours. Every building seems to be an "individual", which is so nice to see
Many of them seem to have been built to this idea of less that 625 square feet, so that their construction is not controlled.
Having worked in the tourism industry for many years, I'm somewhat cynical about these tourist traps but I'm taken by surprise here because I find it to be all rather nice. And that's a first, isn't it?
Retracing our steps a little into what is the centre of the village, there's a good view of the shoreline here.
The settlement here was originally called Manicouagan, and this Lebel, or whoever he was, was one ot the earliest inhabitants. All that I can say is that he chose an excellent place to settle because the view from here and the surroundings are magnificent.
it's not just the glorious weather either. I bet that this would be just as good in a snowstorm.
I forgot to mention that the road down to Pointe-Lebel leaves Highway 138 at a roundabout, or traffic circle, as The Lady Who Lives In The SatNav calls them.
I remember my surprise at the very first time that I stumbled upon one in North America, meeting one at Pictou in Nova Scotia in 2003, and I did a lap of honour around it in celebration. And then in New Bern, North Carolina in 2005 - my first in the USA.
Today, though, you can't move around anywhere in North America without falling over a roundabout. They've become the new urban status symbol.
But how would North Americans cope with the "magic roundabout" in Swindon when some of them can't even cope with the roundabouts that they have ?
One of the places that was a "must" on my visit here in 2012 was the Manic 1 hydro-electric generating station and dam. When I came by here on my way to Labrador in 2010 I managed to drive right past it without stopping.
Manic 1 is the southernmost of 4 giant dams - numbered 1, 2, 3 and 5.
And why no Manic 4? There was originally supposed to be one but because due to geological difficulties, the work that was necessary to build the barrage of Manic 3 was so substantial in nature that it raised the subsequent lake above the level of where the barrage for Manic 4 was intended to be.
And why "Manic"? No sinister or hidden reason - it's a contraction of the name of the river - the Manicouagan. One imagines that the signwriters were to be paid by the letter.
The barrage certainly looks substantial, doesn't it? But then it has nothing at all on the barrages for Manic 2 and Manic 5, as you will find out if you follow the journey around the Trans-Labrador Highway .
The whole project of building the installations along the River Manicouagan took 20 years to complete and they produce a total of almost 7,000 Megawatts.
Makes my solar panel installation of 1300 watts and my potential wind output (not even 1% available) of 820 watts look pretty insignificant, which I suppose it is, really.
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