In 2014, on my way back from Labrador, I find myself on Highway 138 leaving Baie Comeau and heading in the direction of Godbout.

And you can see why, can't you? On all of the occasions in the past that I've been to Baie Comeau, I'd never managed to cross over on the ferry from there to Matane. This year I had resolved definitively, come what may, to cross over on that ferry and I had been out-manouevred ... "out-PERSONouevred" - ed ... yet again.

The terminal is closed for rebuilding (I have heard on the grapevine that the Camille Marcoux is being put out to grass and we are having a new and bigger ferry - hence the rebuilding) and all ferry traffic is being diverted via Godbout.

That gave me an opportunity to photograph the aluminium plant.

I've driven past here several times in the last couple of years but I've never managed to take a photograph. Either I've been in a great hurry or the light has bee wrong, something like that. But today, I can manage a quick 30 seconds with some reasonable light coming from over my shoulder behind me.

I've mentioned before that the plant is known as the "Alcoa Premier Fusion". Alcoa is an acronym for the Aluminum Corporation of America. THat surprised me. I would have thought that the plant would have been operated by Rio Tinto Alcan - the Auminum Corporation of Canada.

The attractions of the site for the smelting of aluminum are twofold
Firstly smelting of bauxite to extract the aluminium ore is a very energy-intensive process. Here at Baie Comeau we have all of the power from the Manic and Outardes hydro-electric plants
Secondly ships come in here to take away the output of the wood pulp plant. No point in sending them in empty - they may as well bring in something with them. Bauxite will be as good as anything else.

In a couple of the ship photos that you saw on a previous page, you'll noticce that Baie-Comeau is ... errr ... situated in a bay. On the way out of town eastwards you drive around the far side of the bay, and if you will excuse the sunlight shining in your face for a moment, you can see all of the ships sheltering here awaiting events.

This gives you a very good idea of the volume of the marine traffic that is handled by the port.

As we continue along the Route Jacques Cartier I notice a turn-off here that is forbidden to vehicles in excess of 57 tons maximum weight. What with vehicles over 64 tons being permitted to travel on the Saguenay Ferry with no problems provided that they have assistance, it's no wonder the roads are in such a mess if that's the sort of traffic that's regularly rolling along the roads.

At kilometre 783, which isn't all that far out of Baie-Comeau, I come to another halt so that I can have a look at Lac Potvin. This is quite nice and picturesque and having a holiday home around the shores of the lake wouldn't be a wasted investment.

And those of you who know your Francais de Paris will know immediately what a potvin is. It's French for a "bribe", and so I bet that there's an interesting story behind this lake somewhere.

However Potvin is also a fairly common Quebecois surname and so the lake might be named for a person. But then what's the story behind his surname because, as we know, many Quebecois surnames are in fact later adoptions of the nicknames by which people were known in Nouvelle France, and not their real surnames at all.

A few kilometres further on we hit the shoreline of the St Lawrence once more, and this is where our route really does become spectacular. And you can see why, too.

This is the view looking eastwards, the direction in which I am travelling, round about the 790-kilometre marker. Way out there across the far side of the St Lawrence is the south shore.

Turning round and looking behind me, I have to clamber over the rocks and peer through the trees (good idea to come here before the vegetation starts to burst forth) I can see the shoreline behind me.

I've come from somewhere over that way, but I can't see the road unfortunately. But never mind. The trees and the rocks and the shoreline will give you some idea of the territory in which we are about to be travelling, and you are not going to be disappointed.

In November 2010 I was on a ferry travelling from Godbout to Matane and away in the distance to the west I saw an impressive cloud of smoke or steam .

My money was on it being something to do with Baie-Comeau, and it looks as if I was correct too because I noticed this view from the top of a hill just around here.

And as I was admiring the view, a gritter drove past me.

Already!

Where did the summer go to?

A little way further on at kilometre 797 I come to another stop to take a photo opportunity. And you can see why, can't you? Thats a small river down there that is emptying itself into the sea.

This road is looking as if it's going to be even more stunning, as I mentioned earlier. In fact it's a pity not to be able to do this part of the road on a big old long-stroke single-cylinder motorbike like an old Norton ES2 or even a Panther.

Here on Highway 138 - the Route des Baleines - when I was here in Autumn 2016 there were several roadworks and it took me hours to negotiate them. I could have sat, made my butties and eaten them in the time that it took me to negotiate them.

I've no idea what they are up to while they were blocking off half of the road, but I did have something of a "Dave Crosby" moment, like
"looking at my mirror and seeing a police car.
But I'm not giving in an inch to fear
because I promised myself this year.
I feel like I owe it to someone "
such as myself, of course.

I'm ill, and it's only a six-week temporary discharge from hospital that has enabled me to come over here to Canada this year. Who knows where I'll be next year?

But that's enough of that right now. The lights have changed to green and we all pull away. The police car behind me pulls out, passes me, and ... goes haring off into the distance leaving me alone.

And so I leave everyone to their own devices and carry on along the road.

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