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| CANADA |
OLD LABRADOR
Next town along our route is that of Riviere-St-Jean and this looks as if it's a nice and pretty place too.
The river, on the other side of town, called the riviere St-Jean in case you haven't worked it out, has a couple of claims to fame in that
This was not a pretty sight however. In fact it is quite depressing.
I've seen a sign like this before, and that was also in a First-Nation community. Many people claim that alcohol is what wrecks many a First-Nation community and while I would not find it easy to disagree, I also note the apparent total refusal of the Quebecois Government to be inclusive.
We'll talk about the abandonment of the English-speaking communities in due course, but one thing that you will note all through Quebec is that in the drive for Francophonie, it's not just the English-speakers who are being repressed but also the First-Nation Canadians.
You'll never see an official sign or an official form in Quebec written in English. Regardless of whether or not you agree with that, you'll never see one in a First-Nation Language either and that is never right because, after all, the First-Nation Canadians were here first and that gives them many rights.
Some of the most important rights that they should have is the right to address a Government official - whether verbally or in writing - in their own native language, and the right to have their home towns signed up in their own native language too.
The denial of these rights by the Quebecois authorities brings shame upon the authorities concerned, not that they will ever lose much sleep over my remarks.
Alcoholism is one of the major causes of domestic violence, to be sure, but exclusion and despair are amongst the major causes of alcoholism.
Personally, for what it's worth, I reckon that it's high time that some of these minority groups began to assert themselves.
So here's the riviere St Jean, with the town down at the far end of the promontory. As I mentioned earlier, the river marks the old frontier and we are now passing into what used to be part of Labrador.
There are many people whom I encountered along my route who dearly wished that it was still part of Labrador too, and I can't say that I blame them either. We'll be talking at great length ... "groan" - ed ...about "the Forgotten Coast" in due course
Longue Pointe de Mingan is another one of those places that is an extremely long and narrow village, stretching for quite some distance along the shore of the St Lawrence. The first settlers came here in 1849 from the Gaspesie.
The town is something of a recreational area for those interested in wildlife, including birds that look like puffins, I suppose. I wouldn't know about this kind of thing, having no interest in this kind of bird, but my travelling companion Strawberry Moose engages them in conversation.
Whales are quite plentiful off the shore here. Not for nothing is Highway 138 out here known as the Route des Baleines and all kinds of boat-trips to see them can be organised here.
Strawberry Moose prefers to see them from close up of course, and takes a little ride on the back of one of the aforementioned.
In the background you can see the beach here. The town owes its name to a long sand-spit that stretches out into the Gulf of St Lawrence, part of the impressive array of beaches that we have been encountering on our travels and for which the North Shore is quite famous.
There was nothing of the urban environment that was interesting to photograph, although this sign at the camp site did bring a little smile to my face.
It reminded me of the time that I overheard an American man tell his daughter
"No, you can't go to Monte Carlo to see the motor-car racing. And in any case, it's pronounced 'Gron Pree'"
On leving the town, I had a quick glance up a side road into someone's driveway and there was an old Jaguar parked up there, would you believe? I'm seeing dozens of old Jags on my travels around Quebec. They must have been really popular here back in the 1970s and 1980s.
A short drive along the coast finds me at the village of Mingan, which is another First-Nation Canadian village inhabited mainly by the Innu. It straggles a little all over the place and it's not particularly neat and tidy. Just my kind of place, in fact.
The church that you can see in the distance is said to be decorated with Innu carvings and is well-worth a visit but like most things involving Yours Truly and tourism, it's never open when I happen to be passing. The bush telegraph is truly a remarkable instrument.
You'll also notice in the photograph, right in the centre next to the church tower, another one of these orange boards. There was another one further inland and, for all I know, one right near the harbour as they always seem to be installed in threes.
They always seem to be "stepped" - the ones further inland are higher than the ones closer to shore.
Despite the fact that the one that we saw at the harbour mouth at Riviere-au-Tonnerre would have lured us onto the rocks, I can't see what else they might be but line-of-sight markers for entering the harbour.
Something else that brought a smile to my face was this sign at the side of the road here. It tells us that there is a menu pour sortir available.
Those of you who know your Français de Paris will know that the phrase is meaningless but it makes perfect sense to any Quebecois, for it's a literal translation of the English phrase "A take-out menu".
Quebec is a great place to come for students of archaic Frence as, with the Province being separated from France for 250 years, the language hasn't evolved any.
Furthermore, many of the more-modern French phrases that denote advancing technology and modern times haven't made it here and so instead of bringing these phrases in use, the Quebecois prefer to use a literal word-by-word translation of the equivalent English phrase.
We've seen lots of examples of this on our travels, but this is the first time that I have noticed menu pour sortir instead of menu á emporter.
And while I was stopped to examine that sign, that old Jag drove right past me.
Now here at kilometre 1202, where have we seen scenery like this before?
And the answer is of course the Labrador Lakes . This looks every bit like th scenery that we were encountering up there.
The islands though have a special significance for they are part of the Mingan Archipelago. And these are said to be well worth a visit due to the fact that by considerable erosion by the waves, the wind and glacial action, they are blessed with the most spectacular rock formations.
There is a season for visiting the islands and, as you might expect, I'm three weeks too early. Story of my life, I'm afraid.
And while I was taking this photograph there was a terrible racket in the background and I couldn't work out exactly what it was. Whether it was an important waterfall or maybe someone operating machinery I really could not tell, but it was a noise of that ilk.
Now everyone whom I've talked to who knows this area reckons that Havre St Pierre is the place to visit. It's said to be one of the most beautiful place along the coast.
I've just now driven past a sign to say that it's a mere 20 kilometres from here, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. I'm calling it a day.
What has happened is that the automatic time adjuster on the clock has suddenly advanced by 90 minutes, suggesting that I might have entered the Newfoundland time zone, presumably upon crossing the riviere St Jean.
And as my adventures for the next couple of days are dependent upon timetables organised by other people, I need to adjust my body clock to be on their time, not mine.
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