We arrive at Vicent’s home on the outskirts of Quebec City where we will stay for 3 nights, it’s lovely and forested and not far to cycle or drive to most of what we want to see.
Vincent our host had invited us to go ahead and make a fire in his garden, which Alex of course loved and spent some happy time scampering around the wooded garden collecting kindling and wood.
We sat warm and contented by the fire listening to the white throated sparrows singing again, and burned some incense given to us by our lovely friends Martin and Jo and little Zoe (Alex’s future wife apparently 🤣) from home which reminded us of them and many great shared experiences - Gorgeous!
Whilst building the fire Alex invented a lovely concept of “wish sticks” little sticks poked in the fire and set on fire that you then blow out and make a wish 😊 Alex’s first wish was to save the world from being mean which made my heart sing!
Vincent arrived home and joined us for a beer by the fire - a great way to end the day.
Waking the next day was a great feeling knowing we are not moving on and we got out the bikes to cycle the 10km to the Levis ferry which then takes 15 mins across the river to Quebec City. Having breakfast outside in the sun was a joy - definitely warming up but with the warmth come the biting beasties and it’s now black fly season (these are between midgies and mozzies and pack a painful bite!) so lots of deet chemicals, clothing coverage and citronella patches and wrist bands kept us mostly nibble free!
The cycle to the ferry was fab, mostly flat except at the end (massive hills we know we’ll have to come back up!) and a couple of hairy moments on busy roads. We loved the chilled vibe of the ferry ($20 return - bargain) and watching the old city getting larger on the horizon - such a relaxed way to approach the old city.
Exiting the ferry we were straight into old Quebec city, we chose to walk through the lower streets and the stairway up into the higher levels rather than take the little funicular and loved the quaint French style streets.
Alex liked the large canons and endeavoured to sit on as many as he could find and shout boom!!
It was gloriously warm and we stopped for lunch on the terrace of “la buche” which had lots of québécois food and is in the older part of town. We enjoy an amazing lunch of trout and goats cheese pancakes and an equivalent to a “quebecois” breakfast including thick maple rqoasted bacon, home cooked beans, amazing pork balls and mustard sauce and blueberry pancakes. Alex had poutines which he really enjoyed and to top it off we try maple “taffy” on snow. This is maple syrup boiled hot and then it’s a bit thicker and can be squirted onto ice or snow and rolled into a sticky lollipop - it’s yummy!
We spent the rest of the afternoon pottering around the old city with the brightly coloured French style houses and shops and the citadel walls and the Dufferin terrace boardwalk. We wandered around the underground site of the old chateau and marvelled at the most photographed hotel, the Chateau Frontenac, that dominates the old city skyline.
When our legs started to fade we got the funicular back down the hill ($10 for 2 adults one way), grabbed some amazing gelato and went back across on the ferry with the city commuters to pick up our bikes. This commute doesn’t quite feel like it does on the underground in London!
We cycled home (caught me out as it’s a lot colder and I only have a T-shirt and thin jumper) and snuggle into the van.
After the long day previously of city exploring we had a later start and try some of the maple cured bacon we picked up in the local store and drive to Wendake which is a First Nations village of the Wendat people. We’ve been wanting to understand a little more about the First Nations history before the Brits and French came steaming in and colonising Canada and find this guided walk through a recreated Wendat village fascinating. Our guide is one of 4k remaining Wendat people and speaks really openly about both the history of First Nations tribes and the realities of life now in Canada.
Alex is intrigued by the long house where villagers lived and how fish and meat were preserved and wants to build his own beech bark canoe!
Next up is the Montmorency falls which don’t seem to be in the guidebook but were suggested by some locals. We don’t expect much but when we arrive and got to the first viewing areas on rickety wooden steps to the side of the falls we’re blown away by the height scale and power of them! They are 30ft taller than Niagara. I wanted to do the zip line across but it’s sadly closed so we walk the suspension bridge instead which is incredible to see the falls thundering away underneath your feet. We even see rainbows in the mist. We do manage to get on the cable car that takes you to the bottom of the falls and enjoy the shifting view, we walk around the bottom of the falls where they are in the proceeds of building a semi-submerged walkway at the base of the falls. We feel a little sad as it seems that the falls have started to be a little over developed and their natural beauty compromised. From the viewpoints at the falls we’ve seen a bridge over to ile d’Orleans and have read it’s full of wineries and farm shops so pop over there on the way back to Vincent’s. The views here are gorgoeus back across the St. Lawrence river and the whole route is lined by beautiful farmsteads and orchards. We stop at one of the orchards selling cider and wine and sample some in their beautiful orchard in spring bloom in the sun which is magical. We then head to a small microbrewery and have some nibbles and a flight of beer before heading home where we find Vincent and some other boondockers around the fire and we tour each others vans and share a few beers and stories. Vincent kindly gets our some of his beautiful rabbits for Alex to hold, we nearly have a disaster as one escapes and scampers into the woods but Vincent manages to catch it! Lucky is was his daughter's favourite bunny!
Emma
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