…and we’ve been making the most of the blue skies and pleasant temperatures. The past week has been enjoyable, spending a few days with friends visiting from Calgary. They hadn’t been to Quebec City before, and they’ve found it different. This fella soaking up a few rays was noteworthy. Not too sure what it’s all about, but I had to smile:
Why not?!
Keeping it brief as we look forward to the long weekend. We’re heading out to camp for a few days, and hoping the sunshine sticks around.
Sunny in the city
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful long weekend!
Yup, according to a note that popped up last week, I’ve written (and you have endured) 500 posts here on OldPlaidCamper. Nope, got that wrong, so last week. You’ve now endured 501 posts (assuming you’re still here for this one?)
“You lot are lucky – imagine having to listen to each draft…”
Looks like I’ve gotten away with writing more or less the same thing 500 times. Man goes for walk with dog, then has a beer. Sometimes rants at the unpleasant oddity of so many right wing politicians and populist xenophobes. Asks himself has the world gone quite mad? Has another beer, decides to go camping. And repeat…
Has the world gone quite mad? Dunno – let’s go camping!
Thank you for reading and commenting – I enjoy the little online corner we share through our blogs. Friendly people with some degree of coinciding interests and concerns, never dull, always respectful and good natured, and so much fun – that’s you, not me.
Good nature
I’ll see if I can keep going for another 500? Hmm, that’s a lot of new beers to try and places to camp, but lets’s give it a go.
Beer 501, beer 502…
We’re away this week, returning to the Saguenay area, our first visit since the black fly incident back in June. There’s been a great deal of rain the past day or two, so here’s hoping those pesky black flies are poor swimmers and those that can swim are not too hungry.
To the Saguenay
I’ll catch up on all matters WordPress when we return. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Yeah, the latter! We went down to the Chaudière-Appalaches region, an area just to the south and east of Quebec City to camp at a quiet spot on the Etchemin River. The days were warm and dry but not hot, something of a relief after a particularly stormy and humid spell.
Camp here? Ok!
The Etchemin is not a mighty river but it is mighty cool, both to sit alongside and to dip a foot or two into the water. Not so deep in dryish high summer, and navigable by canoe if you don’t mind a bump or two. We chatted to a family of four who successfully paddled stretches of the Etchemin without drama, and that was with two youngsters under ten and a dog. It’s got us thinking about giving it a paddle another time…
The Etchemin, man
We saw a couple head down to fish for an hour or two. I don’t know if they caught anything, but did they ever look happy just to be there! A sleepy river? No, not really, more of a tranquil space, one where plenty was happening.
I’m reading “A River Never Sleeps” by Roderick L. Haig-Brown, and thoroughly enjoying it. An account of his fishing life, I’ve only read the opening chapters so far, and what a dry wit he has. The section on mythic fish is tale telling at its best. I know almost nothing about fishing, having barely any experience, but Haig-Brown’s enthusiasm is catching. His descriptions of rivers he loved on Vancouver Island are wonderful. A new title to me, and highly recommended if it’s a new title to you!
Eagles soaring – but not in this photo
Each day we’d sit by the bubbling and chuckling river, the water sparkling in the bright sun. So much to see! We observed several large eagles climbing in circles, higher and higher to reach a certain height, then swoop down in long and graceful glides. Small birds chattered in the bushes and trees lining the river, with some seeming keen to make a start on the ripening berries. It was a delight to watch a heron across from us, moving with that slow and steady wing beat, an almost lazy, effortless flight upriver and away.
The wider region is a patchwork of wooded hills and pockets of cleared farmland, with many, many small streams and rivers. There’s the bustle and busyness of productive agriculture, and in such pretty surroundings the pace seems bearable. It’s easy to romanticize farming life on gentle summer afternoons if you’re not the one on the tractor or in barns and sheds, tending to crops and livestock…
A visit to Frampton Brasse is never a waste of time, and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to try what is produced so locally! Blue skies, a light breeze, long views, excellent beer and a camping spot down by the river afterwards – nope, it’s not time out, and definitely time well spent! How you spend your days is how you live your life and all that. I think we’re beginning to figure out this retirement lark.
Glasses half full
It was hard to drag ourselves away, but the approaching remnants of tropical storm Debby got us packing up and heading home before the worst of the deluge. The Etchemin will be running high as a result, and likely more navigable by canoe than ever? Hmm…
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Drifting and paddling, splishing and splashing. Being by the water on warm summer days – is that about as good as it gets?! We could ask these guys:
Is it this way?Maybe this way?Both ways work – we’re in the right place!Agreed!Cheers!Lake Témiscaming, July 2024The right place?Yes!
By the time this is posted we’ll be off camping, down by a different body of water in the Chaudière-Appalaches. I’ll catch up on all things WordPress next week. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Not in the water. Always my preference, especially after that time paddle boarding when I was distracted by a heron up a tree…
Our week at Opemican, camping close to the Ottawa River, was a hot and sticky series of days, the sort that make being on the water enticing, but wearing a life jacket and working at paddling not part of the deal. Since the weather wasn’t going to get any cooler or less muggy that week, we chose a sunny afternoon, carried lots of water and off we went.
Lake Témiscaming
The section of the Ottawa River we were on is also a lake, Lake Témiscaming, and it is huge, at least 100km long. I’ll be honest and say I reckon we paddled about, ooh, 70, or more like 60, or no, maybe 50, no, actually about six or seven kms! Pretty good, and clearly it’s sensible to save some for another trip…
Due to the heat, Mrs. PC wisely chose to skip this adventure, opting for shade and cold drinks under the trees by our tent. Scout wasn’t bothered either, so it was me, my brother and his partner.
Looking good, totally stable
Young PlaidCamper much prefers a kayak, particularly the little whitewater numbers, over a canoe, and the least worst fit for him was a plastic bath toy that looked ready to sink at a moment’s notice. That left me and his partner K, in a proper canoe, very much on and not in the water. Again, this seems sensible.
Sensible
Goodness it was warm, and goodness, I didn’t mind one jot, because I hadn’t paddled a canoe in years, and it was so good. K and I managed to sort out a pretty good paddling rhythm and away we went. We stayed close to shore for minimal winds and easy progress. And also so my brother, when his mighty kayak swamped, would be able to swim/stagger to safety. Fortunately, this didn’t happen, but boy was he low in the water…
Close to shore
I mentioned in an earlier post how Young PlaidCamper is a bug magnet, and even out on the water this was true. As we paddled along serenely in the canoe, thoughts drifting past at the same pace as the lakeside, the only untoward interruptions came from behind, a combination of cursing and splashing as my brother tried to wash off/drown the flies without tipping himself. Brotherly love meant that I only smiled when he wasn’t looking. He is a funny guy, with a great sense of humour, and the bugs really got at him, yet he was still wisecracking his way through. A tip of the hat – not his kayak – for being such a sport. Those watching along the shore might have been amused and bemused in equal measure.
“What’s he saying? Can we print that?”
We managed a couple of hours before calling it an afternoon, stopping while ahead and reasonably dry. At the rental location, we’d been told there was a waterfall on the Ontario side of the lake, and getting there only involved one section of hard paddling. Well, when we got to the narrow point for crossing the lake, we looked and thought, nope, no way can we make it there and back in the time remaining. Maybe in the canoe, but no way on the sit on top kayak. Another time, when we’ve a bit more muscle memory we can rely on and once I’ve persuaded brother he’d much prefer a canoe…
This is happy?! Yup, as ever, smiling on the inside…
Anyway, we had a wonderful afternoon, and I can’t wait for next time – with Mrs. PC on board, we’ll be paddling a different lake on a cooler September afternoon a few hours east of home. I don’t think my brother is joining us for that one…
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
OldPlaidCamper 