nature – Page 8 – OldPlaidCamper

Vallée Bras-du-Nord

Refusing to be put off by our recent black fly challenges (and armed with a new bug screen dome and lotion with possibly high radiation equivalent levels of DEET) we set off for a relatively mountainous region an hour or so northwest of Quebec City.

I was encouraged as the route changed from six lane highway to two lane black top (with narrow single lane bridges over small rivers and streams) to a range road that became a dirt track the last few kilometres. We were hoping for something a little remote – our booking advised no electricity or running water and very little cell coverage (all true) – and when we checked in at the office, the friendly welcome and laidback attitude boded well. Also, yes, the campground a few hundred metres away might not have any modern services, but, bonus, was that a fridge full of cold local beers? Well, I’m not saying, but Mrs. PC seemed particularly happy…

A selection of cold locals – the beer, not the people!

Our site was large, shaded and quiet. Spacious enough to accommodate our tent, the truck and the larger than expected dome tent bug screen. My first apartment was smaller. We put it up over the provided bench and picnic table with room to spare. Great for Scout to wander around “indoors but outside” and off leash.

The black fly count was far lower than our previous outing, and we’d have probably been ok without the screen, but it was pleasant to be able to rustle up and eat meals without any bugstractions.

We’re meeting up with friends/family next week, another camping trip, on the Quebec-Ontario border just north of Algonquin Park. I understand it can be a little buggy there, so we’ll be able to entertain in numbers under the dome. Or if not entertain (yeah, they’ve heard our stories before) then at least be comfortable.

Anyway, back to the Vallée Bras-du-Nord – it is a gem! Mountainous and green, a pretty valley with great hiking and biking trails and lots of camping options. It would be fun to snowshoe or xc ski in winter, and it has the feel of being a fishing place? I’m not too sure of the fishing scene in Quebec. The rivers and streams are plentiful and appear clean to the untrained eye.

We hiked a couple of trails, and our favourite was to the Delaney Falls. My camera was dying, but I managed a few shots. Honestly, if you ever find yourself out that way, the one hour each way hike from Shannahan Information Centre to the falls is a winner. It is leafy and relatively flat along the river valley bottom with a short rise to the falls on well constructed forest trails. Roots, rocks and puddles make it one to watch where you step, but nothing too strenuous, and a perfect length for a warm day. Take bug spray and water and all will be well!

Our evenings were warm, one or two sharp rain showers aside, and the best sight in the later evenings was the lightning bugs. Loved seeing those. Only a few, and flashing on and off through the darkening trees. For me, they made camping seem like, well, camping!

We’re hoping to return in the fall, most likely for a daylong outing to check out the leaf colour and enjoy a vigorous hike on a fresh fall day.

Always friendly, always ready for a hike – any season!

Not too sure about how connected we’ll be internet-wise for the next week or two. I’ll aim to post a short something at the end of the week as usual, and then catch up on my reading after we return home.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Canada Day!

This coming Monday! Happy Canada Day if you choose to celebrate.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I’m so happy to be a Canadian citizen and that Canada is my home. It’s not perfect – is anywhere? – definitely a work in progress, but overall seems to be heading in a positive direction.

So, happy Canada Day this coming Monday. Maybe you’re Canadian, know some Canadians, live near Canada or just like maple syrup?!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Black fly fun

“You’ll love it up there, but, you know, black fly season?”

Can’t say we weren’t warned, but goodness, black fly season is a challenge! I’ve camped in bear country, wolf country and spider and snake territory. I’ve been under canvas in the high desert, the low desert, in rain forests and the mountains. It’s been too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry. I’ve even tent camped in a field in England. None of that, whatever challenges they might hold, came close to black flies in the north woods. Banana slugs and ants? I love you guys. And I’ll never complain about mosquitoes again… (I will, of course I will, but they’re a breeze compared to black flies!)

Hotter and more humid by the day – what could happen next?

We rolled up and pitched our tent in slightly overcast and light-ish wind conditions after a day of rain showers. By the following morning the skies had cleared and if you wouldn’t call it hot, the next day or two were pleasantly warm. One or two black flies, one or two mosquitoes but no big deal. Those flies were waiting for the sudden heat and humidity of day four! A lovely morning, with mid teens temperatures and blue skies. These gave way to a bit more cloud cover, increased humidity, a temperature climb and then the onslaught – onslaught I say – of black flies. Onslaught!

Blue skies, green trees, and no problems!

They were everywhere! Oh how I miss the lightweight drone and whine of a mosquito or two. (Like the regular lightweight drone and whine of a contented PlaidCamper before the onslaught. Onslaught I say!) Music compared to the heavy chainsaw buzzing, dive bombing and all out in your face antics of the black flies. They were relentless! I didn’t get a single bite (Mrs PC picked up a few when one got in her hair above the back of her neck – ouch!) so the several gallons of bug spray worked to some extent, but still they zoomed in and away, over and over. And in such numbers – you simply couldn’t ignore them!

After almost two decades camping in various Canadian locations, you’d think we’d have encountered this before, but nope. We will be aiming to avoid another black fly adventure, that’s for sure. Yes, we were warned, and, after the first three days, were still ignorantly wondering what the big deal was. Well, now we know!

“Just leave me alone, man – I don’t want to talk about it!”

I’ll explore a bit more in another post about other aspects of the trip, but, driving home, having been seen off by the black flies, this is what we were talking about the most, so I’d thought I’d share! Definitely a lesson learned and isn’t doing something the hard way a more certain way of remembering the lesson?! There are certainly far worse things than being in the woods in black fly season, but for those few hours before we sounded the retreat, I’d have taken some convincing…

Windows up, seat belts fastened, and go go go!

Mrs PC’s black fly bites are healing, so no external scars, but we’re still reeling from the intensity of the experience. The adventures of an almost outdoorsman? Yup, still an almost outdoorsman, and still learning through mistakes. Usually I like making new to me discoveries, but this wasn’t one of those times! We’re off again next week, a slightly shorter trip, closer to home and not too northerly. Black fly season, the worst of it, is almost done now – isn’t it?!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Dad stuff

For the dads, father figures and similar:

Back home next week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Lilacs in the park

We almost missed these, what with being busy and the very hot weather. (Next year we’ll ensure we’re busy visiting the lilacs, properly busy, and not running administrative errands in lilac season!) We did catch them, slightly past their best, but aromatic and pretty enough, or so we thought. Aren’t we all a touch wilted yet aromatic once the heat arrives? No?! Just me then…

If you don’t know it or haven’t visited, Le Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge is a little, or not so little, additional oasis of green a short walk from the Plains of Abraham. I think the two are connected if you take the riverside route, and I’ll give that a go sometime when it is less hot! The route up is steep, so to date we’ve stayed on the upper ground and walk between the two parks. Also, this time out, our picnic might have been weighing us down – or I’m just lazy in the warmer weather, too lazy to scale any heights?

I’m no botanist, but I do know there are many types of lilacs, and I enjoyed seeing the different shades between the ones grown in the park. On approach, from quite some distance, you can smell the lilacs long before you see them. I like the aroma, a touch heady but not too cloying. Not like the aftershaves I used in my younger clean shaven and pre-grizzled days. Those “fragrances”! Not so much cloying as eye-wateringly dangerous. Useful for clearing a room, and to this day I’m always surprised Mrs. PC wasn’t too put off…

We’re off on our next camping adventure, a week or more up in the Saguenay area. Recommended to us by friends as a pretty region to visit, so long as you’re not dressed as a moose in hunting season. I’ve checked the calendar and my outfits and I think we’ll be ok. It’s a land of lakes and trees and absolutely no biting insects. (If I’m wrong about the biting insects, I think I’ve a few dregs of those dodgy old aftershaves that’ll keep ‘em at bay…)

Not remote remote, but I’m not too sure if we’ll have much internet connectivity, which is mostly fine. I’ll catch up on your blogs and comments at essential coffee stops or when we get home!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Woodsmoke and coffee

I often wake up early. It isn’t out of a sense of virtue or a need to get to work or to make a fast start on the day. Goodness, no! I’m a light sleeper, and tend to stir once the birds start on their morning songs.

Our new tent has pretty good blackout, but not sound out. That’s fine by me because 6AM camping is one of my absolute favourite times. I like coffee and I like camping. Is there a better cup than the first of the day brewed on the Trangia – slightly blearily so somewhat carefully – when it feels like the rest of the world is still asleep?

The other day it was me and the birds and three deer. The deer stopped to have a staring contest. I won. They blinked first, before moving on almost silently through the trees once they decided I was no threat. Just me and my cup of far too strong (no such thing) dark roast.

All was calm and birdsong quiet if you know what I mean. Not entirely quiet, but in a good way. The forest floor was mostly still. In the tree tops, the rustling of leaves stirring on a gentle breeze. Those leaves! Green on bright green, and brighter still as the sun climbed higher, lighting up the day.

The mosquitoes and biting types didn’t seem too interested. A combination of my eau de bug spray by Muskol – lemony notes and a hint of, hmm, gasoline? – as well as the woodsmoke and charcoal aroma from last night’s campfire seemed to do the trick.

It’s safe to say not all is well in the world. Some understatement, that. However, temporarily disconnected and unplugged, it is safe to say that all was well, under canvas and over caffeinated, in the small corner of the world we found ourselves in.

Woodsmoke and coffee – not too sure it’s always the answer, and not too sure what the question even is, but it’ll do on an early summer morning camping in the woods.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Must dash!

We’re away for the next little while, taking some time to test out our new tent and rediscovering the delights of woodland camping.

We’ve been getting into shape, a rigorous fitness plan, and one I’d recommend. It’s achieved mostly by eating all the cheeses on picnics, and then taking slow hikes around the Plains of Abraham.

Here we are below, exiting the frame bottom left. Imagine the shutter speeds necessary to capture us moving so fast…

I’ll catch up on your blogs and any comments from the past week next week, when we’re home and with reliable internet. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Scout, inside out

Scout will try and be outside in any weather:

“No no, that’s not rain! Maybe next door is watering the garden?”

She’s like a cricket fan in an English summer:

Sometimes rain does stop play:

“Not a word, OldPlaidCamper, not a word, ok?”

Ok. But look:

Hey, Scout, look! Dreams do come true:

“Carry on with whatever, PC – I’m fine right here!”

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! (We’ll spend ours trying to persuade Scout to leave the deck…)

Escape plans (dangled…)

As I write this (Wednesday) it is snowing! I love winter and I love snow, but it is late April now and we wouldn’t mind an escape. We’re making plans, and they mostly feature a tent. Next month? In a tent? We’re quite intent on seeing it happen. Oh dear…

Hard to believe, but yesterday we were in shirtsleeves on the deck drinking our morning coffee. To be fair, snow aside, we could do that every morning if we really wanted to. So many food and drink pieces the last few weeks. Coffee on the deck this week, the two in a row prison and food stories told here the past couple of weeks, and now this one is called Escape plans – do we have a third prison tale? (And a broken promise?)

No no! Late winter cabin fever, that’s all. I’m stuck. The walls are closing in! No more prison stories this week, not after two weeks. Instead, let’s escape, break out (stop it, PlaidCamper) and make a run for it, to the woods. They’ll never find us there…

Yes, we have had enough dry days for the ground to be less soggy and make walking in the woods a more or less everyday event – until the mosquitoes hatch. Scout has been very pleased by our woodland return, and it’s been an effort to keep up with her.

Of course we had to check in with the trolls. The ground had been trampled all about, but no sign of the trolls themselves. Sensibly, they keep out of sight, not wanting the publicity. It’s bad enough I take pictures of their house. That is bad of me, since trolls must be an endangered species – after all, have you ever seen one? (I don’t mean the trolls that, mentally or literally, have never left the parental home, and are living in the basement, sad little things, fighting culture wars and being aggrieved ‘cos, oh I don’t know, bathrooms and toilets are binary/non binary or gendered or some sh*t – honestly, keyboard warriors, do you think a toilet even cares if you’re non-dangly/dangly? There’s so much going on and wrong in the world, but our brave culture warriors want to fight about potty time and get offended that a s/he/they person is using the “wrong” bathroom. Ok…)

*My advice, readers? Ignore him, he’ll stop, eventually…*

Tangent alert! Oops! Too late. Instead, let’s pretend I care enough about forest trolls to pretend to go along with the story they aren’t real. (Huh?!) So, they aren’t real, and they don’t live in a stone house in the woods behind us. Forget I mentioned them. And forget all the dangly stuff. And, I don’t know, maybe forget this entire post? It must be the cabin fever talking – let’s get out of here. Quite potty. I should go now. To the bathroom? Oh dear…

A brief post this week since I can’t talk about trolls or prison. Or bathrooms. It’s like I’ve been shackled. It’s definitely time to make an escape!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Morning coffee here? Why not, if you really want to…

Prison break and lots of cake!

Let’s have another food and incarceration post! Cake and a jail break! Let’s spring ‘em out! (I promise you this will be the final post I write making my almost non-existent connections between food and gaol! And finding lots of different words for jail, prison, the big house, clink, lock up, chokey, correctional facility, slammer, and bastille. Pretty sure there are many, many more, but I won’t encourage me…)

Why another prison themed post? I don’t hear you asking. Good question. Well, quite by coincidence, after JH commented last week she thought I was going to mention La Petite Bastille here in Quebec City, we happened to be wandering past the prison, turned hostel, turned gallery earlier this week. No, really!

We weren’t trying to break anyone out, or break in, and avoided any of the “file in a baked cake” sort of escapade. I do wonder about that. The file in a cake – has that ever really happened, and how would it go? It got me thinking as we walked around the outside of the building, what sort of cake would work best? A light Victoria sponge doesn’t seem much use – the file would fall out, be discovered too soon. Perhaps a heavy chocolate cake? I can see the problem with a tasty chocolate cake (said no one, ever) – if the guards are easily bribed or the sort to turn a blind eye to a file in a cake, wouldn’t they also be the sort to eat a delicious chocolate cake meant for an inmate? No cake reaches the inmate, so no file, and no escape! Nope, not a chocolate cake, then.

My grandmother made a bread pudding so dense you could easily hide a file in there. And a length of rope attached to a grappling iron, a couple of crowbars and even the keys to the getaway vehicle parked under the wall. Maybe even the getaway vehicle itself. I’m telling you, it was a dense dessert. Would probably take days for an entire prison wing plus the guards to eat enough to finally find the file – honestly, it was that heavy. You’d be so tired after chomping through all that bread pudding you’d need a nap, then probably forget you’d even intended to break out. Just writing about that pudding has made me forget why we’re talking about it. Oh yes, prison break cakes! If anyone has any suggestions, or a recipe to share, please feel free to do so below. This post isn’t going quite where I’d intended…

La Petite Bastille is now part of La Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec, but currently closed and undergoing refurbishment. So no old prison visit for us, and instead we viewed the “Generations” display on at MNBAQ, our last of what has been several visits to view this collection. We’ve loved visiting this one! Instead of trying and failing to summarize it, I’ll borrow from the MNBAQ descriptor and post a link. “In addition to presenting the works of several artists rarely seen in Québec City, Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art thus offers a genuine panorama of Canadian creativity past and present, reflected both in tormented landscapes and abstractions, and in personal narratives and striking revisions of Canadian history.” The exhibition is on until mid May…Generations

Predictably enough, my favourite paintings in this collection were by Tom Thomson. I have his canoe at home. Oh, ok, a postcard on my desk:

Fingers crossed we’ll be out somewhere similar sometime soon!

From prisons to cakes to paintings, I seem to have drifted off, like a birchbark canoe caught on a gentle early summer breeze. Perhaps a good enough time to stop all this vaguely (un)connected nonsense?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

	Bob Stanton on Cabin time
	Maria on Cabin time
	Miriam on Cabin time
	Thistles and Kiwis on Cabin time
	plaidcamper on Cabin time