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Toronto ON - Gaspe QC


piotrek

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Late posting this… trip took place in July. Hooked a trusted FJ-09 riding buddy @urbannomad to come along and explore eastward, toward Gaspe peninsula. A bit of a snapshot of our trip.

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Took Kawartha way through to Haliburton (CF-100 “clunk” in photo) and Calabogie out to Ottawa, then Got to ride some dirt roads in Quebec. Roads were great once we crossed into Quebec, but some would suddenly transition to gravel/dirt… causing excitement. Overall lots of fun.

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Route 132 toward Gaspe, along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence had its charm, but it wasn’t until past Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, where topography got interesting. It was right then that we got caught in a flash rain storm, complete with gusting winds and lightning. We powered through. Sunset soaked coast following the storm in photo.

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Enjoyed the coastline, and hit a few attractions. The cool looking lighthouse was a site of the first Canadian Marconi Telegraph station (1904), then a site marking (somewhat) the landing of Jacques Cartier in 1534 (dubbed Canada’s birthplace by the Gaspesie, although the confederation was established much later).

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The Perce Rock is just that… a rock sticking out of the ocean…  a cool looking natural feature just begging to have its photo taken. It is possible to walk up to it at low tide, but it didn’t look low enough at the time to even try.

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Overnight stay in Edmundston NB (map shows Bathurst, but we cut thing short in NB), ready to cut through the province in the morning and cross into Maine toward Bangor along 11 and 2. Saw lots of moose and deer warning signs, and did see one young moose looking to cross.

Continued along highway 2 the next day toward the White Mountains and Gorham NH. Took some photos at the Grand Trunk Railway station and headed for Mount Washington. The top was in the clouds, but it was neat getting up there nonetheless.

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Moving west, we had stopped by the makeshift memorial along hwy.2, the site of that tragic accident where an out-of-control pickup truck took out a group of bikers in late June. Seven souls perished. Had a chat with a local and we then rode off toward our next overnight stop near Montpelier NH. Crossed into NY the next day, on a ferry across Lake Champlain.

Once in NY state, we rode toward Adirondacks. Roads were great, but car traffic was heavier than what we experienced in the same area back in late May. We then pushed toward Syracuse NY… our last overnighter before we’d slingshot home the next day.

Nice trip… about 4,300km in all, over a leisurely 7.5 days. Suspension mods worked great. Glad I am finally done with it. Handlebar could use a bit more sweep. Good project for the off-season.

Have Labrador and the "rock" (Newfoundland) on the radar next.

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I recognise that plane from our holiday last year. Great trip report 👍🏻

Red 2015 Tracer, UK spec (well, it was until I started messing with it...)

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52 minutes ago, BBB said:

I recognise that plane from our holiday last year. Great trip report 👍🏻

Ah yes... remember now that you vacationed in these parts. You must also have seen the locomotive (near the plane)... made in NY for the Grand Trunk Railway in 1911, and ended service in Belleville ON in 1959. Some neat stuff you learn on the road.

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Nice trip, a friend and I did the Gaspe a couple of years ago... but in the opposite direction.  We cut across it to Maine and down the Haynesville woods road, made famous in the old country song 'Tombstone every mile'!  The Maritimes are great for touring...

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Nice report @piotrek!

I did the Gaspesie back in 2005 on my 2003 VFR. It is a beautiful and scenic area to ride. Your pictures of the coastal road brought back memories for sure. We went in August and for the most part avoided rain.

We stayed in Canada, but your route home looks great. 

You guys must have either ridden at a good clip or did long days in the saddle to be able to do it in 7 days. I think we did it in 10...but we did have 9 of us and a couple that were on cruisers. 😉

Cheers

Rob

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Thanks @rlambke19... we averaged under 600 km/day. We could have certainly taken longer if time allowed, but we had just the 8 days in the  schedule. Much more to see out that way. Syracuse NY is where the fun kinda ended... it was the freeway home from there onward.

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1 hour ago, tinkerfreak said:

Hey Piotrek do you happen to have a GPX file for the trip?

Google Maps > KMZ > Base Camp > GPX (8 day-routes combined). A bit of a hack, but you can work with it. PM me your email address.

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8 hours ago, jonmue said:

Looking forward to more reports on Maritime trips!!  Newfoundland, anyone?

Plan for next year... do NS, NB and PEI, by way of ME (coastline), and then back via QC (or the other way). Will need full two weeks to do a loop that includes eastern NL... hope to be able to do that some time.

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