This is part of a series that started with the post called “Roads – then and now (May 14)”. Each post in the series will describe each day what we had hoped to do on our ‘cancelled due to Covid-29’ trip to the Arctic Ocean in 2020 AND what we did do on our Cross-Canada trip in 2019.
Arctic Ocean:
We would have been leaving our two days of hiking to head to the Yukon. We will stop and explore Miles Canyon before proceeding to Whitehorse. It is possible we will stay there depending on what we discover. Otherwise, we will head over to the Visitor Centre in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories.
The only other visit we will do today is to the Yukon Transportation Museum. There is camping right there so that makes this easy. (I think). So, we will be spending two days here.
Cross-Canada 2019:
Today, we headed to Rimouski to eventually work our way around the Gaspé Peninsula. We didn’t find out until later, that there is a ferry that would have taken us right across the St. Lawrence so we drove down to Quebec City and headed up the other side. The one ferry at Riviere du Loup, was already full and the other ferry we knew about did not take oversized vehicles.
We stayed at Pointe-au-Père Lighthouse National Historic Site. Here, we met Andree and Luc, a French-speaking couple from this area but who were camping here just because it was so nice. We managed a conversation in spite of the fact that none of us could speak the other’s language. I remembered later that I had downloaded a translation app which would have been very handy had I remembered sooner.
Once again, we were out of season so were unable to climb to the top of the lighthouse or go into their various museums.
In 1906, a Marconi wireless telegraph station was established at Pointe-au-Père. For the lighthouse keeper, this innovation was a welcome replacement for the system of international code of flag signals, serving to improve communication with ships. In its time, the Pointe-au-Père Marconi station was one of 20 wireless telegraph stations operated by the federal government across Canada.
On May 29, 1914, the Pointe-au-Père Marconi station received the distress signals of the Empress of Ireland, which sank off Sainte-Luce in 14 minutes. The wreck of the Empress of Ireland, which took 1,012 people to their death, today remains the most serious maritime tragedy in Canadian history.
Another place that we will visit again but later in the year.
