Gaspé is a town of around fifteen thousand at the eastern end of Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula, built around a deep bay where, in 1534, Jacques Cartier is said to have come ashore and planted a cross claiming the land for the French king. Mi'kmaq people and Iroquoians of the St Lawrence had long lived and fished here, and the name itself is a Mi'kmaq word for the end of the land. It is a good start for a ride around the peninsula on Route 132, which in this area means a loop of nearly a thousand kilometres right around the coast and back.
The town has a cathedral built of wood, Christ-Roi, which is described as the only wooden cathedral in North America, and a museum on the shore that tells the story of Cartier and the fishermen. It is also the biggest place for a long way, so use it: fill up, buy a coffee and a sandwich, and perhaps eat some of the fresh fish that makes the region's pride. Supplies thin out as you go around the shoreline, with villages stretching along the road every twenty to thirty kilometres.
The riding is easy-going and scenic rather than technical. Route 132 follows the coast beneath the cliffs and over headlands, with long open views across the Gulf of St Lawrence, and sections where it dips right to the water between small fishing villages with red-and-white churches and drying sheds. Just north of Gaspé, Forillon National Park sits at the tip of the peninsula, where the Appalachians finally meet the sea in towering limestone cliffs, and where seals and, in summer, minke and fin whales can be seen offshore. The lighthouse at Cap-des-Rosiers there is the tallest in Canada.
The weather is changeable, with fog rolling in off the cold gulf and strong winds on the headlands, so an extra layer is wise even in July. Summer, from late June to early September, is the best season, while the interior of the peninsula is cooler. Watch for moose at dawn and dusk, which are large enough to wreck a bike and rider alike.