Rimouski stands on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, where the river has widened into an estuary so broad that the far shore, forty kilometres away, is a blue line of mountains. The sea is only a taste of salt and a tide here, but it changes the weather, the light and the character of the town. About forty-two thousand people live in this lively regional capital of the Bas-Saint-Laurent, with a university, a long waterfront and the unhurried feel of a place that most visitors pass through on the way to somewhere further east.
The story people remember is a sad one. In May 1914, in thick fog, the liner Empress of Ireland was struck by a collier in the river just off Pointe-au-Père, a few kilometres east of town, and sank in about fourteen minutes. More than a thousand people died, a toll that few people outside Canada seem to know. A museum at the point tells the story, and next to it you can walk through an old submarine. The lighthouse beside them, one of the tallest in the country, is open to visitors in season.
For the rider, Rimouski is the gateway to the Gaspé Peninsula and Route 132, which follows the river for hundreds of kilometres. The road eastwards is a ribbon of villages, white churches with silver spires, fishing wharves and farms, with the Laurentians or the Chic-Chocs rising across the water or up ahead. The surface is generally good, though it has frost heaves and patched stretches, and the weather can turn quickly: fog is common, and the wind off the river can be sharp. Summer and early autumn are the best times, when days are long and the sea air is mild.
Rimouski has everything: fuel stations, supermarkets, small hotels and a string of seafood restaurants, and the larger town is the last good chance for services before the long coast of the Gaspé. In Quebec, the local specialities include smoked fish, maple products, strong cheese and poutine, and the roadside stands in summer sell fresh strawberries. Signs are in French, distances are in kilometres, and speed limits are enforced on the main road, so keep an eye on the limits through the villages.