Why this ride
Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Charlevoix UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Charlevoix River and Mountain Route
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 145 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 13
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check provincial road reports, wildfire closures, ferries and fuel range. Specific flag: seasonal.
Seasonal context
May-Oct
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Québec
Québec is the only walled city north of Mexico, and the walls are not decoration. Samuel de Champlain founded a trading post on the narrow ledge beneath the cliff in 1608, and the name comes from an Algonquin word for a narrowing of the river. The city perched above it, around the great cliff of Cap Diamant, became the heart of New France, and its fall to General Wolfe's army on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 changed the history of the continent. The Château Frontenac, a fairy-tale hotel from the 1890s, now dominates the skyline.
Read the complete Québec write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Québec sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Baie-Saint-Paul.
2. Baie-Saint-Paul
Baie-Saint-Paul is a town of seven thousand on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, sitting where the Gouffre river meets the water, with high green hills rising behind it and the river broad enough to look like a sea. The town has long been an artists' town. The painters of the Group of Seven, including A. Y. Jackson, came here in the early twentieth century to paint the folded hills and the old farms, and the galleries on the main street, rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste, carry on the tradition, with studios, craft shops and cafes in old wooden houses. It was also the birthplace of the Cirque du Soleil, which grew from a troupe of street performers working in the town in the early 1980s.
Read the complete Baie-Saint-Paul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Baie-Saint-Paul comes up 62 km in. Next is La Malbaie.
3. La Malbaie
La Malbaie is where the summer people used to come. The town of nine thousand lies at the mouth of the Malbaie river on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, about a hundred and fifty kilometres downstream from Quebec City, where the river widens and turns salty, and it has been a resort since the nineteenth century, when wealthy Canadians and Americans began to build summer houses along the shore at Pointe-au-Pic. William Howard Taft, later president of the United States, was one of them, and spent his summers here for many years. The Manoir Richelieu, a grand turreted hotel that overlooks the river, was built in the early twentieth century and still dominates the skyline.
Read the complete La Malbaie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
145 km in you reach La Malbaie.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Route des Navigateurs: Quebec City to Riviere du Loup · 213 km
- Charlevoix River Route from Québec · 219 km
- Route des Navigateurs · 325 km