Charlevoix River Route from Québec

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Quebec City

   Quebec City is the only walled city north of Mexico, and the old town, perched on a rock above the St Lawrence, still has the feel of a French provincial capital transplanted to North America. The city was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608, and the narrow cobbled lanes, stone houses and steep stairs of the lower town retain the layout of the first settlement. The Château Frontenac, the grand hotel with its copper roofs that dominates the skyline, was built in 1893 and is among the most photographed hotels in the world.

   Read the complete Quebec City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Quebec City is where the day begins. Next is Baie Saint Paul.

2. 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 about 94 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Malbaie.

3. 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

   about 145 km into the recorded legs you reach La Malbaie. Next is Tadoussac.

4. 4. Tadoussac

   Tadoussac is where two bodies of water meet and argue: the dark, deep Saguenay fjord and the wide, cold St Lawrence. The meeting makes a rich feeding ground, and whales gather here from late spring to autumn. Belugas, minke whales, fin whales and, with luck, the occasional blue whale appear in the channel, and you can watch them from the shore or take a boat out. The village is tiny, just a few hundred year-round residents, but it is one of the oldest settlements in Canada, with a fur-trading post established here at the very beginning of the seventeenth century.

   Read the complete Tadoussac write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tadoussac closes the day.