Côte-Nord notebook · the complete album

the road to

Manic-5

From the edge of Granby all the way to the Daniel-Johnson dam along Route 389, and back — the whole trip, in the order we lived it: every village, every stop, every charge.

MANIC-5 389

Daniel-Johnson dam

13 arches · 14 buttresses · 214 m

The route

Granby → Manic-5 → Granby

July 21 & 22, 2026

The car

Rivian R1S Quad Gen 1

4 charging stops · CCS

ferry GRANBY start & finish Québec Baie-Saint-Paul La Malbaie Baie-Sainte-Catherine Tadoussac Les Escoumins Longue-Rive Ragueneau Baie-Comeau MANIC-5 Route 389 Route 138 St. Lawrence River

Ferry

138
389

all roads
lead north

Reading the map

  • a stop on the trip
  • the highway, as far as Québec City
  • Route 138, then Route 389
  • the St. Lawrence River
139 55

Granby → 1395520,
as far as Québec City — 227 km.

we load the trunk, grab a coffee, and off we go! heading north
The Rivian R1S heading north
km 0 · Granby heading north →
01

The drive out

Québec City · Charlevoix

Saint-Augustin, Beauport, the Côte-de-Beaupré, Baie-Saint-Paul, Saint-Urbain: Route 138 settles in along the river and never lets go of it again.

The Rivian and a van parked side by side in front of a curved-facade building, with a Québec flag
A meeting along the way
Long steel bridge crossing a body of water at low tide, construction cranes on the right
The bridge, at low tide
Elevated view over fields, a forest, power pylons and blue-tinted hills
Fields, pylons and hills — the Côte-de-Beaupré
A couple seen from behind, arms around each other in front of a guardrail, looking out over fields and hills
Arm in arm before the view
Young woman sitting on a guardrail in front of a field and distant hills
An improvised lookout
Two smiling women leaning against a guardrail
Two smiles on the guardrail
The Rivian stopped on a sloping road, looking down over a wide misty expanse of water, Charlevoix sign
Baie-Saint-Paul — a pause before the descent
Logging semi-trailer loaded with timber driving on a forest-lined road
Saint-Urbain — a full load of logs
We're entering Charlevoix

The tourist sign sets the tone: Route du fleuve, Route des montagnes. We'll take both.

The first leg

227 km

From Granby to Québec City via the 139, the 55 and the 20.

Route 138 takes over and follows the river all the way.

First coffee of the day, somewhere before Québec City.

Route 138

We’ll follow it all the way.

On the way

5

stops before reaching Charlevoix.

"Route du fleuve,
route des montagnes"

The Charlevoix sign sets the tone.

02

La Malbaie

1st charge · 9:45 a.m.
Arms flung open facing the river, on the shore at La Malbaie
Arms open to the water
The green steeple of the village of La Malbaie at the water's edge
The village's green steeple
Charge 1

Circuit électrique
La Malbaie, Québec

Arrival19%
Charging35 min
Departure80% · 391 km
Power218 kW
July 219:45 → 10:20 a.m.
Ginger plush toy in a red puffer jacket sitting between two rocks, facing a beach covered in gulls
Facing the gulls
River access sign warning that the tide could take you by surprise
"The tide could take you by surprise"
A selfie for three on the shore at La Malbaie
Selfie on the shore
Portrait at the water's edge, in La Malbaie
At the water's edge
Four white geese on the water in front of the shore
Four white geese
Two people at a railing, along the shore at La Malbaie
A pair by the shore

"Here, it already looks more like the sea than a river."

While the Rivian was taking on a few kilowatt-hours, we walked along the water.

The tide

"The tide could take you by surprise" — the sign means it: the shore is uncovered and covered again twice a day.

We walk the shore while the car takes on charge.

9:45 a.m.

Arrival at the La Malbaie charger.

1st charge

35 min

at 218 kW — from 19% to 80%.

The river already looks more like the sea than a river.

03

The ferry

Baie-Sainte-Catherine → Tadoussac
The blue and white ferry under way, its deck loaded with semi-trailers
The Jos-Deschênes II, loaded with trucks

▶ The crossing, on video

We watch for a spout.

Was that a spout?
The Baie-Sainte-Catherine wharf seen from the water
The wharf, from the water
Wooded cliff dropping into deep water, at the mouth of the fjord
Cliff and deep water
Grey expanse of water seen from the boat deck, hills in the mist
Crossing through the mist
Wooded shores on the horizon, seen from the ferry
The shores slip away

The vessel

Jos-Deschênes II

Name read off the hull · registered in Québec City

"On every crossing, you always hope to catch sight of a whale's spout." A few minutes later we were up on deck, eyes fixed on the horizon.

Watching for it

The spout gives the whale away before you ever see it.

the fjord on one side, the open water on the other
04

Les Escoumins

Low tide
Low tide seen from a flowering bank, at Les Escoumins
Low tide, from the flowering bank
Sign for the Sentier du moulin trail, at Les Escoumins
Sentier du moulin
Collecting pebbles
A wide field of pebbles uncovered by the tide
A field of pebbles laid bare
Low tide over the pebbles, at Les Escoumins
Low tide over the pebbles
Searching the tidal flats at low tide
Searching the tidal flats
Vetch and daisies growing on the tidal flats
Vetch and daisies
The village of Les Escoumins seen from the opposite shore
The village, seen from across
A bare rock face at the edge of the river
Bare rock

"The river was breathing quietly."

At low tide the flats are uncovered for hundreds of metres: you walk where, six hours earlier, the river was.

On the shore

Pebbles polished by thousands of years of tides.

At low tide the flats are uncovered for hundreds of metres.

The river was breathing quietly.

05

Longue-Rive

Salt marshes
The giant Canada goose sculpture with the Rivian parked beside it
The goose and the Rivian
Close-up of the outsized Canada goose sculpture
Up very close
A break at the foot of the goose sculpture
At the foot of the goose
The welcome building of the salt marsh interpretation centre
Interpretation centre

Salt marshes

741, route 138

Wooden boardwalks
Bird watching

Small taxidermied owl, staring straight ahead
That fixed stare
Taxidermied bird displayed in a glass case
Behind glass
Taxidermied heron perched on a branch
The heron on its branch
Illustrated plate of a whimbrel, on the centre's wall
Whimbrel
Interpretation panel devoted to the whimbrel
Its profile, on the wall

"The marshes live to the rhythm of the river."

Salt marshes

249 ha

of salt marsh — the second largest on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, and one of its best places to watch migrating shorebirds.

Wooden boardwalks, and time to watch.

741, route 138

The salt-marsh interpretation centre.

Longue-Rive

249 ha

of salt marsh along the river.

The marshes change face with the hours and the tides.

06

Ragueneau

The dinosaur wharf
Welcome sign at the Ragueneau wharf
Welcome to the wharf
Dinosaur sculpture standing at the water's edge
Dinosaur at the water's edge
Dinosaurs?!
A sculpted triceratops resting on the rock
The triceratops on the rock
An outsized sculpted snow goose
An outsized goose
The concrete goose seen in profile
In profile

"The snow geese own the tidal flats."

A kiss at the end of the wharf, facing the open water
A kiss facing the open water
The Rivian parked beneath a tall transmission tower
Beneath the tall tower
The orange rock of the wharf, at low tide
The orange rock
The Rivian in front of the Ragueneau wharf sign
The R1S in front of the sign

Its wharf reaches far out into the St. Lawrence, as if it meant to touch the horizon. Right at the end, the wind is everywhere.

"Ahead of us there was nothing but the river. Immense. Silent. Endless."

On the wharf

The dinosaur sculptures still take visitors by surprise.

The wharf reaches far out into the St. Lawrence.

Right at the end of the wharf, the wind never stops.

dinosaurs?!

On a Côte-Nord wharf, yes.

"Ahead of us,
there was only the river"

Immense. Silent. Endless.

07

Baie-Comeau

2nd charge · 6:35 p.m.
Stone church with red doors, in Baie-Comeau
Red doors, stone steeple
Mural painted on a brick wall
The mural
Bronze statue with sleeves rolled up
Sleeves rolled up
Charge 2

Circuit électrique
Baie-Comeau, Québec

Arrival20% · 100 km
Charging38 min
Departure80% · 392 km
Power173 kW
July 216:35 → 7:12 p.m.
Bronze sculpture of a canoeist
The canoeist
Bronze bust and its brass plaque
The bust and its plaque
Blue glass building raised on pillars
Blue glass on pillars

A town born of industry but turned toward nature: broad tree-lined avenues, neighbourhoods built in the middle of the forest.

The last town before Route 389

Charging

4

charging stops over the whole trip.

The last town before the 200 km of Route 389.

6:35 p.m.

Charging at Baie-Comeau.

2nd charge

38 min

at 173 kW — from 20% to 80%.

Baie-Comeau

100 km

of range left on arrival at the charger.

Wide tree-lined avenues, neighbourhoods set down in the forest.

"The town refuses to choose"

Between development and nature.

Last fast charge before the 200 km of Route 389.

389
The Rivian R1S on Route 389
Route 389 · 200 km, 3 hrs patchy signal →
08

Route 389

Baie-Comeau → Manic-5
A perfectly still lake below a wooded shore, under a grey sky
A lake without a ripple

On the 389

Wildlife, logging trucks and patchy cell service.

Dense spruce forest along a lake, yellowing foliage in front
Spruce all the way out
389

Road

Baie-Comeau → Manic-5

≈ 200 km · 3 hrs
Patchy signal, often none at all
Very few service stations

≈ 3 hrs

Baie-Comeau → Manic-5.

A roadside sign showing a logging truck and the words “À vérifier”
“À vérifier”

Fill up on electrons before setting off: past Baie-Comeau there is nothing for 200 km.

One by one, the villages disappear.

The road curving between bare grey trunks, fog clinging to the slope
Fog swallows the 389

The forests turn endless, the lakes perfectly still.

200 km of curves, of forest and of motionless lakes

A road that seems to cut Québec in two. Little by little the villages disappear. The forests turn endless. The lakes appear around the bends, perfectly still.

"You pass more trucks than cars."

09

Manic-5

Daniel-Johnson dam
Panorama of the Daniel-Johnson dam, its concrete arches spanning the wooded valley
Concrete against the valley

Nothing prepares you for it

It rises in the middle of the valley like a cathedral of concrete. Immense. Almost unreal. Even photographs fail to convey its scale.

Blue road sign pointing left for Manic-5, with the dam and pylons behind it
"Manic-5, that way"

Height

214 metres

measured from the
foundation — about 50 m
of it below the surface

Looking up at the curved concrete face of the dam, a small technical building at its base
At the foot of the wall — the building gives the scale
The dam seen from the road below, the Rivian stopped on the shoulder
A stop at the foot of the dam
A hand marked with an ink stamp reading Manic-5
The stamp on the hand
Three visitors wearing audio-guide headsets in front of the dam's arches
Audio-guide headsets
Exhibition panel showing the Manic GT sports car and a montage of archive photographs
The exhibit — "Manic-5 sparks creative impulses"
Orientation panel for the Daniel-Johnson dam with a You are here marker
You are here

click!

Looking down over the valley: the river, a road bridge and the installations downstream
The valley downstream
Field of pink fireweed in front of the switchyard and two white cylindrical towers
The switchyard, behind the fireweed
Charge 3

Manic 5
Baie-Comeau, Québec

Arrival70% · 345 km
Charging22 min
Departure83% · 412 km
Power48 kW
On site7:30 → 11:20 a.m.
The Rivian plugged into a charger on a wet parking lot, in front of the dam
Plugged in at the foot of the dam
The Rivian parked far off on a gravel apron, facing the dam
Facing the dam

The dam

214 m

from the foundation up — the largest multiple-arch-and-buttress dam in the world, says Hydro-Québec.

Blue Hydro-Québec sign for Manic 5 and its interpretation centre, standing in a field of daisies
The sign among the daisies

The numbers

13 arches
14 buttresses
The largest multiple-arch and buttress dam in the world

Free guided tours, from June 15 to August 31.

10

The lookout

Manikuakanishtiku
The Daniel-Johnson dam seen from the lookout, behind a perforated metal railing marked Manic-5
From one slope to the other
The corten steel monolith bearing the name MANIC-5 and the bilingual Belvédère Manikuakanishtiku sign
The welcome monolith

Here, the landscape tells two stories.

A quiet, deeply moving place. The displays are a reminder that this territory has belonged to the Innus de Pessamit for thousands of years, and they tell of the consequences the hydroelectric complex had on their Nitassinan.

One of human ingenuity. And one of a land that was lived in long before the dams arrived.

Two people posing on the lookout, the arches of the dam behind them
The two of us, before the arches
The wooden platform of the lookout, framed by a corten steel portal
On the platform
Signpost marked MANIC-5, covered in arrows giving the distance to landmarks around the world
The signpost

And from here, everything is far away

Statue of Liberty · 1,500 km
Stonehenge · 4,400 km
Christ the Redeemer · 8,900 km
Easter Island · 9,854 km

Two yellow Hydro-Québec signs warning of black bears in the area
"Black bears in the area"

"Please stay within the developed area."

The blue Hydro-Québec sign for the Manikuakanishtiku lookout at the roadside, the Rivian parked behind it
We pull onto the gravel
The grey reservoir under an overcast sky, a red three-cylinder structure rising above the forest
Above the reservoir, the red structure
Interpretation panel showing the site plan of the Manic-5 lookout
The site plan

From the lookout

The arches stretch from one valley wall to the other.

Innu of Pessamit land for thousands of years.

Here, the landscape tells two stories.

The Rivian R1S on the way home
← Route 138, Highway 20, home plugging back in
11

Les Escoumins

Second time · at sunset
The Les Escoumins welcome sign at the roadside
Back again, on the way south

We stopped at Les Escoumins a second time, on the way home, and the place had changed entirely — the tide was out, the light was low, and the whole shore had gone gold.

"The river seemed even wider than on the way up, and the silence was almost solid."

Low light

The pebbles the tide had polished, lit from the side.

The cross standing on its stone base at Pointe-de-la-Croix
The cross on the point
The engraved plaque at the foot of the cross
What the plaque says

Pointe-de-la-Croix

Standing since at least 1664

A cross has stood on this point since at least 1664 — the year the Jesuit Henri Nouvel mentioned it in passing. He did not raise it: it was already there.

The cross seen from below against the sky
From underneath

The walk out

0.5 km

of easy path to the point and the view.

A flower planter with the river and a steeple beyond
The village behind us
Rocks lit gold by the low sun
Everything turned gold
The shore uncovered at low tide, steeple in the distance
Low tide again

"We walked along the water, picked up a few stones, and took the time to look."

Clear water over the stones at the edge
Right at the edge
The rocky shore running out to the horizon
Out to the horizon
The Rivian parked at the shore in the evening light
Parked up for a while

A few pebbles came home with us.

Iskomin

The name is Innu: isko, "up to here", and min, "red berries" — the small wild fruit that kept its colour under the snow.

The St. Lawrence pilots board their ships here, day and night, all year.

Les Escoumins

1,794

residents at the 2021 census.

12

Les Bergeronnes

A night on the coast
The Bergeronnes sign at the village entrance with the Rivian beside it
Where we stopped for the night

We slept at Les Bergeronnes, a small village nine kilometres up the road from Tadoussac. The sunset over the river was spectacular — and though we watched, no whales showed themselves that evening.

A quiet village street with houses and the vehicle
The village, early

Overnight

A quiet night on the Côte-Nord, and back on the road in the morning.

The Bergeronnes village monument sign
The sign, up close

We watched

The river is right there, just below — but it gave us nothing that evening. That is the risk, and it is what makes the other evenings count.

Les Bergeronnes

619

residents at the 2021 census.

Cap-de-Bon-Désir

A former lighthouse station just up the coast, where the deep water comes close enough that whales pass within metres of the rocks.

Archéo Topo

The village archaeology centre, open since 1995, covers the Côte-Nord from Tadoussac to Blanc-Sablon.

The Basques

They were already hunting whales at the Anse-à-la-Cave, just along the shore, in the late 1500s.

The name is not Innu but French: Champlain was already writing "les Bergeronnettes" here in 1626.

13

Tadoussac

Where the Saguenay meets the river

Tadoussac sits exactly where the Saguenay meets the St. Lawrence. It is a small place — 814 people — with an outsized history: the first fur-trading post in New France was built here in 1600, eight years before Québec City was founded.

Where two rivers meet

The Saguenay fjord runs 105 km inland, with walls rising as much as 500 m.

The name

Probably from the Innu totouswk, "the breasts" — the two round sandy hills behind the village. Several other readings exist; none is settled.

Before Québec

1600

Pierre Chauvin’s trading post went up here eight years before Champlain founded Québec City.

The resort years

The white ships of Canada Steamship Lines set their passengers down here, bound upriver for Chicoutimi.

The village 10 photos
The Bienvenue à Tadoussac welcome sign among flowers
Bienvenue à Tadoussac
A large map panel of the Côte-Nord region
Getting our bearings
A carved wooden tourism totem in the village
The totem downtown
Wooden street signs nailed to a tree
Street signs on a tree
A signpost with a carved bear on top
The bear on the signpost
A red brick heritage house with people on the steps
On the steps
A red sign reading Parc de nos Ancêtres
Parc de nos Ancêtres
A carved wooden panel showing a whale
Carved in wood
A carved wooden pendant hanging, seen close up
A detail
Two people coming down a wooden staircase through the trees
Down through the trees

The dunes

Behind the village lie broad sand terraces, left by a glacial delta uncovered some 10,000 years ago, as the ice melted and the land rose again.

The Maison des Dunes, a heritage house restored by the Saguenay park, tells the story at the end of a trail about a kilometre long.

The only port

Jacques Cartier landed here in 1535, but Basque, Breton and Norman fishermen were already working this coast before him — for cod, for whales, and for trade.

For some thirty years, Tadoussac was the only seaport on the St. Lawrence.

The hotel 8 photos
The Hôtel Tadoussac sign at the roadside
The hotel sign
The long white facade and red roof of the Hôtel Tadoussac
That red roof, from the garden
The hotel seen across the lawn through a tree
Across the lawn
The main entrance of the Hôtel Tadoussac
The front door
A side wing of the hotel with green shutters
The side wing
A wood-panelled lounge inside the hotel
Inside, the lounge
A sitting room with lamps and patterned carpet
A sitting room
The long dining room with set tables
The dining room

Hôtel Tadoussac

The building you see: 1942

The first hotel went up in 1864 and was pulled down in 1941. Canada Steamship Lines built this one to replace it, for the passengers of its white cruise ships.

We had a look around, simply because it is the sort of building you want to walk into.

The chapel 6 photos
The red-framed sign of the Tadoussac chapel reading 1747
Chapelle de Tadoussac · 1747
The small white wooden chapel with its red roof and steeple
The little chapel
The chapel interior with wooden pews
Inside, the pews
The gilded altar of the chapel
The gilded altar
Close detail of the carved and gilded retable
Carved and gilded
The steeply pitched modern church of Sainte-Croix
The parish church

The chapel

Built 1747–1750

Designed by the Jesuit Claude-Godefroy Coquart; first mass on 24 June 1750. Parks Canada calls it the oldest wooden church in Québec and in Canada.

Small enough that a full congregation would be a crowd.

The parish church looks far older than it is — the building dates from 1962–65.

The trading post 6 photos
A sign reading Poste de Traite Chauvin, 1600 to 1942
Poste de Traite Chauvin
The reconstructed wooden trading post building
The trading post
The gable end of the wooden trading post
Its gable end
A sign about Pierre Dugua de Mons staying here in 1600
Who passed through, in 1600
A round commemorative plaque set in a stone wall
A plaque in the wall
A historical interpretation plaque about Tadoussac
The long version

1600

The first trading post in New France

Pierre Chauvin de Tonnetuit built it where the hotel now stands. What you visit is a faithful reconstruction — the original foundations were never confirmed.

The whales 5 photos
A road sign for the marine mammal interpretation centre
This way to the CIMM
The marine mammal interpretation centre building
The CIMM
A whale skull and jaw mounted in the exhibition
Skull and jaw
Close view of baleen plates hanging from a jaw
Baleen, close up
The ribcage of a whale skeleton seen from below
Standing under the ribs

CIMM

Marine mammal interpretation centre

Opened in 1991 by the GREMM, it holds the largest collection of whale skeletons in Canada — including a 13 m sperm whale.

Baleen

Not teeth — a comb the animal strains its food through.

Why here

At the mouth of the Saguenay the bottom rises from over 300 m to less than 25 m. The cold, food-rich water is forced up with it — and the whales follow.

The beluga

The only whale that lives in the St. Lawrence year-round. Around 1,850 remain (2023 estimate), and the population is listed as endangered.

The harbour & the shore 7 photos
Two people standing on the beach with boats behind
Down at the water
Rocky shoreline with the hills of the fjord beyond
The far shore
A metal beacon tower on the rocks with a figure below
The beacon on the point
Water between rocky outcrops on the point
Between the rocks
Two people sitting on the rocks with trees behind
Sitting a while
The rocky coast with the cliffs of the fjord
The cliffs opposite
Grey water and a distant shore from the beach
Grey and wide

Pointe de l’Islet

A 1.3 km loop

Twenty minutes of walking from the quay, and one of the few places where you can watch for whales with your feet still on dry land.

The bakery 3 photos
The Rivian parked in front of the bakery and the colourful shops
Parked outside the bakery
The brightly painted front of the bakery building
The bakery, in yellow and red
Eating a pastry with a coffee in hand
One last pastry

À l’Emportée

The bakery stop before pointing the car back towards Québec.

Tadoussac

814

residents at the 2021 census.

14

The dairy at Petite-Rivière-Saint-François

Laiterie Charlevoix

The Canadienne

Le 1608, created in 2008 for Québec City’s 400th, was long made with milk from the Canadienne cow — the only dairy breed developed in North America, declared a heritage breed by Québec’s National Assembly in 1999.

The last herd left Charlevoix in the autumn of 2023. The cheese is made with Holstein milk now. Around 400 purebred females remain in Québec.

The Laiterie Charlevoix sign with a model cow and the Rivian parked in front
The cow gives it away

Back across on the ferry and down the north shore, we stopped at the Laiterie Charlevoix — a dairy that has been in the same family since 1948 and now makes some of the best-known cheeses in Québec.

Since 1948

Founded by Stanislas Labbé and Elmina Fortin. The fourth generation runs it now.

The shop counter inside the dairy
The counter
A display of vintage glass milk bottles
The old bottles
A wall panel telling the family history of the dairy
"Une histoire familiale"

What they make

Cheddars, and the three that made their name: Hercule, Le 1608 and Le Fleurmier.

There is a cheese economuseum on site — you can watch the make and see the ageing room.

The Hercule

The cheese is named after Jean-Baptiste Grenon, "the Hercules of the North", born in 1724 and married right here, at Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, in 1748.

Legend has him wrestling a bear bare-handed and standing in for his own horse to climb the hills of Baie-Saint-Paul. His cheese wheel, for its part, weighs twelve kilos.

15

Baie-Saint-Paul

Lunch in the crater

Lunch was in Baie-Saint-Paul, in the bottom of a valley that is also the bottom of a crater. We wandered the streets, looked at the galleries, tasted mead, and ate very well indeed.

A painters' town

since the 1860s

Clarence Gagnon, A. Y. Jackson, Jean-Paul Lemieux and René Richard all worked here.

The symposium

1982

Founded by Françoise Labbé, it brings artists together each year to paint in public, on site.

The museum

The Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul was granted museum status in 2008. The town bills itself as having the most art galleries in Canada.

The village 8 photos
A blue and white painted shopfront
Every shopfront a colour
The painted sign of the Chez Urbain gift shop
Chez Urbain
A street of shops with terraces and hanging signs
Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste
A two-storey building with wooden balconies
Balconies on both floors
A window with a flower box against shingled wall
Shingles and flowers
A stone bust seen close up
One of the busts
Another bust on its inscribed pedestal
And another
A bust on a pedestal with a plaque beside a blue building
They are all over town

The crater

About 450 million years old

The whole valley sits inside a meteorite impact structure roughly 54 km across. Its central peak is the mont des Éboulements, 768 m, out to the east.

Baie-Saint-Paul

7,371

residents at the 2021 census.

All of Charlevoix has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1988.

Between a river and mountains

The village sits in a narrow valley at the mouth of the rivière du Gouffre: the river on one side, the mountains on the other — and those mountains are the rim of the crater.

Lunch 3 photos
The hanging sign of the restaurant L'Accalmie
L'Accalmie
Three people at a table on the restaurant terrace
Lunch, finally
Raising a glass of beer at the table
Santé

On the trail

Québec’s first agrotourism trail, born in the mid-1990s. The Laiterie Charlevoix is on it.

The mead tasting 2 photos
Glasses of mead lined up for tasting on a wooden board
Mead, tasted properly
An interpretation panel titled Entre fleuve et montagnes showing the beehive map
The map of the hives

Hydromel

Made in town from the hives of Charlevoix — the region's first meadery, open since 2021.

One more thing

The street performers who became the Cirque du Soleil started out here, in 1980. The company itself was founded four years later.

and back on the road

Québec City left to go, then the 20, then home.

16

The way home

Villeroy · 4th charge

In Tadoussac, the white houses with their coloured roofs still cling to the hillside. A few hours later, Baie-Saint-Paul welcomed us with its art galleries and that very particular light.

"The Rivian carried on in an almost unreal silence."

Charge 4

Circuit électrique
Villeroy rest area, Québec

Arrival17% · 93 km
Charging21 min
Departure50% · 265 km
Power170 kW
July 227:36 → 7:57 p.m.

The tally

4 charging stops
1 hr 56 min of charging in all
2 days on the road
11 stops

Granby Manic-5

Back home.

"The dam was only ever an excuse."

The real journey was in everything between those stops, between the river and the forest, between the villages and the wide open spaces.

The immensity of what we're lucky enough to call home.

Back home

2

days on the road, and the river from start to finish.

One last plug-in at Villeroy.

km 0

Back where we started.

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