Part 5

The road to Labrador City was a bit narrower than the newer constructed section we had been travelling on but the surface was still in good condition. About an hour before Labrador City another black spot materialised on the road up ahead and yes it turned out to be another black bear skedaddling off the road as we approached. Good photo opportunities are hard to achieve with animals so obviously frightened of human contact under these terms.

Labrador City is a mining town and looks like it. Heaps of accommodation units and housing but limited in other services such as shopping opportunities. But they did have the essential McDonalds and Tim Hortons! As we were to find out later across the border in Fermont, Quebec, the retail facilities were much more extensive. In fact, Fermont had the largest shopping centre under one roof I have seen on this side of the country. Fermont is another iron ore mining town. Rio Tinto owns the rights to the iron ore mining in Labrador City, neighbouring Wabush iron mine is owned by a Luxembourg company. As far as a tour of the mine we lucked out here as well, because Rio Tinto no longer run tours of their mining operation due to security and safety reasons. So, with little else to do in Labrador City we decided to push on south, 580km to Baie-Comeau, located on the St Lawrence River in Quebec.

The road from Labrador City through Fermont and on to Baie-Comeau was the worst of the gravel road we had experienced. It was narrow, winding and hilly. It was not uncommon to approach hills signed as 20% gradient, both positive and negative! There was also a lot of traffic with a high percentage of heavy truck movements. Fortunately, the last 200km from Manic-Cinq (Manic-5) to Baie-Comeau was bitumen. The Daniel Johnson Dam at Manic Cinq, in central Quebec, creates the Manicouagan Reservoir, which fills a meteor impact crater visible from space. It is the world's largest arch-and-buttress dam; the central arch being nearly 700 feet high. The dam allows the generation of more hydro power for Hydro-Quebec. There are three other dams on the Manicouagan River: plants Manic-3, Manic-2 and Manic-1, also owned by Hydro-Quebec.

We made Baie-Comeau just after dark and with my extensive (?) knowledge of French (bon jour and merci) it might be difficult to find a room. Luckily, Bill spoke perfect Canadian and the receptionist spoke some English so we managed to communicate our needs. Yes, we were back in Quebec, the French speaking Province. The next day we would make the 860km home to Ottawa.