Views at L’Archevêque Harbour

From the Fullers River Bridge, I continued along the St Peter’s–Fourchu Road (part of the Fleur-de-Lis Trail) through the nearly empty countryside, passing through Framboise and St-Esprit without stopping as the day was growing late, to L’Archevêque, where I could not resist turning down L’Archevêque Road and visiting the harbour one last time this year. This lovely horseshoe-shaped harbour, home to a lobster fishing fleet in the spring and early summer, has long attracted me for its natural beauty; most times of the year, including this day, it is deserted. I did not elect to walk along the beach, as I often do when I come here, but I did take several photos from close to the water, some of which are shown here.

Photo #1 looks left (northeast) from the beach, across the breakwater to the far side of the harbour, which the topographical map labels as L’Archevêque Cove. Notice the prototypical drumlin just left of centre, lower than many along this coast. I wonder if Bottle Head, the name the topographical map gives to the headland at the end of the cove at the far right of the photo, was once also part of a drumlin that has since been washed away by the action of the waves, leaving the causeway seen today. Lots of kelp lies on the shore in the foreground, one of the fall colours signalling the end of summer.

Photo #2 is a close-up of Bottle Head. The remains of a pier once were to be seen below the building; I do not know if it is a trick of the perspective or if it has actually now disappeared, but I do not see them in this photo. The building itself I take to be a fisherman’s hut, probably abandoned or at least little used as its door is askew. I have no idea what the wooden platform in front of the building might be. Some day, if I can make it across the outlet of the unnamed lake on the northeast side of the cove (at the far left outside the scope of this photo), I would like to trudge along the causeway out there and see what the coast looks like from the heights; since Bottle Head juts out into the ocean, it should offer pretty good views in both directions.

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Photo #3 looks to the southwest along the beach, which is beyond the west side of the cove. In the middle ground, once can see an arc buttressed with stones extending out into the ocean; this provides some protection from waves coming from the southwest. It also marks the northeastern end of L’Archevêque Lake, containing the outflow of brooks, which sits inland of the beach; the Lake does cross the beach at its far western end (just outside the scope of this photo). Further away is a longer arc running out to Black Point at the left of the photo in the middle distance.

Photo #4 was taken from a bit further down the beach and looks across the spit running out to Black Point to the far shores west of the mouth of the Grand River, marked by the large drumlin just right of the centre of the photo.

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Photo #5 shows the area to the far right of photo #4 and outside its scope; L’Archevêque Lake is the water seen in the right half of photo #5. The cobblestone berm above the beach which holds its waters in place is in the centre of the photo. The mouth of the lake can barely be made out at the end of the berm (the telephoto shot appears to shorten the distances here—the shore along L’Archevêque Lake is actually 900 m (0.6 mi) long). Notice again the total lack of any hardwoods along these shores.