As we punched through ominous clouds that had mustered over the islands since the spectacular sunrise that morning, husband Garry turned from the airplane window, saying: “It’s like a magical place hidden in the clouds.”
Magical and hidden are two à propos words to describe the island paradise from which we had just flown away and with which I found myself smitten since we touched down a scant 36 hours earlier.
It wasn’t some exotic far-off island with palm trees swaying in a tropical breeze or a dark, craggy, volcanic speck rising up from a choppy sea. It wasn’t Bora-Bora or Tortola, Madeira, Tahiti or Maui.
We had just completed another installment of Lisa and Garry’s 100-hour vacation, as we dub the occasional escapes we take when we can’t get away for any longer.
This time, although an island motoring getaway was the goal, instead of flying off to some southern sultry locale for a quick-hit sun-and-sand break from reality, we decided to stay closer to home. Sort of.
Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, are a cluster of small islands, forming a lovely archipelago in the heart of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. They are a five-hour ferry ride from Souris, P.E.I.
Eight major islands make up the archipelago and you can drive from one end to the other in just over an hour. A motoring getaway on an island seems an oxymoron. Inherent in island geography is lack of space, therefore, lack of roads but it turned out to be the perfect backdrop for a putter on wheels.
Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine sit atop ancient salt domes and cover a land area of 205 square kilometres, less than half the area covered by the city of Montreal.
We flew from Halifax to Montreal then to Quebec City. In Quebec, a small plane was to bring us to the islands but an en route station stop in Gaspé ended up lasting nine hours thanks to a broken airplane.
When we finally landed in the dark on the islands, we had no idea what our rental car would be. The usual suspects, Avis, National, Enterprise, are not available here.
The rental vehicle is the unsung modern day convenience. What a great concept. You land in a destination, for a small daily fee, you get a relatively new car, mostly clean, full of fuel, that you can drive like you stole.
The mystery of what you’ll get in the game of rental roulette adds to the holiday anticipation.
We lucked in. Waiting for us was a 2017 Jeep Wrangler. Despite its boxiness, it’s a good-looking vehicle with an attitude that says: Give me a mission and let’s go. The doors and roof come off, making it the only open-top trail tackler around.
In the light of day, a fierce storm was whipping the ocean around us into a froth. Rain and harsh winds lashed at our windows sideways and we knew, sadly, the roof and doors would be staying on our Jeep today.
The islands boast striking scenery around every corner, white sand beaches that stretch for kilometres, vibrant red carved cliffs that plunge into a cerulean sea and meadows of multi-hued sea grass that ripple in the wind.
Every Madelinot, as the inhabitants of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine are known, we talked to apologized for the torrential tempest. But here, on this wild magical island chain far from the mainland, rather than bemoan our bad luck with the weather gods, we celebrated the frenzied setting of our 100-hour vacation.
Our nine-hour delay the day before meant we had only one full day on the ground on the archipelago. We thought we had better explore as many of the roads as possible, driving to as many end-of-the-roads as we could.
The Wrangler proved an admirable companion. It’s sturdy and utilitarian and feels like you’re driving a go-anywhere piece of equipment. It tackled mud, high water and sand. Yes, I ventured a bit too far onto a beach, pulled the lever to change to four-wheel drive and the Jeep handily escaped, like it was born to do.
We may not have had time to beach-comb, explore underwater caves, kite surf, visit a smokehouse or see how cheese is made. Our trip was not long enough to poke around the historic site of La Grave for the perfect souvenir to bring home or stop by the artisanal soap-making studio of Ariane Arsenault, La Fille de la Mer, an Instagram favourite of mine.
However, I had such fun going to the end of so many roads in my rented Jeep Wrangler and a taste of the islands is better than none at all.
There is no question the Îles-de-la-Madeleine are off-the-beaten path but no matter the season or the weather, they are worth the trip. And worth a second trip, too. And I’m hoping the Jeep is available again.
Nous reviendrons, belles Îles.
Follow Lisa on Instagram: @FrontLady
