After saying goodbye to our new friends and with a great hint on where to spend tonight, we departed Shawinigan for Roberval on Lac Saint-Jean. The highway along the river offered beautiful sights and wasn’t too busy with only two construction sites. Surprisingly, the gas prices in the towns along the way were $0.10/litre cheaper than in Shawinigan. Martin was rather upset about this, having had just refuelled up this morning.

We arrived at the Parc de la Pointe Scott in Roberval which offers a public beach as well as a free municipal campground where one can stay for up to three nights. There was an event on and we weren’t allowed into the park until 6PM, so we drove back to the town and walked around exploring and eventually having a late smoked meat lunch at Restaurant Emporte-moi.

While having lunch, a stage was being set up for a concert later that evening. We listened to the sound check and decided it would be worth coming back in the evening.

There were already quite a number of RVs and trailers in the campground but we were able to find a spot. This weekend is the Traversée International du lac St-Jean, a 32 km swim across the lake and 10,000 people are expected to arrive in town to watch the event.

While we’re probably too late to register for the 32 km swim ourselves, we thought it is never too late to train for next year, so we went for a drip ourselves. The water was warm and the rocks not too slippery. (We didn’t go to the sandy beach area as that is perhaps more suitable for children).

Refreshed we walked the 2 km to the downtown area to listen to Majestyx, a Styx tribute band. The area in front of the stage was packed with people and the band played hit after hit while the audience danced, clapped and sang along.