So dawns our last full day at Club Med Charlevoix. We have thoughts on how it’s all gone, but we’ll save those for later.
First we need to get to breakfast:
Then we need to get back to the room and get ready for a possible early-morning mountain biking lesson, waitlist permitting. We arrive promptly at 9:15 am but there is a huge crowd ready to get underway – so we opt to keep our afternoon lesson and just go hiking instead.
But first, our daily check on the waterlogged volleyball court:
Looks like it’s been downgraded from water volleyball to beach volleyball
We’d planned to take the gondola up to the top of Le Massif and head to Cerise sur le sundae (the cherry on the sundae) for a commanding view over the St. Lawrence, but fate has other plans – the gondola is out of service until at least 10 am.
So we start with La Goudrelle instead:
The nice smooth section is for mountain biking – make sure you don’t hike that by accident!
La Goudrelle a short hike, but it leads to a beautiful stretch of river:
Next, we continue along La Promenade until we reach L’Evasion:
It’s a short route, but more challenging than expected – the route criss-crossed the open areas beneath the chairlift. Not only is it substantially warmer out in the open, but there’s also water running down the path itself.
Still, we continue to criss-cross our way up the mountain:
Such stunning scenery:
Eventually we reach a cut-through:
And then we descend once more:
Yes, the ferns are taller than our daughter…
It’s ‘only’ 2.7 km, but with an elevation change of 215 metres – closer to 270 metres if one factors in our sidetrip to La Goudrelle and our hike back to Club Med Charlevoix at the end.
We spot some lovely flowers along the way – bunchberry:
And fox-and-cubs, also known as devil’s paintbrush:
The trail itself is not easy, however:
Yes, those ‘steps’ are the trail…
We are flushed with victory – and soaked with sweat – by the end of the hike, and we agree that mountain biking this afternoon would be a bridge too far. We are all worn down at this stage, and that’s when accidents happen. No worries – it should leave us plenty of time to pack and prepare for tomorrow’s return trip.
But not yet – first we visit the pool for another couple of stints in the steam room, then head off to lunch.
The bad news is there’s no poutine this time around. The good news is that there are meatball subs:
I love meatball subs, but rarely order them – I do not trust myself to eat a meatball sub while in a car
Dessert is a caramelized pecan cheesecake and vegan brownie:
Chalk one up to the pecan cheesecake
Then it’s time to head back to the room to pack. We celebrate another milestone – we have gone on a 7 night trip without once visiting the laundry room. A new record!
We head down to the lobby to do a bit of reading and writing, then shift to Le Chalet when the wail of screaming babies goes from mono to stereo. We do have some small children cutting through our space at Le Chalet, but some strategic chair placement brings that to an end.
And we bounce a few emails – we need to confirm the return of our EV after it’s service and recalls, and follow up in the hope we’ll soon be able to confirm our upcoming trip to Borneo.
Time for dinner. I start with the tandoori lamb:
And move on to a nice rare salmon steak with mushrooms and miso sauce:
Then finish it off with – well, pretty much every dessert they have:
Lemon cake, tiramisu, turtle bars and chocolate mousse – it’s the mousse that wins, hands down
Sadly, our adults-only dining area is no longer adults-only – too many children at the resort to have a separate space for the adults. But word has not gotten out yet, so it’s mostly the over-twelve crowd. That works fine with us.
We wrap dinner early and head to Le Chalet, where we once again enjoy the violinist before retiring to our balcony for the evening.
We spare one last lingering look at Club Med Charlevoix, and the party in full swing:
Time to call it a night.
Tomorrow will mark the end of our third trip to Club Med Charlevoix. And would we return? Stay tuned to find out.