A Sandbox for All Ages

With the forecast for another bicycle unfriendly day, we left the bikes behind, and headed for the most northerly two Islands, Grosse Ile and Grande-Entree. The main road that connects all the islands is paved and relatively straight, making for an easy drive. In addition, distances are short on the Magdalens; from one end of the chain to the other is only 87 kms. It seemed as though we skipped from island to island in the blink of the eye.

There were two visually pleasing highlights in the north, the first being the beaches. There were lots of beaches, and obviously they would be even more wonderful on hot summer days. The beaches go on and on for kilometers, and link the red sandstone outcroppings.

They all have beautiful white sand, and in some places where it's been windswept firm, sang when we scuffed our feet through it. We were first introduced to singing sand when we were in Australia. Now, even though we've had some practice, we've still got a ways to go, before we have a hit tune.

The other quite visible feature was the sand dunes. The beach sand, blown by the almost constant winds, have drifted into rolling dunes. Most are lightly vegetated and have taken on a life of their own.

An important feature, though not visibly obvious, is that the northern islands sit on massive salt deposits. The salt is mined underground by Mines Seleine for kilometers below the sea. The salt is road grade, and is sold throughout North America. So, even though there's not much to see above ground, the resource and mining industry are economically significant to the Magdalens.

Without minimizing the importance of the salt, we appreciated the sand more. Maybe it's our inner child, with surf, sandy beaches and sand dunes, the northern islands are just like a big sandbox for all ages.

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http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/09/blue-sky-sunshine-and-bicycles.html