The French Islands on Foot

You can leave your car in Fortune, as St-Pierre et Miquelon is hike and bike friendly.

Story & Photos by G.Tod Slone

G. Tod Slone

While the ferry from Fortune, NL

to St-Pierre is finally transporting cars, it doesn’t mean you need one to tour the French islands. I visited last June and found that if one were in reasonably good shape (hell, I’m 71), one didn’t need a car at all. Visiting everything on foot and/or bicycle was definitely possible. And that’s what I did.

G. Tod Slone

I disembarked in St-Pierre in the late afternoon, just me and my backpack. I walked down one of St-Pierre’s streets, then up a hill to the last house, La Pension Marie-Jo, where I’d booked a room for three nights. The room was good, equipped with TV and internet. I had brought my European converter to keep my camera charged.

Saint Pierre

G. Tod Slone

Next day I walked down the hill to the tourist office, which suggested I visit les Salines (a group of old fishing stages). Then I went for a seven kilometre walk to the south of the island because on Google Earth I could see it was populated; most of the island wasn’t.

I encountered a couple of guys standing by the old Centre Commercial. They suggested I walk along the ocean rather than on the Route du Cap aux Basques. So I took their advice. Soon enough I could see houses in the distance. I walked around the Etang de Savoyard, a beautiful vast open area dotted with wild grazing horses. Eventually, I arrived at the end of the island, spotted a couple of old shacks on a hill and walked up to them at Anse à Brossard. Somewhat beat after the trek, I headed back on the shorter Route Cléopâtre. There I decided to hitchhike, something I hadn’t done in decades. To my relief, the first passing car stopped!

G. Tod Slone

The driver was from the Métropole, as the islanders call mainland France, and on a two-month training stint in St-Pierre. He was on his lunch break, so he kindly took me on a tour of the other side of the island, where there was a very large abandoned cod fish plant. Then he dropped me off at les Salines.

Langlade

G. Tod Slone

Next day, I took the early ferry to Langlade, paying 8 Euros for the round trip. The ride over took about an hour. A Zodiac took us from the ferry to the shore because there was no wharf. There I walked around the small settlement, which was no longer permanent. I walked and walked until an old shack in the dunes attracted my attention, then some lone horses in the distance on the great 27-km isthmus that led to Miquelon. I walked over the stones and wood rubble, arriving at the first of the three little communities. I trudged onwards, finally reaching the second one: a small trailer park. The third community was a larger trailer park.

Heading back, I stuck out my thumb and again the first passing car stopped. The driver brought me back to where I could get the Zodiac to the ferry, saving me about 5 km. It was only 3:00 and I had four more hours to kill before the Zodiac came. I walked into Chez Janot and ordered a small cup of coffee. Nice gal, but a tiny coffee. I sat and sipped a bit. The place was selling mostly beer and chips... piles and piles of both stood before the counter.

Then I walked over to the other side of town, past one capstan after the next. Langlade has more capstans than I’d ever seen, and a few were even solar powered.

I continued onwards, finally reaching the end of the long, wooded trail. Many of the houses were hidden in the trees, each with its own wooded trail. Lots of “doris,” as they call them here. “Un doris, c’est un petit bateau,” one of the residents had said, explaining that a doris was a small boat.

I returned to the ferry office and checked in. When the black Zodiac came to shore, all the waiting passengers put on the orange life vests we were handed and boarded one by one for the ferry back to St-Pierre.

At breakfast the next morning, I talked with owners Ludovic and Marie Jo, then with a couple of Parisians visiting for a week for their jobs. I enjoyed practising my French with them as I sipped coffee and chomped on a croissant, and then a brioche with blueberry jelly.

Ile aux Marins

G. Tod Slone

Next I walked down to the Île aux Marins ferry, which departed at 10:00 and cost 8 Euros for the round trip, a 20- minute ride each way.

On Île aux Marins, I walked from one side of the small island to the other. It is a UNESCO site because of its long history of fishing. Each house used to have its own grave, or gravels, used for drying out the cod they caught, and many of them still had the graves. It was very windy, but sunny and quite mild. I laid down not far from the lighthouse and just relaxed in the sun. After taking the ferry back to St-Pierre, I went to Chez Josephine, where I sat and sipped a 2-Euro Americano, which was a tiny coffee. I liked the Edith Piaf music and ambiance.

G. Tod Slone

Next, I walked over to the main ferry office and bought a ticket for Miquelon: 13 Euros round trip. It was a nice, calm ride. In Miquelon, I hunted for L'Angelie, the B&B I had booked for only 50 Euros a night and eventually found it. Sylvie, the owner, was a great talker and as friendly as it got. She dragged a bike out of the basement so I could use it the next day. Her husband Philippe was also quite friendly. He showed me the cod he’d caught, smoked and salted, then gave me a little piece to taste.

It was drizzling a bit when I arrived, but when it stopped, I walked down the road to the beach. It was a beautiful coast. Quite isolated, Miquelon was the best of the islands.

Scenes of Miquelon

G. Tod Slone

Up at 5:30 the next the morning, I stepped out with my camera to take photos of the sunrise. I walked on the beach and all the way down to the bridge that crossed le goulet (barachois). I then walked around the town perimeter up to an old wharf and shack, then around the small airport field and through a pasture. Miquelon has vast farmlands.

Then off I went on the old bicycle towards the Grand Barachois, the great isthmus. I biked 12 km all the way to Buttes Dégarnies – just me, the sound of the waves, the breeze and the endless road. Heading back, the wind got so strong that it was easier for me to walk with the bike.

Back at the B&B, Sylvie’s brother drove me up a long hill and dropped me off to begin yet another trek, without the bike this time, in search of La Cormorandière. Up and down steep hills I trudged on and on, past gorgeous views of the mountains and ocean, and even Newfoundland in the distance.

Scenes from Miquelon

G. Tod Slone

The next day, after breakfast, Philippe kindly drove me down to the ferry wharf. Later, back in St-Pierre, I walked down to the épicerie at the Centre Commercial and looked for something to buy with the 5€50 I had left. At 2:30, I was on the ferry heading back to Fortune. I will definitely return to this archipelago.

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