Iles de la Madeleine - Havre aux Maisons Island, Point-aux-Loups Island, Grosse-ile, and Grande-Entree Island

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I started my third day on the islands by visiting the beginning of the longest dune system - la dune du Nord. Beaches and dunes that are never ending. This particular dune system goes all the way to Grosse-Ile to the far north. I walked the beach and beachcombed for about 30 minutes and then off to my third island - Ile du Havre-aux-Maisons. It was only about a 10 minute drive from the dunes. My first activity was a scenic drive which wasn't. Moving on, I found. my way to Cape Alright Lighthouse. I took a few pictures from the distance as it was located on private land. Just below the lighthouse was a small beach where I spent 30 minutes just walking the length of the beach. Then, I was off to the highlight of the day - Plage de la dune du Sud. I planned to arrive at low tide as the red cliffs could be visited at beach level to see the various sea caves and small coves and beaches. If you enjoy the interesting red rock formations and observing how the sea sculpts the red limestone this is a must place to visit. So far this has been one of the highlights of the trip. That evening I revisited Corfu Island beach to see if I could get any sunset pictures before calling it a day.

Day 4 was the most hectic yet as I visited the three most northerly islands. The smallest island - Point aux Loups, consists of about 50 houses and is an easy drive through. It is a narrow island surrounded on both sides by extensive sand dunes. Further north is Gros-isle. My first stop was Plage de la Pointe de l' Ouest. As is typical, this is the start of another extensive sand dune extending miles and miles. And of course lovely beaches all the way. Unique to Gros-isle is the East Point Wildlife Reserve. In fact most of the island is dedicated to the Reserve. On the reserve I completed two hikes - Le Bol a Soup (seriously) and La Rabougri trails. Both were less than two km but were quite unique and fun. It was the first time I hiked along mostly a sandy trail yet was surrounded by the stunted trees and shrubs local to the area. It was also an opportunity to walk along sand dunes as at points the trail was the sand dune. The next stop was another of the long sand dunes and beaches - Grand Echouerie. Just another one of the amazing areas where there are endless km after km of beach with sand dune. Finally making it to Grand-Entrée Island, I first hiked the length of Boudreau Island along the Iris Trail. It took about 90 minutes to finish the trail with the obligatory beachcombing. On the way back I completed a few non-schedules activities - visiting Plage Cap a Issac, and stopping to view la dune de Nord at it's northern end. In fact part of the road is on the dune. All in all a long and eventful day.

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