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Some 50km to the west of Carleton, humdrum Pointe-a-la-Croix is the site of the inter-provincial bridge over to Campbellton, New Brunswick. During the summer, a tourist booth in the tiny wooden house by the turn-off for the bridge on Hwy 132 (daily 8am-8pm) offers a full range of information on the Gaspe Peninsula. Just before the bridge, a right turn leads to the little waterside community of LISTUGUJ (Restigouche), the heart of a Micmac Indian reservation that functions on New Brunswick time because the children go to school in Campbellton. The village is home to the Micmacs, an Algonquian-speaking people who spread across the Atlantic seaboard from Nova Scotia through to the Gaspe and east Newfoundland. Their his-tory is a familiarly sad one: trading furs for European knives, hatchets and pots, the Micmacs quarrelled with other aboriginal groups over hunting grounds until there was a state of perpetual warfare. In later years, the Micmacs proved loyal allies to the French military cause, but, as with all other aboriginal groups, their numbers were decimated by European diseases and they remain a neglected minority. However, the reserve is self-governing and one of the five richest in Canada (there are 800-odd reserves). On your right as you enter the reserve, the locals have reconstructed Fort Listuguj (June to mid-Oct daily 10am-7pm; $6; www.johnco.com/~fortlistuguj ), based on a 1760 Acadian fort where the last battle for New France took place. Built entirely of cedar with a tepee circle in the centre, the fort is staffed by costumed guides and the atmosphere is entertaining and laid-back with traditional singing, drumming, storytelling, craft-making and incredible food - try the local bread ( lusgnign ), baked in the outside ovens, or the Acadian-style smoked fish. It's possible to stay in the tepees on a bed of fir boughs (up to $40) and in the bunks of the soldiers' cabins (up to $40) - warm bedding is provided. Opposite the fort's entrance, the Listuguj Arts and Cultural Centre (May-Sept daily 9am-5pm; $5) offers a small display of traditional crafts and buildings from before European contact. The clothing, canoes and porcupine quill boxes are all made locally to rekindle interest in Micmac culture and traditional skills. A couple of kilometres west of the bridge, back along Hwy 132, La Bataille-de-la-Restigouche , a national historic site, commemorates the crucial naval engagement of 1760, which effectively extinguished French hopes of relieving their stronghold in Montreal, the year after the fall of Quebec City. The French fleet, which had already taken casualties in evading the blockade of Bordeaux, was forced to take refuge in the mouth of the Riviere Restigouche and then, despite assistance from local Micmacs and Acadians, was overpowered by superior British forces. The site's excellent interpretive centre (daily: June to early Oct 9am-5pm; $3.75; parkscanada.pch.qc.ca ) contains relics of the French fleet, especially the frigate Le Machault , which has been partly reconstructed. An audiovisual display provides a graphic account of the battle and of its strategic significance. You wouldn't want to stay in Pointe-a-la-Croix, but if you're marooned here, try a most unusual youth hostel , Auberge du Chateau Bahia (tel 788-2048; up to $40, including breakfast), in Pointe-a-la-Garde, some 6km east of Listuguj and signposted off Hwy 132. It's in an eccentric Renaissance-style wooden castle built by the owner and his father - and the food is excellent.
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