Quebec is the largest province in Canada with a tiny population of just over 8 million people (roughly the same as London) spread over an area as large as France, Germany and Spain put together. In winter, temperatures can dip to -45°C with wind chill. Unlike Londoners, the people of Quebec don’t moan about winter. They embrace it.

Even when it’s -30°C outside and your scarf is frozen to your face, they are still making the most of the five coldest months of the year. As Chris Stevens from my favourite Alaskan-based TV sitcom Northern Exposure says, “The best way out of winter is through it.” I think that also sums up the feelings of the people of Quebec.

On weekends, they are out snowshoeing, skiing, ice fishing and snowmobiling. They even have a world-famous Winter Carnaval in Quebec City and Lumière Festival in Montreal to keep spirits high. Water parks like Valcartier are turned into snow tubing parks and they even create the biggest ice hotel in North America during the winter months, Hôtel de Glace. By the time spring rolls around, they emerge saying, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Most people live between the main urban hubs of Montreal and Quebec City. Head north and you’ll find yourself right into the thick of the snowy wilderness, stretching for thousands of miles. Here black bears, wolves and moose are in charge.

“Step outside and you truly experience what it’s like to be in the Canadian wild. There is nothing but snow-covered trees, blue skies, frozen lakes and total silence”

“How thick is the ice?” I asked Simon, cautiously looking at the ground. “Oh don’t worry, I took a 20 inch chainsaw to cut through it yesterday and I still couldn’t see the bottom,” he said. Lakes in Quebec are frozen solid enough to hold dog sleds, snowmobiles and Porsche Boxsters as we discovered later.

There is nothing mechanised or modern about gliding across a frozen lake in a wooden sled pulled by huskies. You are moving purely using animal power. That’s the beauty of dog-sledding. You are totally in sync with the dogs, the snow and the surroundings – and of course, the dog poop. When you are at the back of a train of 20 dogs, you encounter a lot of poop on the snow below you.

MAPLE DELIGHT: CANADA’S CULINARY TRADITIONS

Food is a big deal in Canada. Most days at Hotel Sacacomie we were offered every single type of meat you could image from bison to deer to rabbit. You won’t find plain old chicken on the menu here.

Even their poutine (a Canadian dish of chips, cheese and gravy) comes in fancy variations – topped with confit duck and mature cheddar. All of this was served to us on a big wooden table in front of a roaring open fireplace.

A trip to Quebec isn’t complete without a trip to a sugar shack. This is where they make maple syrup. Visiting the sugar shack marks the end of winter for the people of Quebec. As we already discovered, the Canadian love of maple syrup is truly embedded in their culture.

Chez Dany’s is one of the most famous sugar shacks in Quebec. It’s a huge wooden barn filled with red checked tablecloths, giant taxidermy moose heads on the wall and live music from a Quebec folk singer playing the violin.

A traditional French Canadian meal of beans, ham, fried potatoes, eggs, pancakes and coffee are all served up in big family-style bowls from which you help yourself. They cover everything in maple syrup here – including eggs and potatoes. Everyone told us not to eat breakfast before you have lunch at a sugar shack. They weren’t wrong.

Soon it was time to head back to the city, leaving the wilderness behind us. I only wished we could have stayed longer. Visiting Quebec is a very different experience to your usual snowy winter holiday. While you can head off to the ski resorts of Tremblant or Stoneham, there’s a different experience to be had beyond chairlift queues and busy mountain restaurants.

You can go dog sledding or cross-country skiing through forests, eyes peeled for beavers and moose. You can hire a pair of snowshoes and trek through Ghost Valley where the trees are so heavy with snow, they look like apparitions.

You can even go on a winter adventure inside the old quaint city of Quebec or metropolis of Montreal and hide in a cosy pub afterwards, watching the ice glide silently down the misty St. Lawrence River. It just goes to show winter isn’t just about skiing or snowboarding, the spirit of mountain life can be found everywhere.

Getting There

Air Canada offers more daily flights from the UK to Canada than any other airline, with up to 77 non-stop flights per week this summer to seven major Canadian cities. From London Heathrow, the airline operates daily services to Montréal, with onward connections to Quebec City. Return Economy flights from London Heathrow to Quebec City start from £504.45 (incl. taxes, October 2016). Find out more at www.aircanada.com or call Reservations on 0871 220 1111.

Staying There

A standard double room at Hôtel Sacacomie in the Mauricie region starts from $221 + tax per person per night (based on two sharing) including breakfast, www.sacacomie.com. Access to the GEOS Spa costs $40 + tax per guest. Price includes complimentary ice skating, snow shoe hire, snow tubing and cross country ski hire (excluding tax). For information on activities available see: www.sacacomie.com/hotel-sacacomie-quebec-winter-individual-activities-en.html

Thank you to Destination Canada and Tourisme Quebec for hosting us.

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