#CycleTour2021 Day 9: A familiar road home

After a relaxing day off on Saturday, we awoke this morning to drizzle and rain, which was forecast to end by mid-morning. So we had a lazy morning and packed our panniers one last time. The rain ultimately ended at around 10:30, and we were on the road by 11. 

Today's route from Granby to Longueuil was one I know well, having ridden it numerous times over the years, and many times last year in particular. So I knew full well that it would be a long ride for Sonia, but I also felt confident that after her show of strength in the hills on Thursday and Friday, this relatively flat ride was eminently feasible for her, even with some forecast headwinds. 

Once again, Aeolus was smiling on us, and, aside from a few stretches where the path tacked closer to the wind, we mostly had at worst a fairly hefty crosswind and for long, glorious stretches, a slight tailwind. The weather was still cool and overcast when we made our first stop for lunch and final tea ceremony of the tour in Saint-Césaire. Then it was on again into the heart of Québec's Montérégie region, passing Rougemont on the right and Mont Saint-Grégoire on the left. By now, the clouds were beginning to clear, and as we passed through Marieville and Richelieu, the sun was shining in earnest. 

We took another good break at Fort de Chambly park, where the Richelieu River tumbles over the Chambly Rapids into Chambly Basin. I've seen it many times, but it's still an impressive sight. Despite the coolish and windy weather, the park was full of families and young people enjoying the spring weather, and the sense of collective optimism that this wretched pandemic might finally be coming to an end was palpable. 

Over the course of the final 25 kilometres from Chambly to Longueuil, we played leapfrog with a group of six or eight 20-something cycle tourists, and it was a delight to see them and their enthusiasm. We finally rolled down our street around 4:30, clocking in at 75 kilometres—Sonia's longest ride ever, and my longest ever tour day. We are tired but happy to be home. I'll put my thoughts about the tour overall in a separate post in a few days, once I've had some time to digest it all, but I can say that this was a very good tour. Not quite as magical as our European tours, but by far the most enjoyable one we've done in North America. 

#CycleTour2021 Day 8: Opposite day

 While Day 7 started with an easy 20-km ride and ended with numerous challenging hills, today started with 20 kilometres of hills and ended with an easy downhill run from Waterloo to Granby. From the very first instance of planning for this tour, years ago, I knew this day would be challenging. The Route Verte here passes along the local bike route known as “La motagnarde,” which should give you some idea of the kind of relief we were facing. In particular, the Chemin de la diligence is an old coach road that cuts straight across the terrain like a Roman road, with no consideration whatsoever for making things easier for future cyclists. 

Last night, we slept quite well for almost 11 hours. And still, if legs had eyes, mine would be looking at me with an expression that conveyed, “you really want to do this again?” We had a few sprinkles in the night, the first precipitation we have seen on this trip, but the morning was bight and warm and showed no signs of becoming overcast, as the forecast had been predicting for days. We were on the road by 9:40 and the path from the Lac Stuckley campground up to the Route Verte was a truly sadistic way to start the day. The RV through the parc was no better, and I actually had to push my bike up one particularly diabolical grade. 

Then it was downhill into the town of Eastman, which is is where the real fun started. We embarked on the Chemin de la diligence and soon realized that the next 13 kilometres was going to be a challenging hour. The road features three big climbs and an equal number of thrilling descents. I got Yul over 50 km/h for the first time, but that was too much even for me and I hit the brakes. But ultimately, we got to the top and were all smiles, knowing that our day was about to get a lot easier. 

We rolled into Waterloo just before noon, and I stopped at Au p’tit poulet for some well-deserved fries, which went very well as an appetizer for our lunch. The rest of the day was spent zooming down the truly lovely bike path between Waterloo and Granby, the Estriade. Our digs for the night is the home of Sonia’s recently late parents in Granby. Tomorrow is a rest day, and, since the forecast for Sunday is looking like rain, we may not get home until Monday. My legs just gave me a look of gratitude.

#CycleTour2021 Day 7: Hot ‘n Hilly

 Today was a good day, despite it being much longer and even harder than yesterday. At least the ride went relatively smoothly, even if it did have its literal ups and downs. It was also the hottest day of the tour, 

Knowing it would be a hot day, we got an early start and were rolling by 8:30. The first 20 kilometres of today’s ride was along the bike path that follows the lovely Rivière Massawippi from Lennoxville to North Hatley, a path we had taken a few years ago with my nephew Kyle. This part of the ride went by in a flash. We stopped in picturesque North Hatley for second breakfast and to rest a little, knowing that the easy part of the day was behind us, and it was only 10:30! We also know North Hatley well. Sonia’s late father, Jean-Guy, played saxophone for 60 years in the Harmonie de Granby, and they would often give summer concerts at North Hatley’s cute bandstand. Indeed, the last time we were in North Hatley, it was to come and hear Jean-Guy play.

Then it was up and away, with emphasis on the up. The Route Verte follows the road out of North Hatley, and it is a famously steep grade. I had to stop halfway up to give my legs a rest, but ultimately, it was easier to pedal that to push the bike up. The Route Verte turns off the road after several hundred metres, but keeps climbing, albeit on quiet country roads. What goes up must come down, and there was a lovely long descent down the other side. Flying 40-km/h down a gravel country road on a loaded touring bike is not for the faint of heart, but I recommend it! This up-and-down theme continued all the way to Deauville, at the top of Lac Magog. (Confusingly, there is a town in Quebec called Magog too, and it also is at the top of a lake: Lac Memphrémagog). Deauville has a cute little public beach, and it seemed the perfect spot to stop for lunch and, in Sonia’s case, for a refreshing dip in the lake. We had lunch, performed our tour tea ceremony, and had a little lie-down in the shade before topping up the water bottles and heading out 90 minutes later. 

Hi We followed the Route Verte through some lovely forest land toward Magog, still very much in up-and-down mode, but we left the RV early and skirted the northern end of the town to save quite a few kilometres off our day. Magog is a lovely town, but we’ve seen it many times. Our shortcut took us instead through the industrial part of town and along some fairly busy roads, but this was the only way this day was going to happen, and it all went smoothly, aside from a school bus driver who decided to give me a scare. 

Our destination was Parc du Mont Orford, where there were still many available campsites on this Thursday before the May long weekend. We rolled up to the service centre and got a site booked and then were on our way again, with another 5 or 6 kilometres through the park to get to our site. A grand total of 70 kilometres and, more significantly, 745 metres climbed. Nothing special for the serious cyclist, but both touring records for us. 

We found our site, dug into our panniers for whatever swim gear we had, and immediately walked down to Lac Stuckley for a swim. The water was bracing but a welcome refreshment on this hot day. 

#CycleTour2021 Day 6: Voie barrée – détour (ou non)

 Today ended up being slightly shorter than yesterday kilometre-wise, but it was oh-so-much harder, partly because it was hillier, but mostly because of a seemingly never ending series of detours, and because our route took us almost due south, between the lovely Rivière Saint-François and the noisy Autoroute 55. And gone also was the well-maintained bike path of the previous five days. Today, we were often on soft, ill-loved bike paths, tire-shredding gravel roads—or worse! (Including several hike-a-bike sections). On the other hand, it was distinctly not an arrow-straight rail trail; we rarely rode more than 100 metres in any one direction or on any given incline. [Insert left-right-up-down arrow key emojis]

But enough wingeing! It was a beautiful day, I was riding my bike with the love of my life, and I am sitting at a quiet picnic table beside the river with a beer beside me. Life could definitely be worse! We got a fairly late start this morning. Our first night in a tent was... OK. Earplugs saved the day (or, to be more accurate, the night), and we slept reasonably well, but I don’t think either of us would say we slept soundly. I am confident that tonight will be better. This campsite is on an island in the Rivière Saint-François, and even now, at rush hour, the traffic noise is not distracting. The 9:30 curfew will be in effect for another week, so I expect the evening to be much quieter. 

How to describe the ride today? Frustrating, perhaps. The Route Verte, which is usually very well marked is... less so in this area, for some reason. Maybe because it’s such a mishmash of hyper-local trails, right-of-ways on private property,  municipal bike paths, and whatever side streets and back roads can be used to link everything up. But easy to follow, it is not! Especially with all the various detours occasioned by springtime road repairs and the like. Frustrating also because this is SUCH beautiful country, and it it could be exceptionally beautiful riding, but it would appear that industrial and commercial interests hold sway here. A bike-path/route along the Rivière Saint-François seems like a no-brainer, but I don’t see any 3indication that it is in the cards.

#CycleTour2021 Day 5: Cycling still has things to teach me

I am writing this from a campground just outside of Richmond, QC; this will be our first time ever camping on tour, and our first night of camping in maybe 15 years. We used to love camping, but at some point, the idiots running generators and blasting music, combined with a string of bad weather, convinced us that it was just not in the cards for us anymore. But the pandemic and the logistics of this particular tour oblige, so we bought some light camping gear and have hoped for the best. I would like to have tested our setup beforehand, but this tour is so early in the season that the campgrounds have only just started opening up. I guess tonight will be the litmus test; either things will go OK and we will consider camping as an option for future tours, or we will be selling some lightly used camping gear in the near future. 

With that out of the way, today was an absolutely gorgeous day of cycling. Once we got out of Victoriaville, the Parc linéaire du Bois-Francs was more of the same lovely riding, and in fact its straight-as-an-arrow character began to change as we travelled out of the flatlands southwest of Quebec City and toward the more hilly country of the Eastern Townships. This made for a nice change of pace and of scenery. We stopped for 2nd breakfast in Warwick, a well-known cheese town, but the cheese shop was too far out of the way, so we decided to forego it. Aeolus was smiling on us again today, with the winds from the northeast, so we made pretty good time getting to Danville, where we had lunch (and made tea, a new tradition is born!). 

From here, the trail entered a really lovely valley, with a winding brook and pasture lands, sheltered by forested hills on either side. We passed the odd farm, but truly, one could believe oneself a century in the past, so sleepy and bucolic was the scenery. We stopped often to take pictures and look at birds. Truly, some of the loveliest cycling we have ever done in Quebec. Overall, this 150-km stretch between Quebec City and Richmond has greatly exceeded expectations. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. As we were riding along, it occurred to me that I am still learning about myself thanks to cycle touring. I am still learning to live in the moment and not always be wanting to move on to the Next Thing. I am still learning to not worry and be confident that whatever happens, everything’s going to be OK. But when I think about my state of mind in 2015 on our first tour, I think I might have made some little progress. 

We arrived in Richmond shortly after 3, and stopped at the Fromagerie Campagnard for what Quebecois call “crottes de fromage” (cheese curds) and some delicious aged cheddar. Then it was off to the grocery store for provisions and the final, cruel, 83-metre climb up to our campground. We can hear Autoroute 55 very well from here, but we hope that things will quiet down after 9:30, when the pandemic curfew, which is still in effect for another few days, takes effect. 

#CycleTour2021 Day 4: a study in contrasts

The idée fixe of this trip thus far has been a fine brisk morning, and this morning was no different. But by the time we left the excellent B&B in Lyster, Gîte du Coteau, it had warmed up enough that I didn’t need my jacket, even though we got on the road even earlier than yesterday morning. 

Today was to be a shortish day—only 49 km to Victoriaville—so we took our time, stopping often to watch birds and take photos. It being a Monday morning, we had the bike path to ourselves, and in fact we did not see another cyclist for the first 90 minutes. The first 25 km of this ride, between Lyster and Plessisville, were some of the most idyllic riding we have ever done on tour. Much of it was through maple forest, and we found ourself stopping just to listen to the abundant birdsong, uninterrupted as it was by any other human-made sound. We did see the occasional sign of human occupation (other than the bike path itself), which manifested itself by either a stretch of forest that had been logged selectively (apparently to cut back certain species to allow sugar maples to grow), or a woodpile made from said logging. 

But none of that was going on this morning. All we heard was the sound of our tires on the gravel and the many resident songbirds, including all three Mimid species we see in Quebec, the gray catbird, brown thrasher, and northern mockingbird. 

Alas, this state of existence mostly ended after we rode through Princeville, with its lovely Église Saint-Eusebe. After that, the bike path began to run parallel to Route 116 again for a long stretch. Coupled with our forgoing of 2nd breakfast (a mistake!), which caused our energy levels to flag at this very moment, and a very slight headwind (the normal state of affairs), the euphoria of the previous two hours began to melt away. 

By the time the path finally curved away from the highway, it was well past noon, and we were tired, irritated, and hungry. We were only a few kilometres away from our destination, but when we came across a quiet suburban park, we were finally able to stop for lunch. It also seemed like a good idea to open up the kitchen pannier, pull out the camp stove, and make a saucepan of tea. This proved to be just the elixir we needed. Coffee is wonderful, but there’s something really special about a freshly brewed cup of tea to go along with your picnic lunch. 

Tea for two!

Now feeing MUCH better, we rode the final seven kilometres to our B&B for the night, which entailed another noisy ride along a busy road. But the B&B is very comfortable, and after settling in, we decided to go for a walk at the adjacent Mont-Arthabaska park to use some different leg muscles and take in some nice views of the area. A second short ride to get dinner provisions completed the day’s activities. 

So much for an shortish day. 

#CycleTour2021 Day 3: Unexpected tailwinds

The St. Lawrence was much higher when we awoke this morning. What I had believed to be unusually low water levels had in fact been low tide (I still find it remarkable that the St. Lawrence sees tides as far inland as Quebec City). It was another sunny morning but brisk enough that I needed to wear a jacket as we departed our riverfront Airbnb. Yesterday we had a lovely descent into the St. Lawrence valley, but the cycling law of conservation of energy cannot be thwarted—what goes down must then climb up. So the first hour or so of today’s ride was mostly trending uphill, with several extremely challenging hills, particularly when one is carrying 30 kg of stuff and one’s gearing is not quite adequate. The first few kilometres along the river were lovely, but after that, we were mostly travelling through commercial areas; passing through big cities is one of my least favourite parts of touring. However one one benefit is relatively easy access to coffee, and near the top of our climb out of the valley, I topped up the caffeine and sugar reservoirs with an espresso and a brownie. 

We followed the signs for the Route Vert 1 until we got to the trailhead of the Parc linéaire Le Grand Tronc, which, like most rail trails, is straight as an arrow. When we were planning this trip, I was a bit worried about this stretch from Quebec City to Sherbrooke. It crosses some very sparsely populated farmland, and on the map, at any rate, it looks pretty desolate. My expectations were for a poorly maintained gravel path, so we were agreeably surprised to find an impeccable asphalt surface through some beautiful woodland and a great many cyclists, joggers, and in-line skaters enjoying this beautiful Sunday morning. Quite the opposite of desolate. Another area of concern for this part of the trip was the route’s generally westerly direction, which would normally mean riding into headwinds for much of it, especially given the openness of the terrain. But lo and behold, this morning, we had a northeasterly wind, which gave us a slight tailwind or at worst, a crosswind. [Insert chef’s kiss emoji]

Flying down this trail, we were soon out of Quebec City suburbia and into the rural lands to the west. After the noise of the city, the relative silence (abundant birdsong excepted) was physical relief. It’s astonishing how much easier the pedalling is when you don’t have to worry about traffic noise, cross streets, and vehicles. All we had to do was point our bikes west, pedal, and enjoy the day. Paradise!

We stopped for second breakfast in Saint-Agapit, and it was here that the beautifully maintained cycle path ended. Beyond, it was still asphalt, but much less well maintained, and the scenery began to be a bit more what I was expecting. Open farmland with the odd stand of trees. And the path began a stretch where it paralleled Route 116, which made things a little less pleasant. Ninety minutes later, it was lunchtime, so we picnicked in Dosquet, taking the opportunity to have a little rest as well. 

The simple delights of second breakfast.

Then it was back on the bikes for the final 13 km to Lyster, where we are spending the night. After Dosquet, the trail changed to crushed gravel, and once we crossed the regional boundary into the Centre du Quebec region, its condition greatly improved, both in terms of it’s surface and that it no longer followed the 116. Lyster is a lovely little village halfway between Victoriaville and Quebec City, and this very prosperous little B&B we are staying at is usually bustling with Quebec City tourists and cyclists. But tonight, this early in the season, and with the pandemic still affecting tourism, we have the place to ourselves. 

The beautifully restored train station at Lyster.

 

  

#CycleTour2021, Day 2: Going downhill

 We awoke to a glorious sunny morning. And not a sound to be heard but singing birds, and the odd early SeaDoo zooming across the lake (don’t get me started). We had a copious breakfast, included with the hotel stay, and then we were packing up our panniers and preparing to go. The couple in the room next to ours turned out to be from Saint-Lambert, one town over from Longueuil, and described themselves as “cyclistes débutants.” They clearly weren’t the kind of people who would do the sort of tour we are doing, but it’s nice to see people who have never done much cycling before enjoying the sport. One of the many good things to have come out of the pandemic, I think. 

Like yesterday, the mere act of hopping on our bikes and starting to pedal lifted our moods even further. The air was fresh, our legs were fresh, and we were embarking on another day’s adventure. The first 15 km of today’s ride was still on the Vélopiste Jacques-Cartier Portneuf and just as delightful as yesterday. However, once we crossed the impressive bridge over the Jacques-Cartier River, the bike path was paved, so the going proved a little easier. Also a great deal busier. It seemed like most of Quebec City was out cycling on this beautiful Saturday morning! A busy bike path, but still exceedingly pleasant for all that. 

We stopped for our 2nd breakfast at 11:30 in Wendake and arranged to meet a friend for a picnic lunch at a park along the Rivière Saint-Charles. I must say, cycling in Quebec City is wonderful—lots of well-maintained bike paths, even along major roads. As we began our descent into the St. Lawrence Valley, we were also riding through some not very interesting commercial districts. But at least we were on a safe bike path, and going downhill makes everything better when you’re on a bike. 

We stopped briefly at an IGA to pick up lunch provisions and then headed down the St. Charles River bike path—surely one of the loveliest urban bike routes in North America. We met up with our friend, had a leisurely lunch and then continued along the path into the Old Port of Quebec and on to the Québec-Lévis ferry. Alas, we got there just as it was leaving, and this early in the season, it only runs every hour. So we had some time on our hands, but we decided to just rest and wait. I did lend my pump to a fellow cyclist who had a flat and had used his CO2 cartridge. 

The beautiful Rivière Saint-Charles bike path.

After the short crossing, we only had 8 or 9 km to go to our Airbnb in Saint-Romuald. After stopping for supper provisions at a SuperC (nothing better to be had, alas), and raiding a local bakery for a loaf of bread, we headed to our apartment, which is right on the St. Lawrence, opposite the Quebec City suburb of Sillery, with a view of its lovely Église Saint-Michel de Sillery, where I did one of my first ever Early Music gigs nearly 30 years ago! A lovely way to finish day 2 of this tour. 

I have never seen the St. Lawrence this low at Quebec City! Saint-Michel-de-Sillery in the distance.

A good start

 Well, what an auspicious start to the tour. Wonderful weather, an long ride through spectacular countryside, and everything went off without a hitch. Mostly....

We left the house right on time, at 6:30. It takes about 40 minutes to ride the 10 km from our house to to Central Station, and, in theory, we were supposed to be there an hour ahead of the train’s 8:15 departure have enough time to get the bikes into the baggage car. Yes, after numerous calls, we had been assured that there would be no problems bringing our bikes on the train after all. Alas, someone forgot to send the memo to the people at the ticket counter this morning. But I must say, despite the incredible confusion about the existential question of whether or not bikes were or were not allowed on this train, all of the Via staff were incredibly kind and accommodating. Ultimately, there was no problem and by 8:15, we and our bikes were on our way to Rivière a Pierre (or, as the conductor jokingly referred to it, Rivière a Peter—no arguments here!). 

At least on the stretch from Montreal to Rivière a Pierre, the train ride from Montreal to Jonquière is not particularly pretty. For the first hour it passes through Montreal industrial zones and rail yards. Then it’s mostly farm fields, trees, and the very occasionally view of a river gorge. And it is is very much a milk run. You can ask the conductor to get off basically anywhere. And people do! So there’s a lot of stopping and starting. We arrived at our destination just after 1 pm, about 40 minutes late (par for the course for Canadian trains and, according to the conductor, quite good time for this train, which often has to wait for freight trains to pass).

 

We got our bikes loaded, made a pit stop at the trail head (see what I did there?) and were on our way. The first day-and-a-half of this trip are on the Vélopiste Jacques-Cartier Portneuf, a lovely rail trail that runs through some very wild country. The trail bed itself is quite well maintained, especially for this early in the season, and its gentle ups and downs were quite doable, even carrying 30 kg of gear. We stopped three or four times to rest and eat and enjoy the scenery, finally pulling into the Station Touristique Duchesnay at about 5:30 and a total of about 64 km—quite a long day by our standards. But everything went relatively smoothly and mostly according to plan, and whatever frustration or stress we were feeling melted away as soon as we got on our bikes. 

Testing out (yet another) travel Bluetooth keyboard

In preparation for our upcoming #Cycletour2021, I have purchased yet another foldable Bluetooth keyboard so I can write my daily blog posts. I am writing this on the Periboard-805 Ergo, which thus far seems ok. Keys have decent travel and responsiveness; I am not used to an ergonomic keyboard, so that will take some getting used to, but at least the keys aren’t sticking or entering double letters. I am hopeful. 

Alas, this trip, which begins in just under two weeks, has already hit a snag. We were supposed to start the trip by taking the train to Rivière-a-pierre north of Quebec City; however, we recently learned that Via Rail has halted the carriage of bicycles on its trains due to lack of demand and COVID precautions. So we are scrambling to find an alternate means of getting either to Rivière-a-pierre itself or to our first night’s accommodations at the Station touristic Duchesnay. We haven’t yet cancelled our train tickets, juuust in case, but there appears to be a car rental place near Duschesnay where we could drop off a one-way car rental. We’ll get there, but I was excited about starting and ending this tour by bicycle, and it looks like that part of the plan, at least, will not happen. Stupid COVID.