Montreal to Abbotsford, Quebec
8/26/23. 47 mi. AIS: 4:25. 10.6 mph. Elev 272 ft.
Up and out of Montreal at about 9am today. The rain was suppose to start about 11 so we had a sunny start over the Pont Jacque-Cartier bridge. Saturday morning was quiet so we easily slipped through the streets of the city. Up and over the bridge was simple and easy with a dedicated bicycle path. By now you won’t be surprised to hear we were on some kind of bicycle route for all 47 miles. Most of it was a completely separate trail from any roads! Lovely, lovely ride! Except for the bridge, the terrain was very flat. The trail traffic was pretty light for a Saturday I thought. Best part was we missed all the rain today!
One of the first towns we came to is called Chambly. The little bit we saw was certainly pleasant. There’s a nice lake looking toward one big mountain. Then we came across the farmers market. Being a sucker for French pastries, we had to buy a couple tasty pastries. We really enjoyed the “mushroom vendor”! If I moved to Quebec, I might have to consider Chambly 😊
Single big mountain in the background.
Checkout the mushroom assortment!!
There is a nice bike path along a canal with several locks. This is what I found about the canal:
Chambly Canal, navigational waterwaybypassing a series of rapids on the Richelieu River between the Chambly Basin and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, in Quebec province, Canada. Built between 1833 and 1843 and improved in 1850, it is nearly 20 km (12 miles) long and has nine hydraulic locks, a lift of 24 metres (80 feet), and a normal draught of 2 metres (6.5 feet). Vessels up to 34 metres (112 feet) long and 7 metres (22 feet) wide can be accommodated. With the smaller Saint-Ours Canal, south of Sorel, it permits uninterrupted water communication for about 145 km (90 miles) from the main body of Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence River. It is a national historic site in Canada and is now largely used by recreational vessels.
Bike path runs along the canal.
La Route Des Champs
Things you see…
I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the Canadian equivalent to Dollar General and Dollar Tree. They are everywhere just like in the US. But… so far, we do not need to rely on them at all😊. But we will if we have to!
This photo is for my daughter, Rosalie! Spelled just like her name. So many times when she was young we would try to find those trinkets you get for kids with her name on it… don’t think we ever succeeded. This one’s for you kid!🥰
Mont Yamaska in the background.
…..and the people you meet!
Today was a day of conversations. Because neither of us are any good at French it’s not easy initiating conversations. Today several people came to us to ask questions because it’s obvious we are traveling by bicycle. They are curious about where we came from and where we’re going. If they ask and… they can speak English we are enjoying the conversations. First I met a super nice couple from Ottawa at the Chambly farmers market. They would like to travel Europe by bike and were impressed that we are traveling so compact and camping too! The next person we met was traveling on the same path. This gentleman was headed our same direction so he struck up a conversation with Jim. He seems to ride his bike a lot. He was riding from Montreal to visit his sister…150km today. I can’t take photos and ride so missed that opportunity. He wore a “buff” on his head, regular shirt and shorts and his shoes were the kind that are really flat with toes like CrossFit lifters wear! He was pretty cool. He reminded me alot of my friend Gregg! He killed about 10 km. riding and chatting.
The next couple we met was just a few kilometers from our camp. I stopped to take that pretty picture of the flowers at a rest stop and they were taking a break as well. Giorgio and Marilena…. they had heard of Billings, Montana…. And better yet, they had stayed many times at the Dude Rancher motel!
They have made a few trips to Montana to be “guest” workers on the TX Ranch in the Pryor Mountains! They love visiting that area of Montana and appreciate the western ranch lifestyle. They like horses too!
Our pit stop tonight is another Quebec RV camp. As usual, it is enormous and it has grassy tent sites near the back. This one is pretty fancy. It has a wave pool, 4 pickleball courts, a swim pool, and a small lake with a beach! It’s full of children and adults with golf carts to get around. They are having fun. The crazy thing is they are celebrating Halloween tonight and have what sounds like a live band! I can hear lots of Elvis.. Hunk of Burning Love from my tent.
I wonder what our campsite tomorrow will be??
cinnicrew 