La Route Verte

La Route Verte was amazing...a must for all bikers! It''s a series of bike trails connected around the province that takes you from north to south, east to west...wherever you'd like!

Where we went...

Day 1: Montreal to Farnham (Stayed at a motel)

Day 2: Farnham to Magog (rough/free camped)

Day 3: Magog to Richmond (motel)

Day 4: Richmond to Plessisville (rough/free camped)

Day 5: Plessisville to Quebec (YWCA)

Some details...

Day 1: A little later than expected start we finally got out of Guillaume's house. We don't have much stuff on this cross country trip, but it seemed like we had to go through all of it to decide what we needed, and what would fit on the bikes. After we finally got going (a little sore already unfortunately from the biking the previous day) we wound our way through the streets of Montreal, Longueuil and Chambly which was a neat start. These areas have really nicely marked bicycle routes, often times removed from the road or protected from the road by little posts, there are also little bicycle "Arretez" signs. It made us a appreciate the current mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson's, vision for Vancouver, hopefully they work out. After reaching Chambly we ended up riding along series of locks. This was an absolutely beautiful ride, very little grade and completely isolated from traffic, this ran all the way to St.Jean sur le Richelieu where we changed to another isolated path this time behind farmlands on what must have been old train tracks (based on the flatness and the straightness). We pulled off the trail in Farnham as darkness approached. We were unable to find any good spots to rough camp as most of the day we had been surrounded by really wet fields so we grabbed a motel room for the night

Day 2: We got on the road at exactly 9am the next morning, a time planned to coincide with the opening of the Farnham Fromagerie (Fromagerie des Cantons). We popped by for a bit of an early morning cheese sampling which we liked, so we bought some more for lunch for the next two days. Getting back on the trail the day started pretty similarly to how the previous day ended. Farmlands. This continued for much of the day through some really pretty little towns. Eventually though all good things end and we started climbing some hills as we approached the Mont Orford National Park. Before actually entering the park the Route Vert sent us along some wonderful (though steep) country back roads. It was the perfect view of autumn with the leaves changing and farms being harvested. As we climbed into and through the park we got some great views looking over the rolling hills covered in reds, yellows and oranges. In the park itself there was quiet a bit of climbing, which was funny as it was also the hottest part of the trip. We were both in t-shirts and shorts and I ended up with a sun tan at the end of the day. After being sent onto the highway by a biking detour we skipped a bit of the Route Vert to get into Magog where the Lonely Planet had indicated there was a brew pub we should try out, which we did, and enjoyed. That night we went a little out of the way on the Route Vert and set up tent on a nice patch of grass.

Day 3: The third day of the trip started much the same as the previous two days, absolutely wonderful weather. We expected this as the weather forcast was for rain only on Thursday (this was Wednesday). After a few hours though, it clouded over and got a little rainy. During that time we were sharing the road with cars which wasn't that pleasant. We ended up in a little town called North Hatley though which was quiet nice and we had a solid lunch so we were in good spirits heading into the afternoon. From there we were on an isolated path again up most of the way to Sherbrooke. Sherbrooke was the biggest town we had come across since our first day and we regretted we didn't get a chance to check it out more. It was also the home of Mathieu's parents, who had generously agreed to take us in for a night if we needed it, which makes what was to come even more unfortunate. We had decided that with the rain we might as well rent a room for the night rather than camp, but if we were going to do that, we might as well push out a long day as we would have a shower at the end of it. Unfortately there were not that many hotels in the next few towns so we started off in the direction of Richmond which along the Route vert was ~30km. After about 8km the rain was really starting to come down and just outside of Bromptonville we got into a part of the path which was marked closed (though we couldn't quite understand the reason). Our only alternative was a pretty busy highway so we took the chance and started to cycle. About 4km along this path we figured out why it was closed. It was a mud pit. The mud was deep and sticky such that Megs tires got so covered they got locked up with the fenders and wouldn't turn. Needless to say our pace slowed to a crawl. About this point it really started to rain hard. Also about this point with the sun setting and such dense clouds, it started to get really really dark. So basically we were riding along, through mud, with our little bicycle head lights our only source of light in the pitch black while the rain pounded down on us. Eventually we reached the next little town Windsor. At this point we called it quits for the day and with alot of help from a couple of young people at a gas station (the language barrier was a bit of an issue here) were able to get a taxi which drove our really wet and muddy selves and bikes to Richmond. At the motel we spread our gear everywhere and turned up the heat to dry everything off. We then sat in the shower until we warmed up.

Day 4: Day 4 started much the same day 3 ended, with heavy rain. We almost threw in the towel at this point, in fact had there been a bus or a train that actually ran through Richmond, we probably would have been on it. We figured if we were going to be in the rain, we might as well be walking through Quebec and going back to a dry hostel. Fortunately, there was no reasonably priced way to leave town except our bikes so we took off. By about lunch time, we were starting to see hints of sun mixed with periods of rain. We also had a bit of a tail wind, and we made some good distance despite a late start and really enjoyed the day. Late into dusk we set up our tent outside of Plessisville.

Day 5: The trail started really soft on the fifth day. That's something that I didn't mention earlier, it seemed like each canton decided what form the Route vert would take in their area. We saw a variety of different finishes from asphalt to compact gravel, to just hard dirt, but nothing like the area around Plessisville which looked just fine but while riding on it, it felt like you had a flat tire. Immedietly after leaving the area and changing trail types our speed increased 50%. After that the rest of the day was great with much of the route paved, we cruised into Quebec around 2:30 and after a bit of a mix up at the YWCA ended up in a room with a single bed on the 5th floor, which is I guess where the bike trip ends.