Fri 8th: Montreal to Coteau du Lac [87km/ 52.67 miles]
This time we followed the right cycle path all the way into the city following Route Verte signs (this is the Trans-Canada route in Quebec) & the bike images on the pathway. It was great to note the well kept public spaces & community garden initiatives we saw along the way, providing a lift from the semi-industrial look of a number of the areas. It was overcast when we started out but warm.
Once we reached the Lachine Canal we could again see the older industrial complexes and noted even more residential construction going on. The ‘rebuilding’ of Montreal due to the decline of it’s 1960-70s built infrastructure. Once again through Dorval onto the ‘piste cyclable des Berges’ weaving through waterside suburbs like Vieux Village de Pointe Claire where we stopped for GF pizza & cake at Le Marche Emilie, sitting outside under a tree as the sun had come out full bore! Big houses in the Beaconsfield & Sainte-Anne De Bellevue area so we could only just glimpse the waterway.
At Bellevue we had to push our bikes up a winding walk/cycle bridge on to Pont Galipeault where a lovely wide cycle path took us into Notre Dame de l’ile Perrot. Zoomed across the island then over Pont Taschereau into the township of Vaudreuil-Dorion – not much to it but a major highway going through. Stopped though for a cuppa and pastry at a patisserie we saw in Perrot - Les Moulins Lafayette. Stunning variety of cakes, which I could have had as a birthday treat but wanted to wait until the evening …… silly me!! The baker working there was interested in our bikes & that we were cycling the trail – he cycles but finds it hard to encourage others to do so.
It was definitely lawn mowing season in Canada during our cycling time. The grand houses/estate areas we cycled by were crawling with yard maintenance teams busy with ride on mowers, weed-eaters & leaf blowers …… it was not a peaceful morning ride!! The town centres we passed through became less ‘trendy’ the further from Montreal we went & the closer to the ‘frontier’ with Ontario. Where major highways intersected the usual line up of chains – Tim Horton, Dairy Queen, MacDonalds – were to be found, along with petrol stations. We pretty quickly turned away from the busy vehicle areas onto quieter country roads but lost the Route Verte signs at one stage so got reassurance from a local that we were on ‘piste cyclable Soulanges’ heading toward Le Cedres and eventually our hotel for the night at Coteau-du-Lac. Once we found Pointe-des-Cascades we could relax as the rest of the ride was on a green-way, vehicle free alongside the canal….. easy riding with trees on one side (meant we couldn’t easily see the river) & canal on the other. The canal hasn’t been used commercially for at least 50 years so the locks are rotting & banks slipping in places.
We reached Coteau about 5pm feeling a little weary. We turned right across the wee bridge and crossed a busy road to get to Motel des Erables, a motel that had seen better days but where the owner was friendly and the room clean. At least 3 of the rooms seemed to be rented out permanently with BBQ out front on which to do their cooking. Just across from our room was a pool (for ‘Private use only’) and then the very busy highway 20. We threw our bags in, locked our bikes in the garage & went along to the supermarket to get some stuff for breakfast – good to have a fridge in the room to keep things cool – then down to the main town to seek out a meal.
Had a look-see round at tourist sites first but as it was end of season & late in the day nothing was open. No matter, just as the sun was going down we wandered around the site of Canada’s first canal lock system and the remains of a blockhouse from 1814 wars. Mooched on back into the village to look at the menus of the 4 or 5 eating places in town – one far too meaty & expensive while others basically pizza & poutine so chose the one that looked nicer, La Posta Cafe Bistro. Pleasant enough pub pizza meal but not exactly what I had hoped for as a birthday treat!. At least the bed was truly comfortable as we needed a good night’s sleep.
Sat 9th: Coteau du Lac to Cornwall [78km]
We woke around 8am to the sound of trucks and train horns; not unpleasant but certainly a reminder of just how close to an arterial route we were. There was a gentle mist hanging around as we set off along the canal path but that soon lifted & the sun shone intensely. We passed a couple of old locks and what may have been an early power station on our way to Saint Zotique but what we were really looking for was a café where we could get a nice cup of tea as we had been unable to boil water in our motel room though I guess we could have tried my travel mug in the microwave.
At Saint-Zotique we turned inland away from Lac Saint-Francois, through new housing developments into a forested area that sheltered the town from the noise of Highway 20, before swinging back along the waterfront. Again, when I say waterfront I mean we were alongside the highway with glimpses of the lake between the houses & restaurants built on the frontage. Still no café open or in easy reach for us to pull into but luckily just outside Riviere-Beaudette, beside the large tourist map the council had provided a portloo. The day was saved!
And, then we were across the provincial border into Ontario. The signs were now in English then French rather than French then (maybe) English. Again we cycled through some forested areas along a service road running parallel to the great 401, before turning into Lancaster a pit-stop town where we called into a Tim Horton’s for lunch – tomato soup & a roll with a cup of tea. Tasty & filling. We had another wee stop in a small lakeside village - we had hoped to find a store selling cold drinks or icecream biut nothing of the sort available & much of the lake frontage in private ownership BUT finally found a narrow bit of public access where we sat on a bench eating an apple and drinking our water looking out over the lake.
Once at Cornwall we looked for a café to call into as our Air B&B wasn’t available until 4pm. The town seemed to be café-less though there were bars that opened later. A wee public space with a few table & chairs offered a resting place while we worked out where our B&B was and it was there that a group of retirees came over to talk with us about our cycling adventures. They had just returned from spending the afternoon over at a pow-wow on Akwesasne reservation & recommended we head there once we off loaded our gear. Without them we would not have known that anything was on.
This we did after finding our AirB&B (key under the mat despite host Matthiew saying he would meet us) and finding internet password to find out which room we’d be in, throwing our gear in & cycling off.
The pow-wow was held on a island in the St Lawrence where the Akasawne Council have their centre but in order to get there we had to partly cross the bridge to the USA, which meant calling into Canadian border control to tell them what we’re doing & again on the way back.
The 3 hours we spent at the powwow were delightful. The first peformance we saw was by a small group of Maori (most born & bred in Montreal) & others who are maintaining & sharing culture. We then watched the drumming competition where groups of young men show their prowess at drumming & chanting – some great prize money involved. There were plenty of stalls to check out – lots of beautiful art & craft I would have loved but all too big to carry. I finally bought a small antler bone carving of the tree of life. We tried Indian tacos before watching the final dance & parade of the day. We then pedaled furiously back over the bridge before night fell, checking in with border control as required.
Once back at our B&B we managed to find a pot in which to boil some water for our cup of tea. Nothing like that supplied & neither was breakfast. We met a young man also staying there whilst on a training course and, much later i.e. midnight, another AirB&B guest who was locked out as the upper lock had been bolted ….. we didn’t know another guest was staying! She was lucky that Caroline has sharp ears as she may well have been outside all night!! Not our best AirB&B but the bed was comfortable & facilities were clean.
Sun 10th: Cornwall to Prescott 100km
We ate what we had left of our muesli, sneaking some of the milk from the fridge to make it digestible and boiled more water in the pot for our morning cuppa. Neither of the other guests had shown their faces by the time we left at 8.30am.
Cornwall was quiet of a Sunday morning, just a couple of people out walking dogs & a chap in a large pick-up truck heading out of town. We turned onto the riverside cycle way where was finally saw some other cyclists out enjoying an early-ish ride on a beaut day. The pathway took us (unnecessarily) down to where we could get a great view of a huge St Lawrence HEP station (the Visitor Centre could have been interesting but we were too early for opening) before taking us through a park along which many flash houses are built. At Long Sault we finally found the type of café we had been looking for, settled ourselves in at Nautica Grill for a proper breakfast. I had 2 eggs, toast, salad and fresh fruit whilst Caroline had a huge omelette, both washed down with a large glass of orange juice then mug of tea. Just what hungry cyclists need.
We pushed our bikes up from the café & over the roadworks to get to the start of the Long Sault parkway which took us over a series of islets for 11km. Delightful but not a lot of Fall colour yet. Back on the mainland the cycleway wound through a migratory bird sanctuary but I didn’t really see any except for Canada geese! Our next stops were at the The_Lost_Villages display to use the toilet then for a little longer at Upper Canada Village, which was busy with families enjoying the sunny day and keen to explore their history. The Village shop sold great fresh biscuits which we ate with the last of our green tea bags & thermos water.
From Upper Canada Village until Prescott we were pretty much on the road. A few areas had no shoulder to speak of but thankfully the roads weren’t busy and the Canadian drivers were respectful. Wanted to stop at Mariatown to take a photo of their welcome sign for a friend but there was nowhere safe to do that so on through Iroquois which seemed to be full of retirees enjoying golf before stopping for a break by a dairy farm, under the shade of a riverside tree just out of Cardinal.
Coming into Johnstown wasn’t too pleasant as road works had been going on and, on top of those hazards, the road we were on diverted off up to the 401 leading onto a bridge into the USA. I had thought a quieter road, marked on our cycle map (Windmill Road) would give us some respite but it just lead to another redoubt of the war of 1812 & a remains of an old windmill. Back on the road, and just out of Prescott, I got caught in some deep sand on the road shoulder & spun off the bike. Suffered only a couple of bruises on my thighs but my goodness, the bike was heavy to lift up!!
We hoped Prescott would have much to offer but it didn’t. Seemed to be a dying town – pretty enough down by the water in the old town but eateries consisted of a couple of Chinese restaurants, a fish & chippy and a pizza place. The B&B we had hoped to stay in was closed for the season while the hotels were 4-8km on the way out of town. Caroline was pretty stuffed by this time as she’d come down with a chest cold & was feeling miserable but we had to push on another 4km in the hope that Dewar's Inn on the river had a vacancy. And, they did!!
Two very friendly hosts greeted us and showed us to our room, which was one of the most comfortable we have stayed in. We even were given a kettle when I asked as a coffee pot really can’t boil water & that’s what is most often supplied in hotel rooms. I did however use it to heat up our quinoa for our evening meal, which I mixed with two packets of miso soup & some soya sauce. Very tasty & healthy, and saved us either cycling back into town or ngetting takeout delivered!
The motel was right on the water but the evening was a little too chilly to sit out watching the sunset so a quick photo had to suffice. The rest of the evening consisted of our usual diary writing & next-step planning using the motels very efficient wifi.
Mon 11th: Prescott to Gananoque [75km / 47.76 miles]
The continental breakfast, as promised by the hosts, was superb. Boiled eggs, fresh fruit, a variety of cereals, breads & spreads, plus sausages & bacon for the carnivores. We ate our fill & Caroline also took a muffin for later. We left around 9.30am with a brief pause at the Blue Church, on through Maitland where we saw many homes perched on top of huge granite or limestone rocks. Passed a number of retirement homes on our way into Brockville where we stopped for morning tea at Boboli café recommended to us by a bike-mad local who stopped to talk with us as we were looking around the main street.
At the café we enjoyed a slice of cake each and ordered cheese salad rye bread (home baked) sandwiches to take away for lunch along the trail. Caroline got talking to a couple renovating old buildings in Brockville & elsewhere in the region into boutique hotels; they were keen to encourage more cycling so were interested in our perspectives on what we expect of towns/villages we cycle through. They also told us about the old railway tunnel that is a ‘must visit’ site – we’d cycled over the top but hadn’t thought of going inside, a tunnel is a tunnel etc etc BUT this was worth going into as it is lit up with different coloured lights playing in time with the music. A really magical experience.
The magic over we pedaled on along the town’s waterfront before turning onto the main road again for about 6km. Finally we reached the start of the-thousand-islands bikeway into Gananoque – all up some 17 miles from Dewar’s to start of that part of the Waterfront trail. The trail was superb – nicely tarmacked with easy gradient but pretty boring as we were a little below the road with very few glimpses of the lake AND we had the wind in our face all day! Would definitely recommend anyone thinking of doing the Waterfront Trail to do it west to east rather than E2W as we did! We also think eateries or kiosks selling cold drinks need to get their signs out on the trail so cyclists know it may be worth while turning off …. we just bypassed a number of places as to get to them meant crossing the road & heading downhill. We did however stop twice: once for our picnic lunch at a Parks Canada enviro education centre @ Mallorytown and second for a cold drink at the Ivy Lea marina bar.
One thing we did notice were the number of homes built on the islets or small islands in the lake; we were kind of surprised by that. Thankfully a number of people are able to enjoy the area by staying at the large number of campgrounds found along the trail. Must be wodnerful to spend a summer mucking about in/on boats, exploring the many nooks & crannies of the region, or mooching about in the woods. The Parks Canada sites offer many activities; one pays to enter Parks Canada sites but in that way they maintain them as public spaces. We also noticed some lake side beaches, possibly run by local councils, charge to enter & use the facilities provided.
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| At Ivy Lea marina |
On reaching Gananoque we cycled along the main street checking out the motel & hotels. Many were fully booked, some looked decidedly seedy & other over-priced for our budget; we finally chose the Ramada Inn as they had a pool and would allow us to take our bikes into our room. The room was huge (two double beds), clean & with reasonable wifi. I tried out the pool as it was a stinking hot day but just couldn’t get my whole body into it as it was sooooo cold! Back to the room for a shower instead!
Ate our evening meal at the ‘all you can eat’ House of Dragon Chinese buffet next to the Ramada. Okay food but rather lackadaisical service ….. managed to get some tea leaves from the waitress as their tea was superb!
Back in the room we were soon in bed, looking forward to a good night’s sleep.Tues 12th: Gananoque to Sydenham [69km/ 43.53 miles]
We didn’t rush our start the next day. We ate the motel breakfast – I made waffles – but too much sugar in most of the things offered and not nearly as filling as the one Dewar’s offered the previous day.
On the way out of town we stopped in at The Socialist Pig cafe for a hot chocolate (they do a variety of milks) and to purchase items for lunch as we weren’t sure what towns we’d pass through on our way to Kingston. The cafe is definitely worth going to as they have a great range of food and a quirky ambience. Lucky we did buy lunch food as there was really nowhere to buy anything decent on the road. And we were on road (thankfully most of the route had a decent shoulder on which we could ride) all the way into Kingston with the wind, again, very much against us and the sun beating down. We stopped to take photos of an abandoned motel from the 1960s and later at a woodworker's roadside workshop - loved the barrel shaped saunas he was building. Just the ticket for northern winters. Around this area we noticed the greater array of colour change in the trees - Fall is truly beginning.
As we neared Kingston we saw a number of solar and wind farms in amongst the corn fields. A number of farms had an array of solar panels next to their barns and, we found out later from Kelly & Michael, that the Canadian government incentivises them i.e. you put solar in, feed it into the grid you get paid 3x the amount you would pay for electricity. This article is an interesting read in the light of the policy.
We were also pleased to note the notices reminding people of the level of fines they could face if caught speeding or caught littering. We could do with a few reminders like that on our roads in NZ. We also noted the lack of graffiti around the place – after the intensity of it in Germany, Canadian buildings & public spaces look relatively bare of tags.
We rode across the bridge into Kingston around 1pm, following a local on a bike round into a park by the yacht moorings where we sat to eat our picnic lunch. We then walked our bikes into the old town to find a cafe with wifi - Coffee Co Organic Expresso right on market Square fitted the bill. We enjoyed our drinks while looking over to the wonderful fresh produce market wishing we had room to carry some of the delights but ....... not to be! Having got our bearings we went to check out the tourist information centre to see if they had an actual map of the K&P Rail Trail but nope, and "not sure where it starts in town, mam"! No worries - we worked it out and enjoyed a very pleasant, well marked ride out to Sydenham on traffic free trails.
The urban section took us past the many superb grey limestone buildings Kingston is known for onto Wellington Street which took us into a lake side park then around the back of a shopping centre to connect with the old rail trail. It had a gradual incline up through farm & forested land all the way. We turned off onto Orser Road where Kingston City boundary meets Frontenac County & followed that until turning onto Old Stagecoach road into Sydenham. Caroline was as dry as a chip as we'd used up all our water so a quick stop at the supermarket in Sydenham before the last 500m to Kelly & Michael's place where we were warmly welcomed. Lovely to be with family again.
After a refreshing shower we spent a pleasant evening catching up over a lasagne & good wine. It wasn't long before we were nodding off, exhausted after the ride on such a hot day so to bed we went at the early time of about 8.45pm!
[Note: more photos to come]
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