Cycling Quebec:
Villages, Canals, and Montreal
This week-long bike camping triptook us from northern Vermont, through
the Eastern Townships of Quebec, on to Montreal,along the Soulang and
Beauharnois canals on either side of the St. Lawrence,and back through
the Circuit de Paysans area of southwestern Quebec. It was a nice mix
of on-road, paved bike path, and packed stone dust bike paths, with
gentle terrain and surprises at every turn! This tour is featured on
our Bike New England Tour disk and with online access. Lake Carmi State
Park in Vermont was our start-out location. It's just a few miles from
the Quebec border and the beautiful Eastern Township villages that are
popular with Montreal tourists.
Sunday:
From the lake, we go south 3 miles to catch the nearby stone-dust
Missisoquoi Rail Trail, which extends 26 miles from St. Albans to
the Canadian border at Richford. We head east from there, staying in
Vermont until we reach Newport. Turning north, we cross the border into
the
Eastern Townships of Quebec near Stanstead and Bebee Plain,and camp
for the night at
Camping
Lac Frontiere in Stanstead.
Monday:
We start out again today on the 19 kilometer
Tomifobia Nature Trail, a former railway converted to a stone-dust
cycling path.At Ayer's Cliff, we pass below Lac Massawipi and continue
on to
Magog, near
Lac Memphremagog.
Here we join the
Route Verte,
Quebec's 3000 km cycling route, on a section known as the
La Montagnade.We ride past Mount Orford, and Take La Route Verte
4 to the Parc
National de la Yamaska, where we'll camp for the night.
Tuesday: We continue westward , joining
Route Verte 1 (the Monteregiade 1) in Granby. After crossing the Richelieu
River at St. Jean Sur Richelieu, we go north on the
Piste du canal de Chambly (Chambly Canal bike path), another stone
dust section of the Route Verte., where Lake Champlain becomes the Richelieu
River. After passing Fort Chambly, we'll stay the night at theParc
Mont-Saint-Bruno .Our path today takes the gives us options of an
on-road alternative ( the
CircuitChemin de l'Acadie)and the
Circuit de la Riviere Richelieu.North of ForthChambly we'll join
theCircuit
du Chemin des Patriotes and the
Circuit des Chutes du Richelieu .
Wednesday:
From Mont-Saint-Brono we turn back toward Chambly so that we can join
a paved section of the Route Verte, eventually crossing the Fleuve Saint-Laurent
(Saint Lawrence Seaway) on the Notre Dame or Champlain Bridges into
Old Montreal, where a short bike route takes us right into the old city
for lunch. You may wish to explore some other
cycling routes in the city.Then we takethe paved
Lacine Canal Path from the OldPort
of Montreal (or the southern coastal route alternative)to Lacine.We
continue then along south of Montreal on Lake Shore Drive,crossing over
to Pointe Des Cascades just to the west of the city on the Galipeau
and Tsachereau bridges.We stay at
Camping Pointe Des Cascades . Today's ride is about 50 miles.
Thursday:We
take the paved
Soulanges Canal Bikeway (part of the Route Verte)which goes to St.
Zotique.At Les Cedres we take a bike ferry to St. Timothee.Crossing
the island to theBeauharnois
Canal, we'll take the
Beauharnois Canal bikeway north to the town of Beauharnois. Here's
another
map of the bikeway.From there, the bike path goes east to
Ste. Martine.We turn south on Rt. 203, a good cycling road, to Ste.
Chrystome, staying the night at Camping Russeltown. Other routes in
the same direction are the
Circuit de l'Questand the
Circuit du Mont Rigaud .
Friday
Wecontinue today through the Monteregie section of Quebec near
the US borderalong the
Circuit du Paysan (literally, circuit of peasants) , ascenic loop
through the farmlandsof southwest Quebec.we ride a few miles east and
take the
Paysans Piste Multifunctionelle, a stone dust bike trail,which runs
from Ste Clothideto Lacolle. A parallel on-road route is the
Circuit d'Hemmingford from St.Clotilde to Lacolle.The Monteregie
area is criss-crossed with wonderful quiet
cycling loops, which we will only be able to just touch on. We turn
south on the Route Verte , and cross back into the US in Alburg on North
Hero Island, surrounded by Lake Champlain.Heading east in Vermont, we
pass through the
Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.From Swanton we follow the Missisquoi
River onRt. 78, and join the Missisquoi Rail Trail for a few miles in
Sheldon. In a few miles, we turn north on Rt. 136, and are soon back
to Lake Carmi, the end of our trip.Today's ride is 68 miles.
Planning
for the trip: The total for the tour is 7 days,a bit over 400miles,
with an average of55-60 miles per day on a mix of stone dust cycling
trails and on-road routes.We stay in a group site, or two small tentson
each individual site.We are usually on our own for food, eating along
the way rather than carry food and cooking utensils.Being on our own,
we don't have access tovan support or other services, so make sure your
bike and panniers are ready.For carrying my camping gear and clothes,
I prefer pulling my one wheel
Bob Yak trailer, while others prefer to use panniers. The Yak has
more room for tents and has a lower center of balance, but is a bit
cumbersome when parking.Panniers can easily be removed, but usually
require larger objects such as sleeping bags and tents to be strapped
on top.In any case, travel light; we always bring back items we didn't
even use on the trip.
