Scott and Becky go East

66 km 5 hrs

It rained last night, sometimes heavily. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a steady rain, rather it rained in bouts on and off. Every time the rain picked up, it woke me up. Adding to the rain, Scott seemed to be paranoid about animals getting into our gear. He kept hearing them and shouting “Hey” or “Who’s there?”, which kept waking me up. Eventually, I dug out some earplugs and that helped with sleep.

Scott says:

In my own defense, I’m sure I was hearing snuffling outside the tent at various points during the night, and all our panniers were in the vestibule.

The morning was beautiful and reminded me why I like camping. I made Scott get up and help with moving the fly to a line so that it could dry out before we needed to leave. He then climbed back into the tent to read the paper we had bought yesterday, while I enjoyed a cup of tea and did some writing. It is the peaceful mornings sitting at a picnic table with my tea/coffee and either a book or some writing that I enjoy the most. I hope we find more opportunities for that restful time.

Drying out

I missed the pathway on the way to the bathroom, which meant I had to walk the long way along the roadway. I was rewarded with a nice view of a pileated woodpecker munching away at a dead tree. I only wish I had a camera with me!

Since we were not anticipating a long day, we had a lazy morning and allowed the time necessary for our tent and tarp to dry out.

We followed the Route Verte from Oka into Montreal. It was very well signed in most places. In some spots they had both painting on the road and signs indicating where to go. The Route Verte was very reminiscent of the Waterfront trail through the Toronto area, except with much better signage! The path was quite relaxing and enjoyable until we entered Laval.

Excellent signs

Becky crossing the bridge to Laval.

In Laval the path alternated between dedicated bike path and a dedicated lane on the road. The issue with the dedicated lane on the road was that cars did not necessary look before they entered it. There were several times when people drove up from a side street and did not even look before they entered the main road. There were also times when people went to pull around someone making a left. They would pull into the bike lane without checking for oncoming bikes. It meant that we had to be riding defensively even though we were on dedicated bike paths.

The north-south bike path on Laval was great though – it mostly went along the Metro line, so there were very few cross-streets, and had been very recently paved. (From the Route Verte mapbook we were expecting gravel)

When we reached the Island of Montreal the path was again partly on-road, but more comfortable. When the dedicated bike path was part of a road, they put up barriers that prevented cars from driving into the path. That certainly made it less stressful.

We stayed at our friend Kirstin’s place in Outremont, and we had a fair ride from the bike path to get there. This was during rush-hour, so we were both stressed about it. We were shocked at how easy and pleasant it was. Drivers gave us a wide berth, and the traffic wasn’t too heavy, even on Jean-Talon and Cote de Neige.

We found the drivers in Laval to be much worse than those in Montreal proper. I think it helped that there were a lot of lights, so cars were never able to move fast.

Kirsten had a late-afternoon appointment, so we didn’t want to arrive too early, but we drastically underestimated the distance we were taking on the bike path – it was almost 30 km further than going by road. This meant we got to Kirstin’s much later than anticipated. At 7pm, we reach Kirstin’s place , which is a flat on the third floor – lots of gear to haul up four flights of stairs! Scott hauled the bikes up and Kirstin and I lugged the gear. We had a lovely visit and slept well. Thanks Kirstin!

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.010 km	47m 01s	12.77 km/h	10.010 km	47m 01s	12.77 km/h
	9.992 km	1h 29m 59s	6.66 km/h	20.002 km	2h 17m 00s	8.76 km/h
	10.032 km	43m 26s	13.86 km/h	30.034 km	3h 00m 26s	9.99 km/h
	9.968 km	1h 16m 16s	7.84 km/h	40.002 km	4h 16m 42s	9.35 km/h
	10.029 km	37m 37s	16.00 km/h	50.031 km	4h 54m 19s	10.20 km/h
	10.036 km	1h 03m 27s	9.49 km/h	60.067 km	5h 57m 46s	10.07 km/h
	5.919 km	32m 44s	10.85 km/h	65.986 km	6h 30m 30s	10.14 km/h

87 km, 5 hrs, 30 min.

Today didn’t start out as hot today as yesterday, but it was still pretty muggy. It threatened to rain a few times – a few drops trying to cool us down without much success.

We started off by riding along the Prescott-Russell rail trail. At first the bugs were horrible. We had experienced a few spots yesterday where they were bad on the side roads, but the trail was much worse. You needed to be going more than 18 km/hr in order to be rid of them. I’m not sure what kind they were, possibly deer flies. However, once the trail left wooded areas and was surrounded by farm fields the flies were gone. I do wonder if this is related to the lack or forest or the amount of pesticides sprayed on the fields!

We jumped off the trail just before Vankleek Hill. Of course, this meant we ended up climbing Vankleek Hill! We stopped for a delightful lunch at Mary’s Country Kitchen on main street. The chicken pot pie was excellent.

We made our way on familiar roads to Hudson, were we caught the ferry to Oka. The Oka ferry was interesting. It was a barge towed by a power boat rather than a ferry. They broke all the rules I had learned regarding towing safety! Scott and I were stuck standing at the front of the barge right behind the tow lines. If anything were to go wrong, we would be in serious trouble. Apparently, the government has decided that this ferry no longer meets safety standards and they are in the process of upgrading it to a shiny new boat that is self-propelled. We saw the new boat, but it appears that the Oka side does not yet have a dock, so it isn’t in operation yet.

Here are some photos of the Oka Ferry:

We are staying the night at Oka Provincial Park. It is a beautiful park with nice wilderness camp grounds and a fairly long sand beach. The only negative is that the showers cost 25 cents. We decided to go for a swim rather than pay for showers! The water was nice and refreshing and warmer than Ron and Wendy’s pool!

Just as I got back to the tent after brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, the rain began. It is really quite amazing how we manage to be inside the tent just as the rain starts! It will be another wet tent morning. I think it has rained every single night we’ve stayed in the tent. So far we’ve managed to stay dry.

So far, so good.

	Partdistance	Parttime	Partspeed	Distance	Time	Speed
	0.000 km	0s	-	0.000 km	0s	-
	10.035 km	45m 10s	13.33 km/h	10.035 km	45m 10s	13.33 km/h
	9.969 km	56m 53s	10.52 km/h	20.004 km	1h 42m 03s	11.76 km/h
	10.024 km	49m 11s	12.23 km/h	30.028 km	2h 31m 14s	11.91 km/h
	10.039 km	2h 10m 02s	4.63 km/h	40.068 km	4h 41m 16s	8.55 km/h
	9.949 km	34m 22s	17.37 km/h	50.017 km	5h 15m 38s	9.51 km/h
	9.986 km	32m 55s	18.20 km/h	60.003 km	5h 48m 33s	10.33 km/h
	10.042 km	1h 01m 02s	9.87 km/h	70.045 km	6h 49m 35s	10.26 km/h
	9.979 km	42m 38s	14.04 km/h	80.024 km	7h 32m 13s	10.62 km/h
	7.751 km	1h 00m 31s	7.69 km/h	87.775 km	8h 32m 44s	10.27 km/h