The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Montreal, je t'aime

September 7th to September 17th

Ride Director: John Gradwell
Ride Co-Director: Germain Berube
Report by: Grace Voss

Courteous drivers, an amazing array of two–way ‘cycle paths’ winding their way through suburban and forested areas surrounded by lakes and excellent leadership were three highlights of a 10–day bicycle tour in mid–September sponsored by The Bicycle Adventure Club of San Diego. A BAC fellow traveler from past outings, Tina Neil of Tucson, AZ and I joined a small but compatible group of folks from Houston, Irvine, CA and Hawaii for the adventure.
   Our leaders were John Gradwell, a British ex–pat who organized the tour for the second consecutive year, and the ebullient Germain Berube, a native of Quebec who absolutely loves taking visitors out on his favorite bike rides through the countryside and into local villages. We followed his enthusiastic guidance like lemmings headed to the sea, happy to try and keep up!

   We rode for eight days in the Vaudreuil­–Dorian area of southern Quebec, a rapidly–growing area located in a lake district about a half–hour drive from Montreal. Never were we far from water! We rode across bridges, through forested areas adjoining locks and along the extensive shorelines of Lake St. Louis and Lake of the Two Mountains. When we couldn’t reach our destination by land, we rolled our bikes onto ferries to continue our adventure.

   Fortunately the weather cooperated during our stay, with the only substantial rainfall occurring at night, leaving morning puddles which dissipated shortly after our 9 a.m. departure. Lunch was often at a French café with delicious sandwiches and soups, coffee and a variety of patisseries which resembled the best that Parisian cafés could offer. The one exception was our first day on the bikes, when we visited a local soup festival, an annual event featuring 41 different soups and soup makers, who encouraged unlimited sampling! Dinners were excellent and cosmopolitan, with John arranging for us to dine at a variety of Greek, Italian, French, Indian and Canadian restaurants each evening.
   One night featured a concert in the tiny town of Hudson by a local singer and her eight–piece band. She sang Aretha Franklin songs for two hours with the same powerful voice as The Queen of Soul herself! (The concert took place in a former train station converted into a performance center!)

   During our daily bike rides, what impressed me the most was the vast network of two–way “cycle paths” (bike paths) laid out on the same side of the road and adjacent to oncoming traffic in metropolitan areas. These cycle paths also had bollards (posts) which were placed on the road every 15 yards, lending extra security to the bicyclist traveling opposite to traffic. Other cycle paths were separated completely from the road by grassy parkways.
   Occasionally a cycle path crossed a road, and, unfailingly, traffic would stop to allow us to cross the road safely. When we traveled on cycle paths through wooded areas, drivers would stop well in advance of us reaching the road, again allowing us to cross safely. Nobody in a car, not a single driver, disputed our having the right of way when crossing roadways in both urban and rural areas. Amazing!

   Finally, our accommodations were at the luxurious Chateau Vaudreuil, a five–story (and five–star) hotel featuring French architecture and spacious grounds on the shores of Lake St. Louis. Chandeliers and oil paintings adorned the lobby, while the rooms were huge and the bathrooms enormous! Each double room resembled a suite, and we used the extra living space for BAC’s popular 5 p.m. happy hour each day, when we relaxed with a beer or glass of wine to discuss the day’s outing and plan the next day’s adventure