South Shore Ramble

A.T. Lane, Louis Rubenstein, Birdie Munger, Jay and David rode on November 4th under gray skies. We boarded the 9:40am Candiac train to Sainte-Catherine from Vendôme (9:45 from MoWest) for our short train trip off island and then cycled home via the South Shore and Champlain Bridge. 

We rambled through the suburbs of Saite-Catherine and Saint-Constant and got our bearings when we spotted Expo-Rail on rue St-Pierre. We headed toward the Saint Lawrence River and picked up the bike path along Boulevard Marie-Victorin toward LaPrairie. 

On track to LaPrairie and the wonderful café Quartier Général du Vieux LaPrairie and lunch. 

On to Brossard on La Route Verte 3 where we said goodbye to A.T. who needed to catch the REM and get home early. The rest of our party continued up and over the Champlain Bridge.

David, Jay and Ian ride on the generous, protected Pont Champlain multi-use lane. We were briefly pelted by hail!

From the Champlain Bridge the history and economy of Canada are at our feet ..... the seaway with a lake freighter making its way to port, the 1859 Victoria Bridge (built for trains) with Jacques Cartier Bridge behind, the city and, of course, the star, Saint Lawrence River. 

We took the regular route to the Lachine Canal at Atwater Market where David broke off from us. Louis, Jay and Birdie continued west along the Canal, exploring where Birdie's and Jay's auto mechanic has relocated. Our route continued along very bleak rue Notre-Dame to the condos on the old Raphael Motel site across from U-Haul on St-Jacques and then suddenly we're in quiet and leafy Brock Ave in MoWest.

We were approaching 50km and went our separate ways, happy to have avoided serious rain and to learn more about each other. 

Birdie 

Postscript by GT Bishop:

On the next day's fixture, Birdie asked me about the ship at St Lambert and what it was doing. I explained that the ship was 'making the wall', which is a manoeuvre used by the large vessels when approaching a lock to place the corner of their bow against the approach wall and ride along it to the lock while travelling at around a knot speed. The suction of the bow against the wall keeps the vessel along the wall to avoid being blown sideways if there is any wind and causing damage to the vessel or the lock as there is as little as one foot of clearance on either side of the vessel (78 foot beam with an 80 foot wide lock).

This also facilitates vessels passing each other as one leaves a lock and the other enters. It is safer to be sliding the wall as the other ship passes or else the two vessels could get pulled together by the venturi effect of the increased water speed between the two as they pass as little as 50 feet apart at the locks.

The colours of the vessel in the photo taken by Birdie identify the vessel as one of Paul Martin's Canada Steamship Line vessels in its Canadian fleet.

https://cslships.com/vessel/atlantic-huron/

Not sure if it is the Atlantic Huron but I provide it as an interesting historical example as it is 'infamous' for having almost sunk my ship, the Griffon, (thankfully, I was not onboard at the time) one dark night on Lake Erie in that momentous year of 2001.

https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/marine/2000/m00c0069/m00c0069.html

GT