Eastward from Dorion, Thu Oct 14, 2021

 

Louis Rubenstein and Birdie Munger boarded the 10:08am Exo 1 Veaudreuil-Hudson train from Montreal West to Dorion. The weather forecast called for unseasonably warm temperatures and sun. After a brief photo op at Smoked Meat Pete’s Hallowe’en decoration, they made their way on Route Verte 5 from Île Perrot to Sainte-Anne-de Bellevue. A rain burst hit as they turned onto bucolic Chemin de-Senneville …. a good road for riding. The rain stopped but they never got the promised sun.

 

Louis led the way and turned at Chemin de-l’Ance-à-l’Orme to access the multi-use path under the transmission line that runs down the spine of the West Island. The path is paved. They took the sidewalk at Boul. Saint-Jean to head south and squiggled their way to get over Hwys 40 and then 20 to Lakeshore. The West Island would benefit from north-south cycle paths.

 

Louis and Birdie backtracked on Lakeshore for a lunch on the terrace of the Olde Orchard Pub in Pointe-Claire. Back on their bikes (after a few sips of beer) they took Lakeshore into Lachine and decided to explore developments in Lachine East. The neighbourhood is changing in what planners call brownfield developments – buildings on sites previously used for industrial purposes. They also stopped to wonder at the Du Canal Exo station on the Candiac line ….. in the middle of ‘nowhere’, big empty park & ride lot, inaccessible wooden stairway access. Birdie later learned that it was recently opened in Jan 2017 as a traffic congestion mitigation measure during the Turcot project construction. It was supposed to serve as a bus transfer terminal and park & ride lot for commuters who were getting bogged down in Turcot traffic delays on their way downtown. Did it work? Will the station stay open?

 

By the time they reached Ville St-Pierre it was 4:00pm and full-on rush-hour. “Louis, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Sennevile anymore,” said Birdie. Distracted, Birdie pushed away from the sidewalk on a green light, lodged his front tire in a drain grate and did an endo before crashing down. Louis, an SPVM cop and a passing woman came to his aid. Birdie brushed himself off and nursed his bruised ego (and hand). Louis and Birdie finished their ride with gusto riding up Deadman’s Hill into Montreal West and saying their goodbyes.