Pointe Aux Trembles ferry and the long way home

 The day dawned very grey after a night of rain but the forecast was good – at least until the evening, when more rain was expected.

 

 The day dawned very grey after a night of rain but the forecast was good – at least until the evening, when more rain was expected. We (A T Lane, Birdie Munger, Louis Rubinstein and two new members – myself and Steve ) gathered at Ma Bicyclette by Atwater Market for a coffee and then rode together to the Quai to get the ferry from the Old Port to Pointe aux Trembles. 

 

It wasn’t easy to find where it departs, being at the end of the last pier going east, just before Cirque du Soleil. We were the only passengers on the 9:15 Navark, which made it feel rather special, like a private hire! The crew were amazing – big shout-out to them, making our way against the strong current of the river past the new port and various ships en route to the Great Lakes (?), some very large, to the modern jetty which leads straight to the old quarter of Pointe aux Trembles, looking well-preserved and with plenty of traces of its rural origins still visible (eg. old windmill).

We followed an old train track, which has been turned into a nice new bicycle path as far as the Plage del’Est park at the end of the island where we stopped for refreshments and appreciated the funny and slightly weird wood carvings on tree stumps.

 

 Then we cycled over the bridge from Montreal island to Repentigny with a cycle track, and followed streets to cross over Highway 40 and head along the north bank of the Riviere des Prairies/ Riviere des Mille Iles (they run together at that point).

 

 

On the way, we looked at a house for sale in Charlemagne and decided that we liked it (see photo). We continued along Chemin Saint-Charles, following the Riviere des Mille-Iles. We then took the Route Verte, past the newly arranged and very nice (and not so well known) Parc de conservation du Ruisseau de Feu, with beautiful views over the marshes, then followed along the north Shore with lovely views of
the Laval bank. We ended up for lunch at a smoked meat restaurant in the old village of Terrebonne. 

 
After that we came to the very charming site of Vieux-Terrebonne and the Ile des Moulins, them over the bridge by the weir, through the park and the Trans-Terrebonne path through the trees, very steep and winding in places (who knew Terrebonne was so hilly!) and ended up at the bridge to Laval at Bois-des-Filion, and then on to Sainte-Rose.

 

 With about 60 km down, three of us decided to take the train back from Sainte-Rose station to Montreal West. An interesting journey in good company – we talked to a guy who works as a musician for Cirque Eloize and was playing at their residence in the Queen Elizabeth hotel. He got off at Parc station, leaving
his phone behind. When we realized that he had, I decided not to hand it in, but brought his phone back before his evening show..

 

I can’t speak for A T Lane and Birdie Munger but they had about 30 km left to get home..good on them!

 

 

 Posted by Claud Butler