Points East

G. T. Bishop was just finishing up his breakfast and preparing to head down to the Old Port to catch the Pointe-aux-Trembles ferry when he received an urgent message from Louis Rubenstein reporting a leaking valve. Not sure that this wasn't some code for an embarrassing medical issue, G. T. returned Louis' call but was unable to lend any virtual assistance in repairing a flat tire.

(Comment: It was extremely humbling that renowned "fancy" skater Louis Rubenstein was unable to fix the flat (rear of course) within the 15 minutes necessary to catch the Vieux-Port ferry to P-A-T.  It took a day and a half . This, especially after the recollection of Birdie accomplishing the same task in much less time in order to make the train at Vendome circa May 2022. 

But wait till next time.

Louis)

Arriving at the quai Jacques Cartier with a cappucino and pastry in hand (for some reason, the east end of Montreal is a café wasteland), G. T. met up with A. T. Lane and Arthur Harris who, apparently, were not suffering from any leaky valves.

As the only passengers on the ferry, the members received personnelized service from the boat crew. The captain also provided some information on the popularity of the service with commuters, stating that around 100 people use the service daily to get to and from work. One can imagine that if the ferry was integrated into the public transit network with shuttles to the nearest Metro station and with a larger, faster and more comfortable boat, there would be many more users.

Still, it was nice to profit from the extension of the service past Labour day to head downriver past the cargo ships and thousands of containers along the docks while listening to Arthur's summer adventure of hiking up mountains in California.

Leaving the ferry dock at Pointe-aux-Trembles, the members waved to the large group of school kids waiting to embark for the return journey before heading onto the pleasant new path now open in the east end.

G. T. requested a stop as he wanted to check out one of the charging boxes (unmarked) installed on a number of the solar-power light poles to see if it actually worked. It did!

In short order, the members were at the east end of the island and stopped for a short break.

Turning the corner, the members meandered towards boulevard Gouin, and enjoyed the sites of the nature park along the way.

Boulevard Gouin has also become a more pleasant path with the improvements completed last year. How pleasing it was to be given as much space on the road as automobiles!

A. T. was keeping a keen eye out for a certain park. Turned out it was named after a famous Canadian sailor who he had known in his sailing days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbtfnbzxwGg

Other parks along the way had interesting artwork on display.

Before too long (although somewhat longer than expected when a construction site in the middle of the park that not even A. T. could sneak around, made the members double back), the members made it to Ile-de-la-Visitation and decided to stop for lunch at the café near the old mill.

 Fortified, the members took the excellent REV route along St. Denis to head back towards home. G. T. had to stop to answer his phone as A. T. and Arthur carried on before going their separate ways at the foot of Mount Royal at Parc and Rachel.

Distance travelled varied between 45K and 52K depending on the member's starting point. 

Members are encouraged to take advantage of the Pointe-aux-Trembles ferry while it is still operating. The captain advised that the sailings will continue to Thanksgiving but with a reduced schedule for commuters.

https://www.navark.ca/en/pointe-aux-trembles-montreal-vieux-port-shuttle/

G. T. Bishop