July 5, 2016
Mont Laurier at last: Hitting the rail trail
Reaching the town of Mont Laurier was a moment that I had long been anticipating. If I’m honest the road had begun to get me down. Since leaving Val-dór it had been days and days of the same thing - cycling on a fairly busy highway through forest scenery that seemed to be playing on an endless loop. At such times I began to question what I was doing and why I was doing it, as days of my life were lost to a frustrating mix of flies and traffic. But Mont Laurier signalled the end of that, because it was the point at which I could exit the highway and begin on the fantastic network of off-road cycle trails which would carry me through the rest of Quebec. Reaching Mont Laurier was the end of the tough middle part of Canada. Since leaving the Rockies I’d had weeks of repetitive prairies followed by weeks of repetitive forest. Now, finally, something different was coming. And what was more I had arranged to meet some old friends along the way, and to do some cycling with them. The rest of Quebec promised to be so good, and once I was at the end of Quebec I would practically be within sight of the finish line in Halifax.
A shame, then, to arrive in Mont Laurier a feeble wreck. My hayfever had struck again and I arrived in town with itchy swollen eyes that had puffed up horribly. The girl at the information centre recoiled in horror at the sight of me, but she soon recovered her composure and told me that they had a complimentary shower if I wanted to use it. Did I ever!
Feeling much better, I stocked up at the local cheap supermarket and then headed off onto the trail. This old converted railway line led all the way from here to Montreal, well over 200 kilometres away. It was a fantastic thought! Sure, it was a hot day, and the flies were as bad here as anywhere, but to be completely free from the hassle of traffic felt so good. It was more interesting too, carrying me through a mixture of farmed fields, grassy meadows and untouched forests and past a variety of wildlife including several deer.
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The next day the trail continued through Mont Tremblant, and became much busier. Lots of people were out making use of this fantastic resource, most of them on bicycles. Just on the far side of the town the trail turned to gravel and the user levels dropped again. But I stopped to take a break in a park next to a parking lot just before the change. I watched as several people arrived by car and unloaded their bikes to cycle off on the paved section of trail. In fact the parking lot was completely filled with cars that had bike racks on the back or roof. It seemed that almost all of the many cyclists on this section had arrived by car, and I thought about the irony that the use of this great rail-trail therefore actually slightly increased the number of cars on the roads.
The trail continued to be superb beyond Mont Tremblant and I was greatly enjoying my days again. At least I was until I arrived in a small town and pulled my laptop out to try and stream some of the Wales versus Portugal Euro 2016 semi-final (I’d switched my allegiances since the Wales versus England game. I was sure there must be some Welsh blood in my family history somewhere!) only to discover that the screen had cracked. It was now completely useless.
I tried to put a positive spin on things. At least without my laptop I could concentrate on being completely in the moment without any technology at all to mess up the enjoyment of cycle touring in such a great place. That evening I sat by a calm and mildly reflective lake next to the trail. I marvelled at such a serene environment. For the first time in months I could take a break from cycling without the sound of a highway nearby. Instead I could listen to the birds sing, and watch happily as a chipmunk hopped up onto the rocks in front of me, as if he too wanted to soak up the atmosphere and the view.
Tuesday 5th July – 87km
Wednesday 6th July – 104km
Today's ride: 191 km (119 miles)
Total: 54,077 km (33,582 miles)
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