La Cordée
La Cordée is the premier homegrown outdoor equipment chain in Quebec. For a long time I could not imagine what the name meant. Even staff in the store had no idea. But I have solved it. A corde is a rope. And a cordée is a line of climbers tied to a rope. And certainly La Cordeé sells climbing equipment. But like many 0ther outdoor chains, like REI, MEC, and Decathlon, to our delight they have also moved into bicycles.
Today we mounted an expedition to La Cordée, with Joshua and the three kids in tow. Like any expedition for us, the first stop was naturally the bakery. In this case Les Delices d'Amandine. That name had also puzzled me for some time, but Dodie's sister solved it for me, after listening to my description of the many marzipan figures on offer within.
Taking every opportunity to instruct the kids in our version of cycle touring, we set them up with chaussons d'abricot - apricot danish, and lattes. Lattes - for a 4,5, and 6 year old? Well, not exactly a whole one each!
Our objective at La Cordée was only to find a pair of cycling tights. But they had cleverly lined up a selection of kids' bikes, right in the front of the show room. That's as devious as candies at kid level in the supermarket checkout. Evee was quick to point out that she does not really have a bike, and we had to agree. Actually we were as much captivated by a cute little blue number by the local company Garneau as she was. (Louis Garneau is a bicycle road racer and now manufacturer famous for putting his arm around Queen Elizabeth during a photo op.)
Pretty soon the blue bike was up on a stand in the repair section getting tuned up, under the intense scrutiny of the three kids. And soon after that, Evee could join the other two bombing up and down the alley. We had to dig our way through deep snow to get to the other two bikes. Montreal is like that. But the kids, like the Grampies, are prone to get the fastest jump on the season that they can manage.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |
6 years ago
6 years ago