Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Au Bout de L'Ile and Beyond
My original plan was to bike around the island of Montreal - only Montreal itself, sticking as much as possible to the edge, straying only when no good route was available. My estimates of the distance ranged from 150 to 250km (I think the 150 is a lot closer to the truth). It turns out that several of the people I have met here were intrigued by this adventure and might have joined in had it not been for the fact that my weekends are very much at odds with those of the bulk of the population. So in the end, it was just Sage (a fellow ultimate player) and I who met up early this morning (but not too early) down by the Vieux Port.
We decided to start by heading East, towards the more unknown end of the island. To do so required almost immediately that -- oops, I should mention that one other intrepid adventurer in fact joined this quest - noneother than the great Diego himself, who had been sad to be left at home on my last journey a velo. And now back to our story.. -- we abandon the riverside due to a mess of factories and large fences barring the path. It turns out that a quaint little boulangerie at which to buy something like a pain au chocolat (for me) and a coffee (for Sage) and nothing (for Diego, who has been fasting lately) was rather lacking in this neck of the woods. Eventually we settled for a restaurant "La Belle Province" for some much-needed fuel. The only non-windowed expanse of wall was adorned with a mural of a large Quebec flag with a concerned and possibly pensive-looking little girl dressed in a "La Belle Province" jogging suit floating in the foreground. Apparently the restaurant is a chain, so I found myself wondering whether this bizarre mascot can be found elsewhere too.
Following the bike path after breakfast led eventually to a break in the industrialism and in fact to a couple of nice little beaches on the river's edge. I suppose it is unsurprising that much of the prime waterside real estate of the route was barred by houses and apartments and an aged-care home offering one month's free lodging for inscription, among other buildings. Still, large parts of the ride to the park at the bout de l'ile were peaceful and somewhat scenic.
When we reached the end of the island, we surveyed our surroundings, consulted a map, and decided that it was absolutely essential that cut across the river to the town of Charlemagne. Why Charlemagne? You haven't heard of it? But it is legendary! It is noneother than the "ville natale de Celine Dion"!!!! (We learned that from the map). On the way across, we joked about finding a gilded statue of the baby Celine in the middle of town. The shocking part is that that was not really so far from the truth. Not only was the main street named Celine Dion Boulevard (or something to that effect), but we saw a Celine pizzeria, and then.. a large, prominently positioned globe made of painted concrete and polished metal with phrases about liberty, birds, love, and sharing (possibly song lyrics? it wasn't clear) and the title "Celine" to leave no doubt about the object of this tribute. I really really wish I had not left my camera at home. Charlemagne alone made the bike trip worthwhile.
But there was more. Not quite in the same vein, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
From Charlemagne we opted to follow a bike path and to attempt to aim for the Eastern end of Laval. The path was marked with signs about its destinations, but not knowing where any of these were and not bothering to consult the map made these rather uninformative. Still they encouraged us into believing that we were headed towards somewhere. And the fact that the furthest destination was named "Lavaltrie" while we were headed for "Laval" seemed in a way promising. So pedal we did, and the path branched here and there but we followed our noses, and soon we were biking along a vast field of wildflowers and crops dotted with distant farmhouses on our left. To our right were rowhouses galore. We emerged at the end of the path in a subdivision under construction whose roads didn't appear to lead to much, and certainly not to Laval. When we dug out the map and combined it with the position of the sun, remembered signposts, and the lay of the land, we realized that we were in fact far to the East of where we had intended. A backtrack along the path with greenery to our right and houses to our left ensued.
Now with more frequent map consultation, we planned a route back to Laval that was to take us out onto some real, quiet, country roads. Thanks to our detours, I found that we really got that sense of getting away from the city. It was a beautiful ride. We stopped at a farm market for some fresh, mostly local produce including corn on the cob (for later), delicious fresh raspberries, and not-so-delicious fresh raw potatoes, among other delicacies.
When we eventually did make it back to Laval, it might have been wise to consult the map for some of the bike routes which my previous excursion across that island had led me to believe were numerous. Instead we just followed the first road we came to that seemed to be cutting back towards Montreal. That was fine for a while, but when we found ourselves at a large and imposing intersection of unfriendly unmarked highways being honked at by large trucks, we realized our error. Further consulting of the sun and the map and the curves in the road followed. Finally, we guessed at our position and orientation roughly correctly and chose the lesser of the evil highway routes to get us back on track.
We had a reviving pause at a small park, peaceful if it weren't for the rumbling trucks passing at regular intervals a short distance away. The new sport of frisbee-apple-rocketship baseball was invented. And then we carried on our way..
The last great event that comes to mind was a very welcome stop at a water park on the Laval-side of the river. It was so refreshing to play in the water jets! We also discovered that there are a lot of games you can play with water and sunny dry concrete (though it is a lot harder to play pictionary with poured water than it is with sidewalk chalk). I tried to draw a goat with very little success. Sage managed a pretty nice bicycle though. Diego got in on the fun too, not in the water, but in the game of Diego-ball which looks a lot like lazy-person's (aka seated in the grass) volleyball.
So even though we cut straight back to home across the island of Montreal, abandoning altogether the original plan, it was a long, incredibly amusing and adventure-filled day. We got back early enough that I started pondering the many possibilities of what else to do with my evening.. yet when I finally stopped and my bed was so near -- I was powerless to resist napping the rest of the day away.
Now I wonder what awaits if and when I eventually do make it out to the western tip of the island..
kat
the map:
View Larger Map
We decided to start by heading East, towards the more unknown end of the island. To do so required almost immediately that -- oops, I should mention that one other intrepid adventurer in fact joined this quest - noneother than the great Diego himself, who had been sad to be left at home on my last journey a velo. And now back to our story.. -- we abandon the riverside due to a mess of factories and large fences barring the path. It turns out that a quaint little boulangerie at which to buy something like a pain au chocolat (for me) and a coffee (for Sage) and nothing (for Diego, who has been fasting lately) was rather lacking in this neck of the woods. Eventually we settled for a restaurant "La Belle Province" for some much-needed fuel. The only non-windowed expanse of wall was adorned with a mural of a large Quebec flag with a concerned and possibly pensive-looking little girl dressed in a "La Belle Province" jogging suit floating in the foreground. Apparently the restaurant is a chain, so I found myself wondering whether this bizarre mascot can be found elsewhere too.
Following the bike path after breakfast led eventually to a break in the industrialism and in fact to a couple of nice little beaches on the river's edge. I suppose it is unsurprising that much of the prime waterside real estate of the route was barred by houses and apartments and an aged-care home offering one month's free lodging for inscription, among other buildings. Still, large parts of the ride to the park at the bout de l'ile were peaceful and somewhat scenic.
When we reached the end of the island, we surveyed our surroundings, consulted a map, and decided that it was absolutely essential that cut across the river to the town of Charlemagne. Why Charlemagne? You haven't heard of it? But it is legendary! It is noneother than the "ville natale de Celine Dion"!!!! (We learned that from the map). On the way across, we joked about finding a gilded statue of the baby Celine in the middle of town. The shocking part is that that was not really so far from the truth. Not only was the main street named Celine Dion Boulevard (or something to that effect), but we saw a Celine pizzeria, and then.. a large, prominently positioned globe made of painted concrete and polished metal with phrases about liberty, birds, love, and sharing (possibly song lyrics? it wasn't clear) and the title "Celine" to leave no doubt about the object of this tribute. I really really wish I had not left my camera at home. Charlemagne alone made the bike trip worthwhile.
But there was more. Not quite in the same vein, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
From Charlemagne we opted to follow a bike path and to attempt to aim for the Eastern end of Laval. The path was marked with signs about its destinations, but not knowing where any of these were and not bothering to consult the map made these rather uninformative. Still they encouraged us into believing that we were headed towards somewhere. And the fact that the furthest destination was named "Lavaltrie" while we were headed for "Laval" seemed in a way promising. So pedal we did, and the path branched here and there but we followed our noses, and soon we were biking along a vast field of wildflowers and crops dotted with distant farmhouses on our left. To our right were rowhouses galore. We emerged at the end of the path in a subdivision under construction whose roads didn't appear to lead to much, and certainly not to Laval. When we dug out the map and combined it with the position of the sun, remembered signposts, and the lay of the land, we realized that we were in fact far to the East of where we had intended. A backtrack along the path with greenery to our right and houses to our left ensued.
Now with more frequent map consultation, we planned a route back to Laval that was to take us out onto some real, quiet, country roads. Thanks to our detours, I found that we really got that sense of getting away from the city. It was a beautiful ride. We stopped at a farm market for some fresh, mostly local produce including corn on the cob (for later), delicious fresh raspberries, and not-so-delicious fresh raw potatoes, among other delicacies.
When we eventually did make it back to Laval, it might have been wise to consult the map for some of the bike routes which my previous excursion across that island had led me to believe were numerous. Instead we just followed the first road we came to that seemed to be cutting back towards Montreal. That was fine for a while, but when we found ourselves at a large and imposing intersection of unfriendly unmarked highways being honked at by large trucks, we realized our error. Further consulting of the sun and the map and the curves in the road followed. Finally, we guessed at our position and orientation roughly correctly and chose the lesser of the evil highway routes to get us back on track.
We had a reviving pause at a small park, peaceful if it weren't for the rumbling trucks passing at regular intervals a short distance away. The new sport of frisbee-apple-rocketship baseball was invented. And then we carried on our way..
The last great event that comes to mind was a very welcome stop at a water park on the Laval-side of the river. It was so refreshing to play in the water jets! We also discovered that there are a lot of games you can play with water and sunny dry concrete (though it is a lot harder to play pictionary with poured water than it is with sidewalk chalk). I tried to draw a goat with very little success. Sage managed a pretty nice bicycle though. Diego got in on the fun too, not in the water, but in the game of Diego-ball which looks a lot like lazy-person's (aka seated in the grass) volleyball.
So even though we cut straight back to home across the island of Montreal, abandoning altogether the original plan, it was a long, incredibly amusing and adventure-filled day. We got back early enough that I started pondering the many possibilities of what else to do with my evening.. yet when I finally stopped and my bed was so near -- I was powerless to resist napping the rest of the day away.
Now I wonder what awaits if and when I eventually do make it out to the western tip of the island..
kat
the map:
View Larger Map
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