July 29 - Mont Tremblant to St Jerome - 88 km

August 5 - Photos addded - Laura on the trail, one of the old railway stations converted to a bicycling stop and the end of the trail.

(Oops - I had the wrong date in the title - corrected Aug. 1)
We cycled the remaining Portion of the Route Verte to St. Jermome today. No Rain! (when was the last time I said that).

It was a nice day for cycling. The route goes through a bunch of pretty little towns and snaked around the mountains as it heads out of the Laurentians. Many of the towns have little restaurants, bars or shops near the route.

The route is very popular and had lots of people on it, even though it is a Tuesday. I don't know what a weekend would have been like. It looks like a lot of people drive to a particular town in their cars, cycle up the trail a ways, have lunch or a picnic and cycle back. Wonderful way to spend a day.

As I mentioned, since the route is an abandoned railbed the hills are very slight and the pedalling is generally very easy. You will notice that it is harder to pedal on those parts of the trail that are not paved (a 1% slope will seem like a 2 or 3% slope, for example).

We didn't notice a lot of other heavily loaded travellers. I think that most of the people are day trippers and some are travelling with little luggage and a credit card.

July 28 - Mont Laurier to San Jovite - 120 km

(Oops - I had the wrong date in the title - corrected Aug. 1)
This was our first day on the Route Verte. The Route Verte is a series of cycle pathways throughut Quebec. The trails range from abandoned railbeds that have been paved over to cycle paths along a roadway to trails under development. The section we're cycling on is called “Le P’tit Train du Nord” Linear Park. It`s an abandoned railbed that runs from Mont Laurier to St. Jerome.

The trail is paved for most of today's travel. The inclines on it are railroad grades (+/- 2%), so they are easy cycling. We stopped for lunch in a town called Nominique.

Our old friend the weather got us again, with showers in L'Annciton and LaBelle. We managed to get under cover. After LaBelle the route is no longer paved, but it is a hard surface and easy to cycle, even with thin tires (we saw a couple of racers).

We ended the day in San Jovite, which is the town associated with Mont Tremblant. As we cycled into town, we had to console Leddy as we travelled by some of the golf courses in the area - Mont Tremblant is big on skiing in the winter and golf and other sports in the summer.

If you want to know more about this particular portion, check out this link http://www.laurentides.com/ and then click on the 'Linear Parks' picture on the right of the screen.

(I'm having trouble with the computer I`m signed onto, so pictures for »July 27, 28 may have to wait. This computer doesn`t have a USB2 port and I can`t work my way through the French version of the Control Panel with enough confidence to play around. You know me - play with it until it works or I break it!)

July 27 - Gracefield to Mont Laurier - 94 km

We are further north and east in Quebec now, out of the Gatineau region and into the Laurentians.

Today started off beautifully, with clear skies and no wind. We pedalled into Maniwaki and munched on an early lunch. An hour later the skies had clouded up and it started raining. Our road out of Maniwaki was highway 107. This is a secondary highway and turned out to be more hilly than highway 105. The rain only lasted for a while, luckily for us.
We passed through the village of Aumond. Laura and Leddy kept pedalling, while I was distracted by the ruins of an old water driven sawmill. I only had a few minutes to look at it, otherwise those two will be too far down the road for me to catch up.

I've included a photos of a church in the distance (at Maniwaki), the old sawmill building and an interseting road sign. We've seen this a number of times in Quebec already.

'

July 26 - Ottawa to Gracefield, Quebec - 100 km

We left Ottawa this morning after saying our goodbyes to Burtt. Thanks again to Burtt for allowing Laura and I to stay with him while we were in Ottawa.

We are in LaBelle province now. Gracefield is in the Gatineau region about 100 km north of Ottawa. We stopped for coffee in Wakefield - it seems to be a touristy type town catering to a lot of Ottawa types. Lunch in Venosta, and into Gracefield at the Gite L'Ange Gabriel B&B. It was a fairly easy ride with some rolling hills. We were able to tour around town using the B&B's car (with thanks) and we had a look at this covered bridge. There was an unpaved cycle trail next to the bridge with this shelter nearby (Leddy's doing the inspecting). It appears to be purpose built for the bike trail. Snowmobiles and ATVs are allowed on the trail between October and May, but not during the cycling months.

Gerry and Ashley stayed an extra day in Ottawa today, due to problems booking accommodation in Hawksbury, their next stop. I will update their location when I find out where they are.

The last picture today is Roxy, the B&B's puppy who is training Laura to pay attention to her.

Ottawa Visit

So, with a couple of days off, we've been able to do laundry, a bit of touring and plan where we go next.
Many, many thanks to Burtt Lilley who put Leddy, Laura and I up while we were here.

Thanks also to the staff of the Hull information centre who have been very helpful with information about where to go in Quebec and about the Route Verte (Quebec's system of cycling routes and trails).

Since we're in Ottawa I've included the obligatory picture of the Peace Tower and the Centre Block. Notice how the sun cooperated - we've got a nice day today.

The map is the proposed route through Quebec for Leddy, Laura and myself. Gerry and Ashley are going to cut off the triangle on the left of the map by going along the Ottawa River to Laval and meeting up with us east of Montreal. Leddy, Laura and I don't yet have accommodations booked for the next couple of nights, so we may have to modify the route. We'll update you when we get there (wherever 'there' is).

July 23 - Renfrew to Ottawa - 103 km

Threatening skies this morning (am I getting repetitious?) but the rain held off. We had a nice run down to the Ottawa River and along it to Anprior.

Gerry spoke to a couple of cyclists, one of whom (Dorothy) suggested we follow her back to her house because her husband could direct us on a nice bicycle route into Ottawa.

We did that and met Dorothy and Harold Camblin and their daughter Amy. Amy was wearing a "Collingwood" school T-shirt. Upon seeing this Gerry asked if Amy was connected to Collingwood private school in West Vancouver. Yes, Amy taught there, AND, she knew Richard (Gerry's son) who goes to Collingwood! So, there's one for the 'small world' department for you. The Camblins gave us refreshments and Harold described a very nice route into Ottawa that ran through the farmlands and avoided the busy roads. Thank you very much for a wonderful visit.

We arrived at Leddy's brother Burtt's house about 3 pm (after one short misdirection on the way into town). Time for a couple of days off in Ottawa.

Burtt graciously offered to put Laura and I up while we were in Ottawa. We've had a couple of days off and have been touring around and planning the Quebec phase of this adventure.

The photo today is of the Dorothy, Amy and Harold Camblin (with some confused idiot in the background looking at a map) .

July 22 - Bancroft to Renfrew - 133 km

After a very wet previous day we had a cloudy bright skies and cool temperatures. The morning had some hills and was generally rolling. Very little traffic on this road which was good because there were no shoulders in some places. There were a couple of monster hills before lunch.

We had lunch at a Swiss restaurant in Denbigh (great Bratwurst and Sauerkraut if you are into that sort of thing). After lunch the terrain seemed to flatten out and our speed improved. We came down a hill into the Ottawa valley about 3 o'clock and celebrated with ice cream cones in Dacre.

The end of the day was at Renfrew. 133 km today - this was Ashley's longest ride and a long one for the rest of us.

The photos are of one of the %&#@ hills and the old mill building in Renfrew (now a museum).

July 21 - Haliburton to Bancroft - 66 km

Rain, rain go away!!! It started sprinkling on us as soon as we left the B&B in Haliburton and turned into rain shortly after. Another day of slogging through rain and drizzle.
The countryside is rolling hills, and would be beautiful in nice weather. The roads were a little worse today and there was a fair amount of construction as they are upgrading them.
We had a great soup and sandwich at a little store / restaurant in Cardiff, and the rain stopped and the sun poked through. Nice conversations with the people at the store, one of whom was of Newfie extraction.
Bancroft is a bustling little town, and seems far busier than you would expect given the advertised population (3500). Apparently the population swells a lot in the summer from the cottagers.

Here you see "Leddy's Chinese Laundry" as we dry out our duds.

July 20 - Bracebridge to Haliburton - 84 km

A couple of photos from yesterday - downtown Bracebridge and the group enjoying a drink at dinner time.

We left Bracebridge in rainy weather looking very much like a BC drizzly, rainy day. Pedalling for the morning was good for biking in the rain - more rolling hills and generally good road.
The morning coffee stop at the Clear Lake store was interesting. Clear Lake may have been a community once, but now it is the store. The house was originally built as a log cabin in the 1860's and was a stop on the stagecoach trail. From then until now, only 3 different families have lived in the house. Also, they have put siding on the outside so you wouldn't recognize it as a log cabin any more.
You have to be careful when looking at communities on the map. Sometimes there isn't much there.
We lunched at Carnarvon - a small community at the junction of two highways.
After lunch the rain cleared and we had a nice ride the rest of the way into Haliburton. Haliburton is a nice little town beside a lake. The town was very busy, with the summer cottagers, tourists and (I believe) an art school.
We almost couldn't get lodging in town, but the very helpful lady at the Tourist Information found us a B&B. This turned out to be in the oldest commercial building in Haliburton (1863 or so). A very nice old place that has been converted into a cafe and B&B by Nicola, who has ambitious plans for the place.
Haliburton is the home town of Walt McKechnie, the NHL's most traded player.

Check out the sign above the doorway on this old house in Haliburton. we're on the 45th parallel, so he is correct.

July 19 - Parry Sound to Bracebridge - 91 km

Hi, again. A very quick update because the library closes soon and I don't have time to do photos. We got on the train in Winnipeg on Wednesday and got off in Parry Sound last night. The train ride was long, especially for those who had to spend the time in Comfort class (an oxymoron).

Today we travelled from Parry Sound through the Muskoka Cottage Country to Bracebridge. A nice ride and very interesting scenery. This is a nice weekend so the place is plugged. We're heading east on highway 118 tomorrow and will update you when we get a chance.

Greg

PS - Happy Birthday Karen, Happy Birthday to you! (Aren't you glad this isn't a singing blog?)

July 21 - I added some photos - Ashley working on the bikes at the Parry Sound train station, the boat lock at Port Carling (sorry about the lamp post) and Leddy cycling up the hill in an interesting pink granite rock cut in the Canadian Shield .

July 14 Update

Good morning. Since we are spending some time at Pat and Ben's, I've been able to update the blog and add photos to some of the earlier posts (July 5th and later). I was also able to fix the birthday photo of Ashley and her Dad. The earlier photo was grainy and had red-eye.

I added a special photo for you, Karen and Janet (July 5).

To date, I've logged over 3300 km on my GPS, and we are roughly halfway through the trip. We'll take the train from Winnipeg to Parry Sound on July 17th to avoid the "Trans Canada Trail" above the Great Lakes, which we have heard nothing good about.

We haven't sorted out which route we'll take when we get to Parry Sound. The map below shows a southern option. We can also take a more northerly route.

July 13 - Neepawa to Portage la Prairie - 107 km

What a change - we woke up to a beautiful day. The sky was perfectly clear, the wind was still from the Northwest but had dropped and it was cool. It was looking like a great day for cycling.

We headed out east on Highway 16, making great mileage (kilometerage?) in the tailwind. The road had reasonably good paved shoulders as well. We stopped at Gladstone for a break and met a group of cyclists with their racing bikes on the back of their car. They had been somewhere south of here for a half Triathlon yesterday and had fought the winds like we did. One fellow said he went 15 km/h against the wind and 70 km/h with the wind!

I stopped to watch and photograph this crop duster out of Gladstone. Check out how he is flying below the level of the trees in the field!

We turned the corner onto Highway #1 and were dismayed to see the paved shoulders disappear on Canada's busiest road. Luckily, we only had a short distance to go on #1 before Portage.

Gerry, Ashley and Leddy tried to check into the Super 8 motel, but found out it was full. However, right at that moment another gentleman dropped by and cancelled a couple of rooms. Great luck!

Laura and I biked into Portage to her cousin's Pat and Ben's place, where we will stay for a couple of days. The others will head into Winnipeg on the 14th and stay there.

Last night we all had dinner at Pat and Ben's, where we devoured Bison steaks that Ben cooked up on the BBQ. Thanks very much.

July 13 - Oranole to Neepawa - 77 km

Another foul looking day. We took off in rain drizzle and very windy conditions. The wind was from the side in the morning - very strong and gusty and occasionally would blow one of us towards the centre of the road. We had some shoulders most of the way, and the traffic was light.

Towards noon, we arrived in Minnedosa. A nice little town, but all we wanted to do was have a bite to eat and continue on. We couldn't, because we ran smack dab into the Minnedosa 125th Anniversary parade! So, we hunkered down in a coffee shop and watched the parade go by. Those poor participants in the parade - instead of dancing on the floats they were huddled under blankets.

After leaving Minnedosa we continued south and then turned left onto Highway 16. Now this huge wind was directly behind us and we flew into Neepawa, where we dried ourselves out again in the motel.

The photos are of the Neepawa Museum and water tower (its very common for these small towns to have converted their old train stations to museums), a pretty church, and the Land Titles office. There's nothing really remarkable about the Land Titles building except that I have noticed a number of them in various towns, all built in the early 1900's, and of a similar style. Obviously, Land Titles was very important to the people as they settled the region.

July 11 - Dauphin to Oranole - 76 km

What happened! Did we hit a time warp and wake up in BC on a dreary winter morning!
Yecch! Low cloud, 100% humidity and threatening rain. So far the `Friendly` in `Friendly Manitoba`hasn`t applied to the weather.

We took off, heading south, towards Riding Mountain National Park. Actually, not a bad ride, with decent shoulders in the park and not a lot of wind. I took a quick side trip to the Agassiz Tower for a look at the countryside - a nice view of the top of a deciduous tree canopy, but not much else.

And then the rain hit - a serious downpour, one of those soak you to the skin types. Laura and I ducked under the trees along the road, but we still got wet.

We made it into Wasagaming, also known as Clear Lake. This is the `Jasper of Riding Mountain Park.` A real touristy place that would have been pleasant on a nice day. We stopped for lunch, a quick snack and then just down the road to Onanole.

Gerry, Ashley and Leddy were sharing a condo, so we decided to cook dinner there. We bourght a couple of BBQ chickens, Greek salad fixings, baked spuds and Pecan buns for dessert. Turned out to be a great meal, which we ate while our gear dried out.

No points from Tourism Manitoba for this photo, but you can see why I thought we were in BC

July 10 - Roblin to Dauphin - 98 km

Our first complete day of travelling through Manitoba today. We had headwinds all day, medium in the morning and increasing a bit in the afternoon. I keep a record of our "Moving Average Speed" (thanks to the wonders of a GPS) and you can see how much slower we travel on days with headwinds - we are easily slower between 3 and 5 km/hour.

There was very little paved shoulder today. There is usually a large hard gravel shoulder, which Laura and I were able to ride on for part of the trip.

We got into Dauphin mid afternoon and I was able to bike around town a bit. Visited their museum and had a look at some of the local architecture. Many of these prairie towns seemed to be built near the turn of the century, emphasizing the boom that followed the railways. The upper picture is of the Dauphin Railway station - one of the larger we've seen. The picture below is of the Ukranian Catholic church.

And finally - a Canola field picture. I've been taking many pictures of Canola, trying to get one that will show the colour nicely. The yellow has been spectacular and it seems like every time I see another field, it looked brighter than before. This photo was taken from the second floor of the Super 8 room we shared with Leddy that night (good thing too, because there was a nasty thunderstorm that night!).

July 9 - Duck Lake to Roblin, Manitoba - 64 km.

We're in Manitoba now. We crossed the border early in the day and promply lost an hour due to the time zone change. However, a short day of 64 km.

Our first day on Manitoba roads wasn't too bad. There are lots of stories about no shoulders on this province's roads. We had a few km of no shoulder, but then 14 km of new pavement with a shoulder and the remainder had an adequate shoulder.

Gerry Ashley and Leddy are in the motel, Laura and I are in a pretty little campsite. We took a non-powered campsite because they are cheaper, but I blew the savings on a double scoop, chocolate dipped waffle cone. Yummy!

A word about photos - it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to get one photo into the blog (review what is in the camera, select them, upload them to my memory stick, process them with Paint and finally upload them into blogger). So, I'll do writing first and add photos if time permits. I am currently in the library madly updating this thing. I also give no apologies for spelling errors - I'm trying to get it written before my time expires.

July 8 - Day off at Duck Mountain Lodge

Happy Birthday Ashley! Note how a day off was planned on your birthday. Luckily we were able to keep to the schedule after the problem booking hotels in Wadena.

We spent the day wandering around. Laura and I walked to Pickeral Point for an ice cream cone and a rain shower (which we missed while eating the cone). Later on, we chowed down in the bar while watching the Tour de France. And we chowed down on Ashley's birthday cake that her Dad had arranged for. Yum!


Here's a photo of the swimming beach at Duck Mountain Lodge.

July 7 - Canora to Duck Mountain - 64 km

We made it from Canora to Kamsack (Sask) under cool, threatening skies and stopped for a cinnamon bun. The skies opened up as we were leaving and drenched us for the rest of the day.

Luckily, we were more than halfway to Duckn Mountain, but we arrived soaked.

Duck Mountain Lodge (Sask) is in Duck Mountain Park on the eastern border of Saskatchewan.

July 6 - Wadena to Canora - 106 km

Cloudy but no rain and slight headwinds. It was cool and the headwinds made the trip a bit of a slog.

Laura and I had brunch in Invermay and had an interesting discussion with some of the local folks there. Its really easy to strike up a conversation in a small town when you park a loaded bike outside and wander in wearing cycling gear. Here's the main street of Invermay.

Canora is another typical prairie town. Railroads, grain handling and those sorts of things. I took some photos of a couple of the local churches.

July 5 - Humboldt to Wadena - 99 km

Big tailwind today! We made excellent progress and the miles (apologies to metric people) flew by. Ashley had a tire problem (worn through to sub layer) which was fixed at Watson.
Our goal was Wadena, but Gerry, Ashley and Leddy couldn't get hotels there - a wedding at the Legion Hall booked up everything in town. So they were booked for Quill Lake, 40 km short of Wadena.

With some very excellent help from some Paramedics we met at Watson, we found out there was a tiny hotel in Kuroki (the El Kuroki, 20 km past Wadena) with some rooms. It was such a good day for travelling that they made the decision to take advantage of the wind and head to Kuroki. I've forgotten the names of the Paramedics, but thanks again, folks!

For the triva buffs, Wadena is the hometown of Pamela Wallin, and also to "Wayne from Wadena," who harasses the hosts on CBC radio often. Wayne helped Laura out with her bike when she got caught in a heavy shower in Wadena. We stayed at the campsite.

I liked the contrast of this scene in Watson - Santa and a grain elevator. And the other photo is for you , Karen and Janet. I couldn't find "Corner Gas," so will "Corner Service" do?

July 4 - Saskatoon to Humboldt - 118 km

July 3 was a day off in Saskatoon. Gerry and Ashley visited the University of Saskatchewan and Leddy, Laura and I visited an interesting museum called the Western Development Museum. It is a history museum, with a recreation of a 1910 prairies town and a lot of old farm equipment and old vehicles (we can look at all the pictures over wine sometime, Al).

July 4 was back in the saddle to Humboldt. It was going to be hot, so we got an early start. There was enough wind so it wasn't stifling and we made reasonable progress. We met two girls (Megan and Lisa) cycling from BC back to Thunder Bay using single wheel bob trailers to carry their gear.

July 2 - Saskatoon

Gerry, Ashley and Leddy came in from Radisson; Laura and I slept in (o630) and then had a free day in the city.

The main task was to get Laura's front wheel looked at. She had "cranged" a manhole way back in Kelowna and the wheel had a bit of a wobble. I got most of it out, but we thought it was time for it to be looked at by an expert.

So we took her bike to the Bike Doctor in Saskatoon. They helped us out right away and did a great job for us, including advice on how to get out of the city safely. Thanks for all your help, guys.

Saskatoon has some nice bike trails along the river and around the university. Definitely worthwhile if you get the chance.

We have a day off tomorrow before heading for Humbolt the day after. Perhaps Laura will let me go to a museum.

Margaret - notice the picture of Laura crossing the bridge - she is smiling!

July 1 - North Battleford to Saskatchewan - 134 km

Laura and I decided we should get into Saskatoon early so we could get her front wheel looked at. We got up early(0500), left N Battleford at 0600 and screamed down the highway. The road was generally good, except for the last 25 km or so which had sections with no shoulder (construction). With a bit of a tailwind we got into Saskatoon by 1 pm.

The rest of the group got up at normal hours and went as far as Radisson and stayed there for the evening.

The bridge photo is the Borden Bridge - a rather "nice" concrete structure (only an engineer can appreciate this sort of thing).

June 30 - Marsden to North Battleford - 113 km

Another hot one! I think I went through about 6 litres of liquid by myself. We went through Neilburg, Wilbert, Cut Knife and the Sweet Grass reserve.

Wilbert consists of the Wilbert Store. We met some of the local gentlemen and spent a while talking to Rick & Ivan(?). Rick's a farmer and told us a lot about the local situation and history. His wife Lucille worked (or volunteered?) at the Cut Knife museum.we stopped in at the museum and learned about the 1885 Battle of Cut Knife. Laura and Leddy tried out an alternative to bicycling (next trip?). Lucille had to push to get them started!

Trying to be artful, I took a photo of a farm in the distance.

The shot of Laura is as she is starting down the Table Mountain hill. It was really a surprise to come upon this. A real "oh wow" moment. And, a shot of Ashley and Gerry after the bottom of the Table Mountain hill.

June 29 - Wainwright to Marsden, Saskatchewan - 90 km

We made it into Saskatchewan today, but it was hot. We had lunch just inside the Saksatchewan border (outside a cemetary).We stayed in the Marsden Hotel - 9 rooms and we got the last two. The rest are taken by oilfield service workers. Oilfield service work does a lot towards sustaining the local economy for some towns.
East of Wainwright there is a large oilfield, so I included a photo of a pump jack (for Daphne) and a shot of the endless rolling prairies (it ain't flat).