Heading North, Down the St. Lawrence

Passing through a small town along the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River.

We have pedaled about 100 miles in the last two days, heading in a northeastern direction (which feels like "up" on a map but is actually downstream along the St. Lawrence!). The landscape is flat, which means the pedaling is continuous, and our muscles (and seat bones) are reminding us of the aches that come with the early days of a long bike tour.

Nonetheless, the weather has been beautiful—80 degrees and sunny! Today, we even had the wind at our backs as we rode through the countryside, which is showing signs of early spring. It seems the season is quite delayed here, but knowing how those northerly winds sweep down unobstructed from the Arctic, I’m not surprised!

View from Sorel-Tracy at sundown

On our first day out from Montreal, we rode along the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River to a town called Sorel-Tracy. It is primarily an industrial town, with large plants along the river where iron, titanium, and natural gas are processed. We had a good ride that day, except for when the bike path was closed, forcing us to take a detour that required us to carry our bikes up the stairs of an overpass. We managed to get them up, but when it came time to go down the stairs on the other side, I couldn’t hold back the weight, and my bike slipped and tumbled down. The good news is that the bags on the bike served as padding and protected it just fine!

Not the best of roads!

On the second day out of Montreal, we crossed the St. Lawrence by ferry and then rode along the northern bank. We planned to ride a short distance to reach a bikeway known as the Chemin du Roy (The King's Road), which we were looking forward to, as it had been praised as a fantastic route. Unfortunately, we encountered another road closure. The only way around it was along a dirt road that wound through some unplanted fields. At first, this wasn’t so bad, but it quickly became more rutted and eventually quite muddy, forcing us to walk our bikes through the worst parts. Despite the setback, we made it to the Chemin du Roy and enjoyed a beautiful ride the rest of the way to Trois-Rivières, where we are staying tonight.

The Chemin du Roy (King's Road)

A typical old Quebec house along the Chemin du Roy