"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 3

 

Now, down to business. it was a very lazy three day weekend. Every day's scenario was pretty much the same.

First, we would treat ourselves to some nice breakfast.

Miam!

Then, out and about!

Into nice landscapes, part countryside

Part forest

Part lakeside beaches

On day one, we cycled from Ste Adèle Km 25 down to Prévost Km 14. Then we noodled around. Enjoying the day. The old rail stations have been transformed into little tourist information and convenience spots with washrooms, snack, pique-nique tables etc.

In every town along the trail, you can stop in one of these.

The next day, we toured Val Morin Km 37, Val David Km 42, up to slightly before Ste Agathe-des-Monts Km 49. Lazily. Merely two hours after breakfast, we were already brunching at La Vagabonde in Val David, treating ourselves to giant chestnut-walnut brioches with nice cafés au lait.

Yep. Who said cycling would contribute in the fight against obesity? So much for cycling as a sport.

There were not many people on the trail; a healthy mix of sports, families, campers and locals. The pace was quiet and relaxed for most, even for the lycras!

Yep, that's a Po Campo on the rack. Who said weekend escapes cannot be done in style?

In the afternoon, we pulled up to Tremblant. Additional random views:

Yes, that's a swimming pool ladder over there!!

Then, on the last day, we investigated the Montreal-St. Jérôme connection to assess the feasibility of it by different modes: suburban train vs. straight cycling.
St. Jérôme, became a suburb of Montreal as a victim of rampant sprawl. However, it is a little town on it right with a super cute downtown.

We finally found Km 0!

That's all folks! End of the adventure.
To be repeated, some time next year... for real!


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Happy Labour Day Weekend! 
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 1
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 2

"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 2

 

Let's start with some history.

As in most of the western world, the development of railways in the 19th century forever changed the landscape and shrunk distances to the point of creating entire new towns out of scratch and making existing ones literally explode.

The "petit train du nord" is no different. Advocated and promoted by priest François Xavier Antoine Labelle, a.k.a. "Curé Labelle", this line was supposed to ease access to the great north to French Canadians. He was a major force behind the colonisation and economic development of the Laurentians region.

Seriously, it looks like every city in Quebec has a street to his name!

In reality, while people did actually settled in the Laurentians thanks to this initiative, it seems that the "petit train du nord" contributed more to the development of tourism and villegiature in the region, much for the great benefit and enjoyment of middle to upper class Montrealers. Between 1920 and 1940, ski tourism boomed spurring the creation of countless ski resorts along the train line that still exist to this day, for most of them.

Sainte Adèle, winter time, early 20th century

Almost identical scene, Sainte Adèle murale by artist Yvon Lemieux

Sainte Adèle is one such villegiature towns with not much going on besides ski in the winter and cycling in the summer. I know it sounds disparaging but it is the truth.

Sainte Adèle train station, murale by artist Yvon Lemieux

In 1927, some 170,000 were using the "petit train du nord" line to go skiing.

In 1938, there were 14 trains per weekend, with an average of 10 cars with a carrying capacity of 84 seats each.

In 1950 a maximum of 11,000 skiers was reached in one single weekend.

By the way, it is not clear whether this lady is actually enjoying herself. Another case of wifey being dragged into hubby's plans? LOL!

Old advertisement for Mont Tremblant, our most famous (but not best) resort

Much better now, even though I am not convinced by the sleeveless top... anyone who's ever skied on the East coast knows what I am talking about!!

Anyways. In the 1960s, a highway, the Laurentian Autoroute, i.e. highway 15,  was built in the name of progress and modernity. This highway parallels the old train line almost perfectly and effectively destroyed it.

In the name of economic efficiency, the train line "had" to be closed as the costs to keep it running far exceeded the benefits to those who relied on it. Just get a car.

This story is just one of the several North America's railway dramas. The demise of the train, along with the streetcar's, was carefully planned and organised by those who had a well vested interest in seeing alternative transportation die off. The supremacy of the car is a socio-economic construction and the result of some people's hard work.

Now that the old rails have become bike trails, it is once again possible to reach Mont Laurier from Montreal on transportation other than the automobile. The official trail starts in St. Jérôme which is the effective Km 0.

The Montreal-St. Jérôme portion is feasible through la Route Verte #2, into which the full "petit train du nord" is integrated anyways.

I investigated the possibility of reaching St. Jérôme through public transportation, in this case suburban/commuter train and it is not possible. Everything has been done to protect the local bus industry from competition from public transportation. However, it is possible to arrange something from Blainville which is km -15, but only during weekdays, on commuting rush hours, with a max of 4 bikes per car, 12 bikes per train. All of that for 8.50$ the one way ticket... Ahem... Whatever.

We'll see next year.


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Happy Labour Day Weekend! 
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 1
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 3

"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 1

  
Yes folks, I am back!! Continuing were I left in the previous post.

We're just back from a very nice weekend during which we managed to avoid all the downpours.
Lucky as we were, we biked all weekend in-between the showers, dodging all the drops, summoning both thunder and lightening to materialise only at night. And boy they did!! Waking us in the middle of the night two days in a row. Furious storms these were...

We chose to settle down in Ste Adèle for our entire stay, so we explored the trail by plugging in at different spots. Our B&B was at Km 25, at 300 m from the trail entry.

 
As you can guess, it was a very nice weekend, very relaxing, during which we were able to resource and recharge...

... as you can tell!
More to come...


******
Happy Labour Day Weekend! 
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 2
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 3

Happy Labour Day weekend!

This year, we will be taking the full weekend off. 

It's been years since we've actually been able to enjoy that weekend in Quebec.

We chose to go to the Laurentians, a nice region up North at about one to two hours drive. Drive? What do you mean drive?

Well, we're renting a car for the weekend (getting ready to dodge). Cos' we are going cycling (Oops, dodging!)...

Ok, public transportation being what it is in this province, there is really no other alternative for us to get there. Oh yeah, there are those Greyhound type of buses, that make a fuss of taking bicycles in and have impossible schedules. Not flexible enough.

Why don't we bike there then? Good question. Because it is still quite far for us (and I *don't* camp), we don't know the area nor the route and the point of it all if for us to get a good rest and get ready for the upcoming busy season. So it needs to be relaxed.

We will be exploring one of Quebec's most famous bike circuit: Le P'tit Train du Nord linear park.

This park is actually an old rail track that was converted to a recreational bicycle path.

We will be staying midway into the circuit and explore it up and down hoping to get a good feel for it. Next time, we will probably do it the proper way, i.e. starting at either Km 0 or Km 200 and cycle the whole thing, sleeping in cute B&B's along the way.

There are even services transporting your cargo for you to your hotel or B&B so you can travel lite. Other services organise pick-ups directly from Montreal and drop you at Km of your choice. However, again, the schedules are not flexible enough and, let's just say that I have done my fair share of waking up at 5 am these past years.

Yet, one thing disturbs me to this day. 

Km 0, i.e. St. Jérôme, is now, thanks to urban sprawl, a suburb of Montreal. By that I mean that there are people commuting to Montreal from St. Jérôme. Which, then means, that there is a suburb train line going there.

St. Jérôme is the green line terminal station, up on the left. 

So theoretically, we could have taken our bikes into these trains up to St. Jérôme or even Blainville, and bike on therefrom.

Alas, service is only provided during the week, no service on the weekend, and only during rush hour!

Yet, due to the mayhem in traffic and transportation these days (our infrastructures are literally falling apart), service has been increased. The on-board bicycle policy has been softened as well with greater flexibility. Still, 12 bikes per train and 4 bikes per car sound very low to me:

"The AMT authorizes a maximum of twelve (12) bicycles on board each train. It is therefore forbidden for anyone to get on a train if it already contains the maximum number of bicycles authorized. If the maximum number of bicycles per train has been reached, the person must take the next train identified on the schedule as accepting bicycles."

Not reliable as far as I am concerned: I am not interested in having to wait hours for silly reasons. Especially when you've taken weekdays off from work specifically for that.

Another time maybe. I need to check the scene first. Once I get a good grasp of the situation I'll plan accordingly for next year.

To be continued...


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"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 1
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 2
"Le p'tit train du nord" bike trail - Part 3

Attitude towards cycling: Quebec vs. Ontario

While not a fan of the Toronto Star, this time, Christopher Hume's piece is worth a read:

"When it comes to cycling, Quebec leaves Ontario in the dust. While we spin our wheels arguing over whether bikes belong on the streets, la belle province has turned pedal power into a transit and tourism phenomenon.

If you haven’t been to Quebec in a while, prepare to share the roads — and even more amazingly, the highways — with the two-wheeled. Everywhere you turn now, bicycles are part of the traffic mix. In addition to separated lanes in Montreal, highways are marked and divided into bike lanes and vehicular lanes. Even routes that aren’t marked have signs that make it clear the two — bikes and cars — must share the road.

In Toronto, by contrast, bikes have become a cause for panic, a wedge issue exploited by elected leaders for their own benefit. It is a topic on which municipal elections can be won or lost, at least in part. That’s not entirely new, of course, but it is another indication of how the politics of Ontario — and Toronto — are becoming sclerotic. So frightened are we of change that we buy into the promise that the province’s glorious yesterday will never end.

It already has."

You can read the rest here.

Things are not as nice a portrayed in this piece, there is an awful lot that needs to be done. Especially, some backlash recently appeared and people have started mildly agitating against cyclists. However, that noise is still being drowned under the great brouhaha generated by all the Bixis coming down Berri.
Yet, it is true that Quebec's cycling atmosphere is slightly ahead of Ontario's, where some cyclists find it normal to write open letters to insult fellow cyclists instead of focusing that energy on infrastructure improvements.

Personally, I think it has to do with the issue of Anglo-Saxon mentality vs. French-Canadian. Quebec's mentality is closer to Europe (continental) than many realise, especially in Montréal.

Mikael Colville-Andersen said it: this city has the potential, all we need is the political will (i.e. balls) to make that happen.