The day started cool, but beautifully sunny, with light streaming into our accommodation. We made and ate breakfast, and then drove the narrow hilly road 8km to the P’Tit Train du Nord in Prévost.
Here we are ready to leave Auberge du lac Morency, bikes loaded.
There is plentiful free parking at many places along the trail. Old train stations have been converted in amenities for trail users. In Prévost there is a shop with trail souvenirs, bike rental, and tourist information. There are nearby restaurants, as well.
There were also porta potties that were wrapped in insulated blankets, with heaters and lighting inside! The trail closes for cycling on November 1 and is used for skiing when it snows. It is groomed and there is a charge for some sections of the trail for skiing.
The surface of the first 22km going north was limestone screenings in good repair. The rest was very good asphalt. At higher volume roads there was green paint. The trail always had stop signs at roads. Sometimes the roads would have a stop sign, as well.
The autumn colours are past their peak here, but the landscape is still beautiful.
The signage is excellent with frequent maps and markers every kilometre. The gates at the roads are very unobtrusive compared to what we are accustomed to in Ontario on rail trails.
In Piedmont they had fitness stations beside the trail, bathrooms, a rec centre and a bike repair stand.
In Saint-Adele there was a terrific cafe with indoor and outdoor seating, bathrooms, a bike shop, bike rentals, ebike and child trailer rentals. Everywhere we stopped had bike racks, even scenic lookouts.
I took so many pictures of Cindy on beautiful sections of the trail with the autumn colours, but this is one of my favourites.
At Val-Morin there was a restaurant (closed) and picnic area. There were signs indicating a 1km ride to the town centre, but we decided to stick to the trail.
Val-David was a bustling little town with a large park on one side of the trail and a main street perpendicular to the trail. We briefly searched for lunch, but decided to continue on to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts to the restaurant we chose last night when planning the ride.
Only when we got to Saint-Agathe-des-Monts did we realize the the restaurant we chose was actually in Val-David. So we picked a little local restaurant from google maps that looked cute, but fast. Two kilometres later, down a steep hill we discovered it has gone out of business. Next we tried a sushi restaurant on the way back to the trail to find it is closed on Wednesdays. Finally, we ended up at a great little Vietnamese restaurant on the main street back near the trail. We had spring rolls, a pork sandwich on crusty baguette and iced tea. It was delicious. It was only the second restaurant meal I have eaten inside since the beginning of the pandemic, but other than the proprietor, we were alone in the restaurant.
We headed back south. On the way we encountered a large group of young children, with a couple parents, or teachers, with a P’Tit Train du Nord volunteer corking intersections (making sure drivers allowed the entire group to cross) and sweeping (ensuring no one was left behind).
We stopped at Val-David for coffee. There were an astonishing number of people walking, playing, cycling, shopping.
There were some cute signs along the trail.
The sun began to get lower in the sky, and enhanced the last few kilometres. The day had almost 500m of climbing, but it was all on the way north. The ride back was almost effortless at times.
Back at the car we had a lovely conversation with a local woman who told us some history of the area. We were happy not to be riding the 8km back to our accommodation. We rode 82km today.
We bought cheese bread in Val-David to go with squash and lentil soup Cindy made and brought, leftover bean salsa from last night, and a salad I made. Pears, blue cheese and chocolate were had for dessert. It was delicious.
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