Cornwall and Lac Morency – Day 3

After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and eggs on toast, with lots of coffee, we packed up the car and set off for Bois-des-Filion. Laurie had to rush out for a physiotherapy appointment, but Bruce was on hand to see us off.

The first 401 offramp after we left Cornwall was the site of an overturned tractor trailer being righted.

Here we are crossing into Quebec which would be noticeable even without signage as the bridges over the highway look subtly different.

As we crossed the island of Montreal we were able to see the progress made on the Montreal REM which is under construction and set to open next year. It is a Regional Transit network of 67 km. Last year we saw a giant elevated guideway building machine when we drove by the section. This year the guideway was completely built and they were working on stations.

We were heading for Bois-des-Filion because that is the south end of the P’Tit Train du Nord. Last year we got as far south as a Blainville. The plan was to ride the section that we hadn’t seen yet.

I was surprised that the south end of the trail didn’t seem to be as well marked as other sections and there were not road signs directing us to the beginning. We parked in a public parking lot by a church. We went in search of a payment station, but discovered that parking was free, as it was in all the places we visited on the trip.

We had a few blocks of riding with traffic, and I suspected that was because we were not actually on the trail. It wasn’t long before we came upon a flexi post separated cycle lane and then started seeing signs for the trail.

In town the bike lane was unidirectional along the main road going westbound only, and then bi-directional cycling on one side of a residential road taking us to a hydro corridor.

The Trans Canada Train runs along the P’Tit Train du Nord and we found a familiar looking pavilion.

There was a small parking lot adjacent to the trail here with some beautiful fall colour on the trees and on the ground.

As in Cornwall some of the sections of the trail were completely leaf covered.

This section of the trail was bi-directional on one side. Unfortunately, as it was garbage day, there were wheelie bins on the trail. If I was in charge here I would make people put them in the parking lane on the road, as you can see someone has ahead of Cindy in the picture. Fortunately, the rail wasn’t very busy and when we returned along the route it wasn’t a problem to ride on the wrong side to avoid the bins.

We encountered these speed signs in several places. When the speed of the vehicle is below the posted limit, one gets a thumbs up. Unfortunately I didn’t manage capture a picture of it.

The speed limit in these subdivisions was 30 kp/h. This is a very important limit in places where motor vehicles and pedestrians and cyclist interact. It gives the drivers time to stop to avoid a collision if necessary, and when a collision happens there is a 90% chance that a pedestrian or cyclist will survive at 30kp/h speed. At 50 km/h, the default speed in most cities, only five out of 10 will survive. At 65 km/h only one out of 10 will survive.

Between the subdivision, and where the trail begins running adjacent to an commuter rail line, was a newly paved and separated section which was very pleasant to ride on.

This was our first sighting of the P’Tit Train du Nord signage we were familiar with from last year. The sign indicates that we are 19 km south of St-Jerome which is Kilometre 0. North of there all of the rail has been removed.

This is the point at which we turned around when we came from the north last year.

We decided to continue north to try to have a look at the photo exposition in City Hall, which was closed last year for Covid. It turns out it’s also closed on Tuesdays. So we have yet to see it.

This train runs along side the P’Tit Train du Nord from Bois-des-Filion to St Jerome.

The section of the trail was under construction last year.

We visited the library and this cute sculpture again.

Before we set off I chose a restaurant for lunch, as last year we had trouble finding somewhere to eat in Blainville. They still had outdoor furniture set up and we chose to sit in the shade, rather than the sun, since it was such a warm day. We had a good meal.

This picture shows a permeable filter, which is a street which only allows cyclists and pedestrians to continue straight and forces motor vehicles to turn.

This hill was challenging to climb but made for a beautiful descent.

When we reached the section of the trail in Bois-des-Filion which was on the road, but only had a bike lane on the westbound side, we were directed onto this lovely boardwalk.

As we were almost back to the car and lost our bike lane just before crossing Highway 335 we realize thought the trail went south and under the highway, but since it was getting later than we had planned to ride we headed straight back to the car. So we still have perhaps 1 km of the P’Tit Train du Nord that we have yet to ride at the south end.

The drive to Lac Morency was longer than we expected as we ended up in stop and go traffic due to congestion in the villages with school pick up, even though lots of children seemed to be walking along sections like this, or riding on school buses.

When we arrived Cindy negotiated an upgrade from the studio unit with kitchenette that she had booked to a one bedroom with living room, dining room, and full kitchen. It was more spacious than where we stayed last year, and all on one level, which was nice not to have to go up and downstairs to the bathroom from the living room sofa bed. Last year the sofa bed was extremely uncomfortable. I mentioned that at check in and they offered a mattress topper. I accepted and it turned out to be quite comfortable.

We brought groceries with us from home and were able to make omelettes, and a pepper and kohlrabi salad with produce from Cindy‘s garden. It was delicious.


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