Mont-Tremblant – Day 10

We packed and took it down to the car. Fortunately, we had an elevator to take us down from the 12th floor. It’s always easier to pack to go home – no choices about what to pack and, when you have brought food, if you’ve planned correctly, you have eaten most of it.

We decided to try a local independent coffee shop. I enjoy lattes, and bought a machine several years ago to make them. I’ve become quite good at making them at home, and I’m often disappointed when I purchased them at coffee shops. Even Starbucks, the chain that made the espresso beverage ubiquitous, rarely makes a good one anymore. Figaro Coffee House did a good job and made a delicious apple turnover.

It was short drive to Kanata where we had arranged to ride with Cindy‘s cousin, Mike, and then to have lunch with Mike and his wife Jane, when we returned.

Mike, is a very tall, strong cyclist. He decided to ride his heavy steel touring bike, his slow bike. Cindy and I were on our road bikes.

The destination was Pihney’s point, one of the few public accesses to the Ottawa river in this area. It was a 20 km one-way out and bike ride. Ottawa seems to be pretty good at building active transportation infrastructure over highways and canals. This bridge took us over the 417.

We were on a mix of infrastructure – quiet residential streets, raised, cycle tracks, urban shoulders, rural shoulders, and finally a gravel road down to the point.

It was slightly uphill and against the wind on the way there, but by drafting behind Mike most of the way, we made excellent time.

Hamnet Pinhey was a London importer who in 1820 retired to Canada at 35 to become a landed gentleman. He was granted 1000 acres on the Ottawa River for his service as King’s Messenger during the Napoleonic Wars. Within 10 years, he had built an estate which he named Horaceville after his eldest son. He also became involved in local politics. Horaceville, remained in family hands until 1959 when it was sold to the National Capital Commission.

The views from the upper story of the house are tremendous.

We had a lovely lunch with Mike and Jane, and then based on google maps, and their recommendation, decided to travel home on Highway 7, rather than 417 to the 401. The additional time from the lower speed limit was more than made up by the shorter distance. We did use the 407 from Highway 115, which was more than $30, even on a Sunday afternoon when the tolls are lower, but it cut down the trip from that point to one hour from 90 minutes.

As we approached Peterborough, we started noticing that the sky looked very odd. We haven’t been paying attention to the news and were unaware of the forest fires. This picture was taken on Highway 115 south of Peterborough.

We were so fortunate in our timing on this trip. We had lovely weather and were unaffected by the forest fires which dramatically affected air quality in the places we had just visited in the following days.

It was a wonderful trip, and I highly recommend visiting Ottawa and the Laurentians, and specifically the P’Tit Train du Nord, to my fellow cyclists.


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