Montreal and Véloroute Gourmande – Day 1

David and Dayle, Cindy and I are beginning a 12 day bike adventure. We are driving to Montreal and spending a of couple nights, before riding the Véloroute Gourmande, from Montreal to Sherbrooke. From there, we will ride north through Drummondville and back west along the St. Lawrence into Montreal. Then we will have another two days to explore Montreal, before driving home.

1. Oct 8 Wednesday: Drive to Montreal
2. Oct 9 Thursday: Explore Montreal
3. Oct 10 Friday: Bike to Farnham 85km
4. Oct 11 Saturday: Bike to Bromont-Granby 41km
5. Oct 12 Sunday: Bike to Magog 66km
6. Oct 13 Monday: Bike to Sherbrooke 70km
7. Oct 14 Tuesday: Bike to Drummondville 89km
8. Oct 15 Wednesday: Bike to Berthiersville 78km
9. Oct 16 Thursday: Bike to Montreal 84km
10. Oct 17 Friday: Explore Montreal
11. 0ct 18 Saturday: Explore Montreal
12. Oct 19 Sunday: Drive home

David and Dayle have bought new bikes for the trip and I’m excited to see how they work out. Cindy is on her trusty Little Miss Sunshine. I’m on my cross bike that I bought for our Ottawa trip in 2017. It has 44,000 km on it and just about everything has worn out.  I have nicknamed it Theseus, for the Theseus Paradox.

The Theseus Paradox is “a thought experiment that explores the concept of identity over time, asking if an object remains the same after all its original parts have been replaced. The paradox raises questions about whether its identity lies in its physical components, its form, its history, or some combination of these, with no single agreed-upon answer”.  My bike does not even have the original frame, because I crashed and damaged the frame in 2018, and had all the components moved to a new frame.

This year I switched the integrated shifters for bar end shifters, because it was a cheap way to keep it going for another year. Last week I put a new chain on at Different Spokes, Brampton’s Community Bike Hub,  where members can do their own repairs under the guidance of experienced bike mechanics. Yesterday I had a new brake pads installed at Highlands Bikes, a local bike shop. Unfortunately, the pads I needed didn’t ship to the hub in time. Hopefully, I’ll buy a new bike before travelling next year. The remaining original components are the bars, cranks, crank gears, derailleurs, and wheels. 

David and Dayle picked me up at 8:30 AM, and Cindy at 9 AM. We used the 407 to avoid being stuck in traffic on the 401. Fortunately, Dayle has an offer from 407 for free morning rush-hour travel from 7 AM to 9:30 AM.

We stopped in Brockville to visit the Brockville Railway Tunnel. I visited there with my family in 2017, but the others hadn’t experienced it before. We brought our lunches with us and ate on Blockhouse Island overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The Canada US border runs down the centre. We could see the US. 

The Brockville Railway Tunnel is the first railway tunnel in Canada, built between 1854 and 1860 for the Brockville and Ottawa Railway to access the riverfront. It is now a free, seasonal tourist attraction. Visitors can walk through the 530-meter tunnel, which features lighting and sometimes music, and see the remnants of its construction and natural stalactites from groundwater seepage.

The concrete leading to the tunnel was stamped to look like a railroad track.

From one of the information signs in the tunnel we learned: “Ever since the tunnel was built, groundwater has been seeping through its walls and ceiling. Minerals in this water, leeched from the surrounding limestone and sandstone, have been deposited to create the beautiful mineral formations seen throughout the tunnel. These formations are primarily calcite, which is white in colour, and dolomite which is more yellowish. Traces of iron appear orange/red, while nickel and copper are blue/green.”

There are stalactites hanging from the ceiling and walls and flowstone where water is flowing over a surface. The growth of these formations in the tunnel is faster than in most naturally formed caves, but is still only about one millimetre per year.”

“The tunnel was designed to leak. Allowing water to permeate the stone walls prevents the buildup of hydrostatic pressure that could cause the walls to collapse.”

The railway operated until the early 1970s.

These are the views from the south and north ends of the tunnel. The tunnel runs under Brockville City Hall, which was built after the tunnel, and which incorporates the ventilation shafts the tunnel required.

A few years ago, a friend of Cindy’s told us about the accommodation services at Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal. The rates are very reasonable and include breakfast and parking. They will allow us to leave our van there for just $5 per day while we are doing our seven day supported self supported trip.

We spotted the dome of the Oratory long before we got there as traffic was heavy due to us arriving at rush hour.

It’s a huge property with many buildings, all with the same address, and we weren’t sure where the accommodation was. We parked and went to the bathroom in an addition to the Oratory that is new since I was here in 2011. We were able to ask for directions and were only a few hundred metres away.

We checked in, and shared a bottle of red wine, which David and Dayle brought with them since they had it open at home, along with some Bits ‘n Bites which Cindy brought. We then walked along Queen Mary Road to find dinner. 

On our return we spotted the moon along side the oratory.

We then walked up the stairs,  but used the outside granite steps, as the middle section of wooden steps is reserved for pilgrims who want to climb on their knees.

We saw that the Oratory was still open so we went in.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in a church with escalators before. The addition is quite modern.

The older part was built between 1924 and 1966. Outside the crypt were displays of “crutches and canes displayed along the walls as a testament to believed healing miracles, a tradition associated with the healing powers attributed to St. Brother André”.

This is the crypt which is the original church, a neoclassical-style building completed in 1917 that serves as the base and foundation for the larger basilica above it. The crypt’s name comes from its low-lying position, embedded in the mountain, and its flattened arches. David and Dayle were getting quite tired so we left exploring the rest of the site for another day.