The day dawned with bright sunshine, but cold and ranged from -3° to a high of 7°. We didn’t rush to leave hoping that by the time we started riding in Prévost it would have warmed up a bit. I offered Cindy the opportunity to ride from the resort to Prévost today, as I did yesterday, but she declined as after two long days on the bike she was feeling a bit tired and we were planning another 50-ish kilometres today.

We decided to try a trail more recently established than the P’Tit Train du Nord called the Corridor Aérobique, a 58. 5 km trail from Morin-Heights to Amherst that runs roughly perpendicular to the P’Tit Train du Nord, and currently requires a ride of about 10 km on roads to get in between the two trails. The municipality is in the process of putting cycling infrastructure on the roads to connect the two trails, and has designated a route, Vélocité Trajet Cyclable, but I only found this out later after I planned a route between Prévost and Saint-Sauveur that began the same as yesterday‘s ride, but leaving the trail before Piedmont station with a small distance on Highway 117.

In the park where we saw the photographic exhibit yesterday we saw an outdoor exercise class today.

There was a 9% grade climb into Saint-Sauveur which we managed but we pulled over to catch our breath at the top. Saint-Sauveur is a pretty town with a ski resort, lots of shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and outlet shopping. We visited it last year on the one day on which we were unable to ride because of rain.

We spotted a lovely looking coffee shop with sunny outdoor tables so we decided to stop, even though we had only gone 8 km at that point.

As we sat and had coffee Cindy speculated that we could have avoided the highway by continuing along the trail to Piedmont station. I looked at the map and it turned out she was correct, however coming the way did significantly shortened the 9% climb.

Saint-Sauveur did not have cycling lanes on the main street and it was incredibly congested. The cars were slowing us downeven when we could filter.

Once we got off the main street we were able to move faster. And there were a lot of descents.

We were now on the Vélocité Trajet Cyclable and encountered paved shoulders, and protected bike lanes.

After another great descent we got to the eastern end of the Corridor Aérobique. Every time we went down a hill we were thinking about what the return trip would be like.

We knew from the Corridor Aérobique website that hybrid bikes or fat bikes were recommended for this trail, but we decided to give it a try with our road bikes.

You can see a map here.

Here we have arrived at the Morin-Heights station. There were no amenities, other than a bike rack, here.

At this point we had cycled 20 km and didn’t know what we might encounter along the trail in terms of places to eat, so given our two longer prior days we decided to ride to Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard and if we encountered nothing but trail, to turn around, and come back to explore the trail in it’s entirety next year.

This was the only controlled road crossing we encountered on the rail trails in the area.

We never encountered any hills this steep on the P’Tit Train du Nord, and the surface wasn’t as good, as we expected. It’s difficult to tell in this picture but it was steep enough that walked some of the descent and all of the ascent.

At the bottom of the dip there was a bench to enjoy this lovely view.

There were many hiking and skiing trails that lead away from the main trail. They were often benches along the trail with bike racks.

The had an average grade of 4%. We climbed all the way to Saint-Adolphe-d’Howard and encountered no amenities so we turned around there and rode back downhill to the Vélocité Trajet Cyclable.

The climbs on the way back were not as challenging as we had both feared. I guess we are getting better at hills.

I was almost able to catch the thumbs up on the speed sign here on our way back.

Red is often used as an accent colour or for roofing in this area and we saw many lovely homes.

Back in Saint-Sauveur it was time for lunch so we stopped at the first place we saw that had outdoor seating, Lou’s smoked meat. Next door was a chocolate shop, also with the patio, where we decided we would get a hot drink and treat after lunch.

We split a jumbo smoked meat sandwich and a small poutine. It was definitely the right decision to split as we were both so full by the time we finished the delicious meal that we didn’t go onto the chocolate shop afterwards.

The town has benches that look like ski lift seats as an homage to its roots as a ski village.

There were a lot of Halloween decorations in this area but this was one of the best displays we saw. Perhaps we will try crepes for lunch next year.

The traffic jam getting out of town was absolutely crazy. We filtered where we could.

In Parc Georges-Filion, beside the Saint-Sauveur church there were more ski lift benches.

There was also a stage named for Kate and Anna McGerrigle who are from Saint-Sauveur.

After leaving the park the traffic jam was so long, and so close to the curb, that we dismounted and walked our bikes on the sidewalk faster than the cars were moving.

We followed the road out of town down the hill to the Piedmont station and the P’Tit Train du Nord trail, as Cindy had suggested in the morning that we could. It was nice to avoid the highway on the way back, and a very fun descent, however we weren’t unhappy about our morning route which had allowed us to avoid the longer 9% grade climb.

We finished the day with another simple, but filling meal, hardly believing that we had just finished our final full day at Lac Morency. But we still have two more days ahead as we are breaking up our trip home with a stop overnight again in Cornwall.

The weather dawned sunny, but much colder than the days we had experienced so far, closer to seasonal norms, but still warmer than we encountered last year. The temperature ranged from 4° to 8° rather than the long-term forecast which had led us to expect 10° to 16° today and much cooler after today. The long-term forecast has been fairly accurate with the exception that the weather cooled down one day sooner than forecast.

We had yet this year, or last year, to ride our bikes the 8 km from the resort into Prévost to start riding on the P’Tit Train du Nord. I looked at the elevation profile last night, and have been studying it as we drove to and from the resort. I determined that it would be a fairly easy, and quite fun ride into town as, with the exception of the hill out of the resort, and a couple others climbing up out of dips, it was mostly downhill with some nice curves. However I was unsure that I wanted to ride back at the end of the day.

We decided after our gran fondo yesterday that we would take a shorter, more restful day today. Cindy didn’t really want to ride into town so I asked if it would be alright if I did and we met in town. For me this was the best outcome as it meant I would get a ride back uphill to the resort at the end of the day. Cindy agreed.

We left a little later to allow the sun to come out strongly and the day to warm up a bit. My ride started with a descent from our unit within the resort before a climb up to the road. With the exception of the last 150 m or so up to the road it wasn’t an overly challenging climb. I did pull over at the top briefly to catch my breath.

I had spotted this sign a few times from the car and pulled over to take a picture. I found it a rather peculiar drawing, but a poignant, and often ignored, message. So many parents who drive their children to school do so because they feel it would be too dangerous for them to walk or bike, not realizing, or ignoring the fact that they are creating the danger to children outside the car by driving their children to school.

Cindy was just finishing up unloading and getting ready to ride, by the time I arrived at the station. It was a super fun ride and got me a few extra tiles.

Our destination was Sainte-Adèle, a lovely station with a bike shop and coffee shop, which is 11 km north of Prévost. We decided to explore some trails that lead away from the main trail on the way there, as last year we hadn’t done a lot of exploring off the main trail.

We explored Piedmont where they had an outdoor photographic display of the history of the area. One of the trains that used to run in this area was used for getting skiers to the hills.

After re-joining the main trail we passed Piedmont Station, which, we learned from the exhibit, had been demolished, but a replica was rebuilt when the rail trail was established, and is used as a community centre.

There were many information signs along the trails and one that was particularly useful showed the distances between stations and the elevation profile and whether or not the trail was paved.

The sun was strong and the temperature pleasant by the time we arrived at Sainte-Adèle. We decided to have lunch and coffee.

Just as we were about to leave we saw a man walking towards us with a coffee and newspaper. He asked if he could join us, and told us he had been born in and lived his whole life in Sainte-Adèle. His name was Werner and we had a very interesting conversation.

The weather was very pleasant and we weren’t tired, so we decided to continue north to explore some other areas off the trail. We discovered this waterfall, and hiking and skiing trails and a cabin for warming during the ski skiing season, just off the trail north of Sainte-Adèle.

The next 10 km to Val-Morin were ascending, but at a consistent incline that one finds on rail trails, which was more challenging than most of the rail trails I have experienced in Ontario, but well within our limits.

The trail went across a picturesque causeway at Lac Raymond.

There is a small Mexican restaurant in the station at Val-Morin, but the owners were on vacation, and it was closed. It was also closed last year when we passed it.

We decided to leave the trail and ride on the roads to Val-David. We didn’t encounter anything of consequence Val-Morin, but saw this cute house with a matching mailbox along the way.

Even though many of the places we pass through are quite small villages it’s not unusual to see denser housing forms and most villages have protected bike lines.

We saw several houses being raised to have a basement put under them.

The first two cafés we considered were closed during the week.

This is the station in Val-David, which is a very busy place with lots of activity along the trail, but also lots of motor vehicle traffic on its main streets. The main street here did not have a bike lane.

Because the first couple cafés we stopped at were closed we decided to go to one that we enjoyed last year which had sheltered outdoor seating.

The pumpkin pie and hazelnut eclair were awesome.

There were so many information signs along the entire length of the trail that there were many we did not stop to read. At the north end of Lac Raymond was another one of the cute benches, like we saw in Labelle yesterday, and the crossing sign was used for way finding.

As we rode north we removed our layers of clothing, but on the way back south, by about 4 PM we were putting them back on.

The trail follows several rivers. This is the Rivière du Nord and there was a good view of the rapids here.

This was a typical road crossing. At this particular one the drivers had a stop sign, but usually the crossings are at uncontrolled intersections and still lack gates for trail users which we appreciate as we are used to having to squeeze through gates at most rail trail crossings in Ontario.

Our “rest” day turned out to be 64 km for Cindy and eight more than that for me, with my ride into Prévost in the morning. I was happy not to have to ride back from Prévost to the resort.

This is what the unit that we were staying in looked like from the back. We were on the middle level.

We had another simple dinner of soup and salad, bacon and cheese bread. Cindy bought us some Halloween cookies from the bakery in Val-David for dessert.

Last night when we checked the weather we found we had one more day of warm temperatures, and then rain and temperatures closer to seasonal norms for the rest of our stay. On our 2021 visit we had gotten to kilometre marker 92 on the P’Tit Train du Nord which is Mont-Tremblant Village. The trail ends at Mont-Laurier at kilometre marker 201. We wanted to explore more of the trail we hadn’t seen, but short late-October days, and the distance involved driving, as well as cycling, meant we were limited in what we could manage. We were considering driving north and getting a hotel on Saturday night so that we could do the north end of the trail, but yesterday, before we finished riding, Laurie texted to say that Cindy had forgotten her camera in the backseat of Laurie’s car. She invited us to stay over in Cornwall again on our way back home, to go to their community theatre group’s one act play, and pick up the camera. We enjoyed our visit so much that we decided to accept the invitation.

So today, on the last warm day we were going to have, we got up early and drove to La Conception-Station, 6 km north of Mont-Tremblant, where there was a parking lot for the P’Tit Train du Nord. The only other amenities were a porta potty, and wayfinding signage. Cindy had a goal of doing at least one Gran Fondo, a 100 km ride, this year, and hadn’t done so yet, so that was the goal for the day. Riding north to Nominingue and back would give us almost 100 km, and continuing south from La Conception-Station into Mont-Tremblant, where we left off last year and back 109km. We decided that we would decide on the few kilometres when we got back to the parking lot depending on how tired we felt and what time it was.

We drove out of the parking lot of the resort at 8 am.

We stopped at Les Moulins La Fayette, a bakery in Prévost, for coffee and baked goods to go. We also picked up a couple loaves of bread for our meals later in the week.

It was overcast as we drove north on Route 117.

In some places it is a limited access highway, and in others we encountered roundabouts.

We were the only car in the parking lot and often had the trail to ourselves for kilometres at a time.

The first 10 kilometres of the trail were surfaced with limestone screenings, but it’s still very smooth.

The next village was Labelle. There was a Station there that had a wonderful set of amenities.

There was artwork, creative benches, picnic tables, tables and chairs on the station patio, wayfinding signage, an old caboose, a playground, bathrooms, a water bottle filling station, bike repair stand, sheds that looked like they could be used for a market, restaurant and bar, and museum.

We would have liked to have stopped at the restaurant, but being only 10 km into a 100 km plus ride meant we needed to move on after taking some pictures. The restaurant sign said it closed at 3 PM so it was unlikely we would make it back before they closed.

From Labelle all the way to Mont-Laurier the trail is paved. Even though the section with limestone screenings is very good, it was even better to be on pavement.

At many of the crossings along the section of the trail we saw covered sitting areas that looks like a caboose.

We encountered no narrowing of the trail with gates at the crossings as one does in Ontario. And the roads were well marked for ensuring drivers knew that they were approaching a crossing, unlike in Ontario.

At Macaza we could see an old covered road bridge from the trail, but did not have the time to leave the trail to explore it. There are about 80 covered bridges left in Quebec from the 1200 that existed in the early 1900s.

As we arrived at the trail bridge a group of wild turkeys were walking across it. One by one they fluttered up onto the handrail as we watched.

Despite the fact that most of the autumn colours were finished the views were still beautiful.

Parts of the P’Tit Train du Nord are used for snowmobiling in the winter. This sign shows the snowmobile routes and distances.

Along this section of the trail were old outhouses with a hole dug in the ground as opposed to the porta potty‘s that we tend to encounter these days. Despite that, it was clean and odour free, which Cindy suggested might be because of the time of year.

At this latitude when the trails were covered in vegetation it was with the needles of larch trees which are deciduous evergreens. They drop all of their needles at once every fall.

The trail runs through the small community of Rivière-Rouge and was the only place where we encountered a crossing guard. There were a lot of young people using the trail as it was lunchtime and it seemed to be how they got around town.

There is a station in Rivière- Rouge, separate buildings with bathrooms, playground and splash pad, seating areas, and decorative walkways that look like train tracks. I’m not sure what is in the station as it was locked up, as were the bathrooms, with a sign posted on the door that they were closed for the winter to prevent vandalism.

Route 117 is the main highway here and is designated as the Trans Canada Highway. It would be similar to Highway 27 running to Barrie. Even at this road there were no gates for people using the trail, only a stop sign. There was a large gantry with warning lights on it, in addition to the paint on the road, for drivers.

At Lac Nominingue the trail went over a long Bailey Bridge. This is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge developed by the British for military use in the Second World War. It’s not unusual to see them along trails. There is at least one on the Caledon Trailway and one on the Chedoke Radial trail in Hamilton.

A few more kilometres and we arrived at Nominingue. The station house here was closed so I’m not sure what was inside. So were the bathrooms, but there was seating, picnic tables and sheds for local artisans.

Because I knew we would not want to linger I chose a restaurant close to the trail. Unfortunately I didn’t check the opening hours and it was closed on Wednesdays. There was an employee at the restaurant who came out and told us that we would be able to get food at the grocery store a few hundred metres further down the road.

The P’Tit Train du Nord Trail officially closes for walking and cycling on November 1. Between then and when it snows they do trail maintenance. Once it has snowed, sections are opened up for cross country skiing or snowmobiling. It seemed that a number of the amenities closed early.

After grabbing lunch at the grocery store we headed back south down the trail having cycled 49 km to that point.

I spotted this beautiful view at the north end of Rivière-Rouge which I had missed on the way north.

On the way north through Rivière-Rouge we thought there was a café at the station because there were so many people there. But on our way back we realized there was not, and that we would indeed be later than 3 PM getting back to Labelle. So we had a quick snack of food we had brought with us and then carried on.

The temperature was still beautiful and the sun strong, but clouds were beginning to gather.

As we rode into Labelle station there seemed to be a lot of activity and we were very excited to find that despite the fact that it was almost 4 PM the café was still open. I had a latte, Cindy had a Coke, and we shared a pumpkin sugar pie. It was sweet, but delicious. And just what we needed to give us the energy to get the last 10 km back to the parking lot.

As we cycled south of Labelle, now back on lime stone screenings, I could tell that Cindy was starting to get tired. I was, as well, but I had done five gran fondo’s before the trip to prepare.

I asked Cindy if she wanted to stop at the parking lot or continue to Mont-Tremblant. She said she definitely wanted her gran fondo so would ride just a little further than the parking lot and then go back to the car. I asked if she would mind if I rode on to Mont-Tremblant to see the last 5 km section that we hadn’t done yet. She agreed that she would be fine waiting for me. I suggested that if she drove the car to meet me she would have less time to wait and then I wouldn’t have to ride back benefitting us both. I looked at the elevation profile and told her there was one hill left that she would have to ride if she continued to Mont-Tremblant. She hoped to turn around before that and still get her gran fondo.

As it turned out we were at the top of that hill when she had the distance she needed to turn around and get her gran fondo. Given that she was already up the hill, and perhaps because the Coke and sugar pumpkin pie were kicking in she decided to continue on. We were both so grateful that she did when we were able to share this beautiful view of Lac du Sommet. The light and the reflections were just perfect.

The trail continued around Lac Mercier with beautiful views of the water and ski chalets.

And in what seemed like almost no time at all we reached Mont-Tremblant station. We were all smiles to be at the turnaround point.

This is us at the same point last year. It was a much colder and wetter day last year and we suffered from the cold so much that we vowed to take all our winter clothing this year, and didn’t end up needing it.

As we turned around and headed for La Conception-Station The sky darkened and it began to rain. The rain grew heavier as we loaded the bikes onto the car and jumped in as quickly as we could.

Since Cindy had driven in the morning I offered to drive home, but she replied that she had enough energy left to do so. Within a few minutes of beginning the drive the rain was coming down torrentially. I told her I was thankful she had decided to drive as I dislike driving in the rain, at night, on unfamiliar roads, in an unfamiliar car. She said she was having the same thought that it was best she had decided to do so.

The rain continued for so long that as we came in to Prévost there was so much standing water on the road that Cindy had to significantly slow her speed and water was spraying up high from the tires. We stopped at the Metro hoping to pick up a roast chicken for dinner, but all of the prepared food counters had closed for the evening. We picked up a few other groceries, running from and to the car to avoid getting too wet.

We unloaded as quickly as we could and then got into dry clothing. Dinner was homemade soup that Cindy brought from home, grilled cheese and bacon on the cheese bread we bought at the bakery in the morning, and a salad. It was delicious.

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.