2020.09.01 – [CA] Home ==> Rockland, Ontario (67 kms | Total: 67 kms) – We left home shortly after 9am and started cycling on a bicycle path just a few hundred meters away. We discovered some nice cycling path east of the Aviation museum – an area we seldom visited. We encountered many cyclists throughout our ride. After 50kms of cycling paths, we continued our way on Old Montreal road and then a few kms on the wide shoulder of highway 17. In Rockland, our first stay at a hotel, we learned that the “breakfast included” deal under Covid-19 boiled down to a brown bag including yogurt, a croissant or chewy bars, juice and some fresh fruits. We had our evening meal at a St-Hubert Express. In the evening, we bought a few snacks for the road.

2020.09.02 – [CA] Rockland, Ontario ==> Hawkesbury, Ontario (63 kms | Total: 130 kms) – As promised by the hotel staff, our breakfast bags were already waiting for us at 7am on a chair outside our room. The weather forecast had led us to dread cycling under the rain all day but we left the hotel at 8:30am under dry condition. We cycled once again along Highway 17 for 20kms up to Plantagenet. From there, we cycled for 25+kms along another train track converted to a bicycle path. It finally started to rain as we checked in to our modest motel. We had a light lunch and evening meal at the very good and popular restaurant attached to our motel.

2020.09.03 – [CA] Hawkesbury, Ontario ==> Saint-Jérôme, Québec (64 kms | Total: 194 kms) – We had a large breakfast at the motel’s restaurant before setting out for the day. After crossing the bridge over the Ottawa river, we followed the convenient Route Verte #1 which is part of the largest cycling itinerary in North America. After a brief stop in Lachute, we continued our route on some secondary roads up until Sain-Jérome. Initially, we thought our Super 8 hotel would be far away for any restaurants but we discovered a Buffet des Continents just beside our hotel.

2020.09.04 – [CA] Saint-Jérôme, Québec ==> Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Québec (53 kms | Total: 247 kms) – After another brown bag breakfast, we cycled a few kms to the start of the famous 200km bicycle path: “Le Petit Train du Nord”. We took a few photos to record our start from km “0”. As we would discover along the trail, the steady stream of cyclists represent a fairly important source of tourism in the Laurentides. In St-Jerome, there was even a shuttle bus company specializing in servicing cyclists. For a fee, they will transport cyclists, their bicycles and equipment to Mont-Laurier. According to the elevation profile, there is some benefit to cycle “Le Petit Train du Nord” in the Mont-Laurier to St-Jérome direction. We encountered many cyclists along the hard packed gravel path. Many of them were riding e-bikes (50-60%) and were clearly out for a daily ride. Although we reached the outskirt of Sainte-Agathe-Des-Monts, the highest point on the trail, we did not struggle at all with the gentle climb. Strangely, we struggled on the last few kms near Sainte-Agathe as both Google maps and Maps.me were directing us to an impassable trail meant to reach our Super 8 hotel. After a few attempts to find a passage, we resigned ourselves to cycle a few mores kms to the nearest cross-road with the trail. After a rest in our room, we ventured out on foot to the town center in search of a restaurant. Along the way, we were a bit appalled at he number of closed businesses in Sainte-Agathe. With some persistence, we found a local restaurant for our evening meal.

2020.09.05 – [CA] Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Québec ==> Lac-Supérieur, Québec (53 kms | Total: 300 kms) – We had originally planned to have a day of rest in Sainte-Agathe but the hotel had no vacancy for the Saturday night. As a result, we ended booking one of the few available accommodation some 36 kms further – less than two kms south of Saint-Jovite along the highway. The cycling was very enjoyable as it included a long slow descent – a payoff for yesterday’s climb. The modest motel proved to be a good location as it was an easy walk into town for our evening meal. We were not the only one eager to explore the streets of Saint-Jovite as we saw a few deer doing the same.

2020.09.06 – [CA] Lac-Supérieur, Québec ==> Nominigue Québec (80 kms | Total: 380 kms) – The morning temperature was only 5C. We cycled to a nearby Tim Hortons for some take away breakfast meals. We rejoined the bicycle path which was paved over a distance of 20 kms south of the village of Mont-Tremblant. One of the highlights of the trail “Le Petit Train du Nord” was enjoying a stop over at the old train station in each community along the way. We particularly enjoyed the one in the village of Labelle as it was very lively during our visit as they had their Sunday market. The hard packed gravel trail gave place to a paved trail which extended right up to Mont-Laurier. Even after having a coffee and snack at a Tim Hortons in Rivière-Rouge, we arrived one hour earlier than the 4 star Inn’s check-in time. Nonetheless, we enjoyed chatting with Dave and Gail, another couple who were also waiting to check-in. We were lucky that the Inn had received a last minute cancellation when we attempted to book, from Sainte-Agathe, our stay in the area. Our initial target motel had closed for the 2020 summer season due to Covid-19 and another Inn was fully booked on this Sunday night of the Labor day long weekend. We opted to splurge ourselves by taking the Inn’s evening meal and breakfast package.

2020.09.07 – [CA] Nominigue Québec ==> Mont-Laurier, Québec (71 kms | Total: 451 kms) – After a delicious breakfast, we had to leave our Inn under the rain. We only took a few short rests as we cycled up to Mont-Laurier. The highlight here was the opportunity to take pictures of the 201 km sign post at the old train station. As our Super 8 hotel room was unavailable for check-in due to the large number of departures from the long weekend crowd, we opted to have a late lunch at the nearby Boston Pizza restaurant. We had left-over pizza in our room as a light evening meal.