Wednesday, 23 August 2006

Saint-Sulpice to Montreal (Quebec)

A cloudless sunny evening had given way to a cool clear night. I was up bright and early like the sun and, as I had a short cycling day I had plenty of time while waiting for the flysheet to dry, spread out on the rocks next to the river. It was fortunate that I had the chance to dry it out as it will be packed away for a few days while I am in Montreal.

The St. Lawrence was mirror flat as there was no wind and the sun dazzled off the surface. As I need to use up or throw/give away the fuel for my MSR stove before I fly home I made myself a brew of tea to while the time away. I finally set off at about 8:15, the first few kilometres on the 138 were next to the river and still fairly rural, but it soon became a road through a more built-up area of commercial and residential buildings leading into Repentigny. I stayed on the road rather than follow 'La Route verte' through L'Assomption as I wanted to go to the Tourist Office, but turned out to be a waste of time as they had no cycling maps or information for Montreal. I stopped at a bike shop (and bought some more spare spokes) but they didn't have any cycling maps either.

The 138 met up with 'La Route verte' again at the Pont Le Gardeur to cross over onto Montreal Island. In common with many cities, cycling into Montreal was a mixture of pleasant and easy, and unpleasant or frustrating. At one moment you might be cycling through quiet residential streets or through a park next to the river, and the next you'd be on a rough pavement or on the road surrounded by juggernauts. At a couple of places I lost the cycle route altogether, once in a mass of roadworks, but at least with the grid system road layout (and a sunny day) it's fairly easy to keep your bearings until you can find out where you are. Luckily the couple who had been pitched next to me in the campsite had given me their tourist map of Montreal, which now came in very handy.

I found the Tourist Office in the old part of the city, and asked them where Rue Saint-Julien was; it seemed to be on the other side of town. I knew that couldn't be right so I looked up the address for the hostel I had booked. Rue Saint-Vincent was the next street along from the Tourist Office. Oh, how we laughed! Where ever did I pluck Rue Saint-Julien from? Good job I can laugh at myself. What an arse!

The hostel; Le Sous-bois was a bit of a shock to the system at first - my bed turned out to be an air-mattress on the floor in a cramped and air-less basement - a black hole of Calcutta. And I'm paying for this? It'll be interesting to see if I get any sleep tonight.

Having stashed my luggage, I cycled over to the 'Maison des Cyclists' - a sort of cycling association of Montreal. Surprisingly, they couldn't offer any advice about cycling from Montreal to Boston other than to try to sell me a road map. There are lots of cyclists (and roller-bladers) in Montreal, whizzing around at various speeds from the pedestrian to the break-neck. I'm surprised I didn't see any accidents. The cycle-paths tend to be narrow two-lane affairs on one side of the road so you're whizzing past each other in opposite directions quite close - and usually separated from the road by a series of metal posts. You wouldn't want to hit one of those either! I haven't quite got the hang of what happens at the intersections with traffic lights. It does seem as if the traffic is good at giving way to cyclists and pedestrians crossing the side roads when the lights are at green. I guess maybe they have to give-way.

I bought a 3-day tourist pass for the Metro and set about exploring the downtown area on parts of the walking tours suggested by the Montreal tourist guide. Cities are always seem quite expensive if you are on a limited budget (the lure of the latte!) so I can see I will be subsisting on a SUBWAY diet while I am out and about.

When I returned to the hostel there seemed to be a group of pre-shave age British lads preening in front of the mirrors ready for a night out (When did boys become like girls? Is it the Beckham effect?) so I went out for a couple of beers (expensive here) to help me sleep and went to bed early to try to get some sleeping done while I could. The lights in the dorm room seem to be on a timer that turns them off at the 'quiet time' of 10:30 pm.

Distance: 50.5 km
Cycling time: 2:57
Total distance: 6666.6 km (Spooky)