St. Lambert

 

Monday July 29, 2013

Today was the day we had planned to pick up a rental car, check out of the hotel, then go to Ottawa.  We were enjoying Montreal so much, we had to stay another day.  Still had to pick up the previously booked rental so off I went to the airport on my motorcycle.  A word about Montreal drivers.  The people we met and talked to were all so friendly and accommodating, but, put them behind the wheel of a car and look out!!  I was only doing 90 in a 70 kph zone and apparently not going fast enough.  Some asshole cut me off, missed me by inches then sped off only to be seen again in a minute stuck in traffic.  I voiced my displeasure. 
I got hopelessly lost looking for the Avis head office in Dorval, where my sister-in-law Sandra so graciously set up the rental, that I had to call the manager where he arranged one of his employees to come and get me.  With rental car and trusty GPS in hand we set off to St. Lambert, where I grew up.  Although I'd checked out my old house on Google Street-view, I hadn't been back in 44 years.  St. Lambert is situated right across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, about 15 minutes away.  Crossing a bridge to get there, you go over the old site of Expo 67 where many of the pavilions still stand. 

 

For some reason I was very nervous about going back.  I have these memories of my old neighborhood that I wanted to keep intact.  I was under the impression, back then, that St. Lambert was a neighborhood for lower income families.  If it was then, it's certainly not now.  This was an amazing, beautiful area of mature trees, wonderfully restored brick homes and quiet streets; an oasis of calm surrounded by a bustling metropolis.  Tina was blown away.  We walked into the town center greeted by quiet streets with quaint cafe's and independent shops. I'm so glad I went back.

 

 

My old house, 289 Stanley. 



Large balconies and lots of trees

After wandering around showing Tina what little I could remember, we set off to our next destination; Olympic Parc.  The Olympics were a huge financial disaster for Montreal and nothing exemplifies that more than the Olympic Stadium, coined "The Big Owe"  Since the Expo's left town and the Alouettes play at McGill Stadium, this big white elephant sits empty most of the time and is in badly need of repair.  

Even the Olympic swimming pool isn't used.

 

We left the park moments before a huge rainstorm hit, sat in a traffic jam for an hour, parked the car back at the hotel and wandered back to St. Catherines. 

 

Thoughts about Montreal:  Amazing vibrant city full of history and culture.  Except for the traffic, I loved it.  Bicycles were everywhere.  There were racks all over the place where you could deposit some money a take a bike and leave it where there's another rack. Old Montreal was wonderful.  Very little traffic was allowed with many streets closed off to any traffic.  The shops were all boutiques with no chain stores allowed.  Art galleries and restaurants were everywhere.  I'd go back. 

 

The Charm of Old Montreal

Sunday July 28, 2013

Tina and I started yesterday scouting out the old part of the city.  Our hotel was situated only a block away.  Very handy to come and go.  The best way we figured to see the city was to take one of those open top double-decker buses.  The tour lasted a couple of hours and went around old Montreal, downtown and up to Mount Royal.  Good choice. 

Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal



An exhibit by Chihuly.

 Alice, do you remember this same Seattle Artist when you and Tina were in London?

The "Big Owe" from Mount Royal

Tina trying to get into a building full of naked men, apparently.

 

After the tour, we wandered up to St.Catherines, the shopping hub.  Miles and miles of shops and restaurants.  We had dinner in a very popular brew pub called "Les 3 Brasseurs".  Good beer and good food.

 

 

Quite the healthy meal of Poutine and homemade Flammekueches washed down with a raspberry ale.  (Andy's rolling his eyes right now)

 

There's always a festival happening here.  Unfortunately, we just missed the "Just for Laughs" week-long festival.  They were just tearing down all the sets when we came across it.  The current festival was  celebrating "Gay Pride".  We gave it a miss.

 

Montreal

Saturday July 27, 2013

I managed to get the motorcycle going by cleaning the battery and lubricating the switch that prevents the bike from taking off if the kickstand is down.  I decided to hit the AutoRoute and head straight into a Honda dealer in Montreal.  I plugged in the address into my somewhat trusty GPS and set out.  What a nerve-racking experience driving in a city you don't know with signs you can't read. After a few wrong turns, I found the dealer.  Yeah!  But it's closed on Saturday!!  Seriously?  I wasn't about to go looking for another dealer so I decided to head to the hotel; Delta Centre-Ville. 

I got settled in around 2 but Tina wouldn't be arriving until 7:30 so I set off to scope out the neighborhood.  For some reason I was immediately drawn to the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens.  Without Tina with me, what a great opportunity to see the Habs "Hall of Fame".  She would have been bored, the same way I am when she drags me into shops. 

A bit of my past.  I lived in Montreal, actually in the suburb of St Lambert,  from the age of 5 to 13.  I idolized the Canadiens so visiting this shrine brought back memories.   

 

After the tour, I was getting a bit peckish.  What luck, a huge bar and grill in the Bell Centre dedicated to the Habs.  Great meal!  Not sure what I had but it tasted as good as it looked in the menu picture.  Also a beer to wash it down.  Maybe two since Tina won't be here for hours.  Time to roll on so when the waitress asked, what I thought was "would you like your bill?" and I answered yes, what she really asked was if I wanted another.  I then wandered back to the hotel for a nap.

 As for the motorcycle, I'm thinkin that a few days ignoring it in an underground parkade will do it good. 

I wonder what all those signs say?

  The day started off cool and cloudy and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the day.  As usual, I scouted out the side roads.  I found one that paralleled the TCH (Autoroute) but first I had to endure relentless road construction as soon as I hit the Quebec border.  I picked up Hwy 132 which follows the St. Lawrence River all the way to Montreal.  It turned out to be a popular tourist route with me and about 1000 other motorcycles.  It's also a popular route with cyclists being fairly flat and with short distances between towns. 

I stopped at the very trippy town of Montmagny to grab some lunch.  This posed a challenge.  All the signs, of course, are in French, no English at all.  I chose a nice looking "Bistro" that, for all I know, the sign could have said "the most expensive Bistro in town"  Most of the entrees were priced from $17 - $27, all of which I didn't have a clue what they were.  I asked the o-so-cute server what was the entrée priced at $9.99.  She said in broken English, Fish & Chips.  Done, I'll take that. 

 



Along the route there were countless rest stops with info signs telling you what you were looking at.  The scenery was good but I had no idea what the story was. This stop was some sort of wetlands with some shipping history thrown in.

 



Amongst the many various motorcycles, I saw dozens of Can Am Spyders which does stand to reason since they're built in Quebec by Bombardier.

Can Am Spyder

I continued along Route 132 by-passing Quebec City.  It was starting to get late and beginning to spit out so, once again, I went looking for a motel.  I spotted the Manoir de Tilly in the town of Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly which advertised $99 avec petit déjeuner.  Unfortunately, they were full but the Front Desk girl suggested I try the Econo Lodge up on the highway.  This is where things started to go wrong.  I couldn't get my motorcycle started.  It would turn over but not fire.  I had noticed it was getting harder to start during the day.  After trying and waiting for about 1/2 hour, it finally started up.  The Econo Lodge has two sections; a new hotel and a re-furbished old motel.  The only affordable room left was in the "motel" but it was a smoking room.  No choice, so I took it. As soon as I opened the door I was hit by a blast of smoke smell.  Disgusting.  Just then, someone came ripping around the corner and told me to contact the front desk right away. Seems they made a mistake and had already just gave out that room, so to make things better, they put me in a fancy suite with a jetted tub.

All this but it still hasn't solved the motorcycle issue, which, almost didn't start again after checking in.  This motel is in Saint-Apollinaire just off the autoroute.  As luck may have it, right next door and the only other business in site, is a quad/dirt bike/snowmobile dealer.  They were just closing but said they'll take a look at it tomorrow morning.   Failing that, as long as it starts, I'll ride straight to a Honda dealer in Montreal tomorrow, a 2 1/2 hour ride. 

The Fiddlehead Route

Today's plan was to get close to the Quebec/New Brunswick border.  According to my weather app, it's is supposed to be rain-free all day.  That's a whole lot better than I was expecting. 

In order to get from A to B as quick as possible, you would stay on the Trans Canada Highway (TCH).  This is true but it's also the most boring way.  Other than the odd Irving gas station, there isn't much to see.  That's why shortly after I hit the highway, I was looking for alternate routes.  According to my tank bag map, I did notice that there are a number of different roads that parallel the TCH all the way to Edmundston.  The first one I went on, I started to notice an odd sign that was posted at every intersection.  First thing that came to mind was a snail.  I'm thinkin' that this road must be the old highway before they built the expressway. Sooo, if the TCH is the fast way, this must be the slow way; a sort of "snail trail".  I went with that for a while. 

The big advantage to staying off the super slabs, is that you see stuff.  I spotted an exciting sign; Worlds Largest Axe.  I gotta see that.  Only a quick 10 minute detour brought me to Nackawic.

I continued along the "snail trail" until Woodstock. (not THAT Woodstock)  Very pretty town with some wonderful homes.  I stopped into the Info Center to try and solve the "sign" mystery.  The helpful lady told me its a fiddlehead.  I told her that I didn't realize this area was so much into fiddling.  "No, fiddleheads, the fern you eat".  According to Wikipedia, Fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable.

Furled Fronds of a Young Fern

After mentioning to her how excited I was about seeing the axe, she told me I was in for a real treat.  Just down the road was another gem; The World's Longest Covered Bridge. I couldn't believe my luck.  Two in one day!

 

I stayed with the Fiddlehead Route all the way to Edmundston and found a campsite just north of the town.  Even being so close to the Quebec border, I was surprised that all the signs are in French only.  I tracked down the Parc Panoramic.  I was a bit put off seeing that all the trailers were squished in like sardines, however, I decided on a site next to the duck pond. 

Just finished a REALLY good hamburger. 
Tomorrow, La Belle Province.

 

The Best Laid Plans....

Peggy's Cove

Yesterday's forecast for today looked pretty bleak.  It was calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms.  I decided not to continue my plans to catch the ferry to St. John.  After consulting Google Maps, I noticed that Halifax was only 40 minutes away.  The skies looked threatening, so I put on my rain gear ahead of time and head out.  As I approached Halifax, the skies got very gray. It turned out not to be rain but thick fog.  A real pea-souper!  I saw a sign for Peggy's Cove although I'd been there before when Mallory played in the Canada Winter Games.  Due to very windy conditions, the fog wasn't too bad when I got there. 


More Peggy's Cove

Cool bus at Peggy's Cove.  Prevost H3-60.

 

 

I drove around Halifax a bit then decided to start heading my back to Moncton.  It turned out to be a very nice riding day despite the forecast.  Wanda's daughter Sarah offered to put me up for the night in Moncton even though she's still up north working.  It's just me and their dog Mack.

 

Decisions decisions

Yesterday I had the plan to ride from Cape Breton to Digby so I could catch the 8am ferry over to St John, New Brunswick.  I didn't make it that far.  Around 2, the skies opened up, I mean really opened up and before I could stop and put on my rain gear, I was soaked.  Fortunately, it was quite warm so even though I was thoroughly drenched, I wasn't cold.  So I kept on riding.  The route I chose, Hwy 215 from Truro to Windsor, would've been a wonderful road if the sun was shining, but wasn't the best choice, in the rain, as a fast way to Digby.  I had to stop along the way a number of times to ask directions but eventually found my way to the main highway still hours away from my intended destination.  Once again, I gave up.  The lure of a Super 8 was too much.  I dripped my way to my room and proceeded to scatter my wet clothes all over the place.  The heater/ac unit came in real handy. 

I've got 4 more days of riding before I meet Tina in Montreal.  The weather forecast is not looking good calling for rain everyday.  I could swing down to Halifax and kill a day or start slowly heading across New Brunswick.  Either way, it's going to be a wet ride.  I had planned to do a lot more camping but setting up and tearing down my camping stuff is no fun in the pouring rain.  Motorhomes are looking pretty good right now. 

Cabot Trail

The continuous rain and the wind in Newfoundland forced me to decide to head south and catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia.   I booked the 1 am crossing so I had all day and evening to ride from St. Anthony to Port aux Basque.  The morning run was very very challenging.  A relentless cross wind blowing off the Gulf, driving rain and the worry that I'll run out of gas, made the morning ride not too enjoyable.  With my gas tank on reserve I finally came across a gas station that wasn't closed for Church.  The rain finally let up around noon but the wind kept blowing all the way to the ferry terminal.  I wasn't about to ride in the evening (moose!) so I made it to the ferry around 8 for a 1 am departure.  By the time  I finally got settled in to my chair, I was dead tired.

 

Despite sitting up all night, I had a pretty good sleep.  The morning saw sunny skies and little to no wind.  Perfect weather to enjoy the Cabot Trail. 

 

 

 

The west side of the Cabot Trail

I called a co-worker, Bras Ross, who happened to be home at the time, so we arranged to meet and I followed him to his place in Margaree Valley.  He has 270 acres of beautiful hay fields and rolling hills. (He called them mountains)  We had a great dinner with a few too many beers and some great conversation. 

 

Todays plan is to ride down the north (south?) coast of Nova Scotia along the Bay of Fundy then catch a ferry from Digby, NS to St. John, NB.

L'Anse aux Meadows

The day didn't start too well.  Fortunately, the rain tapered from a deluge to a steady drizzle throughout the course of the day.  The focus of the day was to make it to L'Anse aux Meadows, right at the north tip of the North Peninsula. 

L'Anse aux Meadows was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 when, in 1960, evidence was found to prove that this is the only recognized authentic Viking site to date in North America.

Vikings!!

Info Center

Interesting wood carvings along the path

Replica Viking sod hut

Real Viking with an accent that sounded suspiciously Newfoundland.

Living area with yet another authentic Viking. 

 

I'm staying tonight in another motel due to rain.  The Village is called St. Lunaire-Griquet.  It has a couple of restaurants and a really good gift shop, which, since I have limited space to carry stuff, involves just looking.  Andy, please note:  Not a Vikings jersey to be seen anywhere. 

St. Brendan's Motel

 Just down the road within walking distance of the motel was a seafood restaurant that advertised live music.  It turns out the same guy who was a Viking in one of the huts was also the entertainment at the restaurant.  He was very good.  Very enjoyable evening. 

 

A couple of glasses of local beer helped out a bit too.