Our 9 hour uneventful drive landed us in Glen Falls NY. The next day we left the Ramada inn after a French toast breakfast at a great diner off of I-87. Our drive through New York through the Adirondack mountains was scenic with green pine mountain views. We picked up lunch at Lakeside Coffee where we had lunch last year on our bike tour on Lake Champlain at Rouses Point NY . Our border crossing was inconsequential with a nod and a good bye from the border guards. We lost GPS in Canada so luckily had mapped it on google while we had wifi. We did buy a map of Quebec at a gas station–the old fashioned way. We are glad we picked up Canadian dollars back home. We found our hosts for the BnB in Saint Paul D’Abbotsford were gracious, kind and accommodating. Their BnB is a certified Gites, and they had everything ready for our tour–including a nice room, a place for our bikes, and we felt comfortable with our host Gilles’ enthusiastic welcome.
They have hosted exchange students and know how to make people feel welcome. We found out we were in the orchard section of south Quebec and stopped off for fresh apple juice. We started off the next morning for our grand adventure with a hearty breakfast ( Pauline is a great cook) and beautiful packed lunch from Pauline and a sunny day along beautiful bike pathways to Granby. The Granby bikeways are well marked with the Route Verte signs. Vic was even surprised to see a station with bike pump, tools, and a work stand. He’s on vacation yes, but the bike shop followed us! Plenty of local cyclists in this bike friendly region.
We found our way through dappled trees in Parc Yamaska. We had packed gravel To bike on and saw camping sites and tents for cyclists. A nice picnic table awaited us on the path for lunch. We left Route Verte at one point for Le Campanarde, a local bike path which ended in a quaint town Acton Vale. Our next B&B was Maison du Doc. Claude was a most friendly host who stored our bikes and showed us our room. We were in a room named “Dr. Labreque” because this old home used to be the house for a group of obstetricians. Over 1000 babies were born here. We had some beverages in town, sat on the back garden and met a couple from Ottawa. They recommended biking there. Ottawa has money and well marked trails, they said. They were a very friendly couple that Also cycled and were in Acton Vale with their son and grandkids on a visit. Our breakfast next day was fun because of them. They said Quebec people talk fast and used more slang and American pronounciations than the French. Yes we noticed that. They told us that their generation learned English as a second language but today’s kids do not, even though business is conducted in English. The 1960’s separatist movement stopped the emphasis on bilingualism. We found most people spoke a little English but we are using and learning as much French as possible.
Velo Spirits 