As the pre-winter opportunities for cycling are dwindling with November fast approaching, we decided to brave the elements by riding out to Oka with the return the following day via Hudson and Vaudreuil.
Distance-wise, it was weighted on the second day (50 versus 75) but our choice was dictated by available accommodations, which are pretty limited in the area.
The route was mostly following available bike paths into Laval but then we stuck to the shore road in Laval, which was fine. The only heavy traffic area was along Boulevard Samson (note-when you pick up Samson from Levesque-check out the Restaurant Souvlaki for lunch. It doesn't look like much from the outside but the food is excellent and they even have Greek beer) to get across the 13 but then we turned left at rue Lariviere and picked up the shore road again until we picked up the bike route that crosses into Deux Montagnes and followed it all the way to Oka. We had biked around the Parc d'Oka before but I was surprised at how nice the path was along the whole section from Deux Montagnes to the park; well-maintained and passing mostly through wooded areas.
The only hiccup came just before Oka as we were coming out of the park when we came across a short section of the path that was flooded. As it appeared not too bad, and we didn't relish the thought of doubling back to the road after cycling in the rain for the last two hours, we bravely pedaled on. We got through but not without a couple of wet feet in the end.
Fortunately, our Bnb was just another ten minutes down the way so we were able to peel off our gear and dry off.
The next day we headed for the Hudson/Oka ferry for a trip across the river. With the sun shining and costing only two dollars per cyclist, the ferry ride is a pleasant treat and allows for taking an alternate route back to Montreal.
Hudson is a great little village to visit on a Sunday afternoon and the ride back to the city along the shore was enjoyable with lots of interesting homes to gaze at and views of the lake as we entered Vaudreuil.
On this leg, we had to deal with a bit of traffic again crossing the 40 but then we quickly picked up a bike path (on Boulevard St. Charles, after going over the highway, turn left just pass the IGA) that carried us to Dorion, Ile Perrot and across the Galipeau bridge to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
A very yummy and healthy lunch at Cafe Twigs fortified us for the rest of the ride home. An extremely enjoyable ride with very few high traffic zones and one I would do again, perhaps reversing the direction for a changeup.
October can be windy and wet, but the trade off is the beautiful display of colours. Hard to make out the rainbow in this shot but it was a pleasant addition to the leaves remaining on the trees and seemed to enter right into the local church's cupola.
Normally working buoys in a country where ice covers the waters for a good portion of the year entails getting them in position in the spring and removing them in the fall. However, sometimes they have problems and sometimes they just disappear.
We got a call the other day to replace a buoy in the Beauharnois Canal that had gone from station. As it was a new plastic buoy just deployed this year, I suspected it might have been sunk by a passing ship's propeller rather than its mooring chain failing.
We have a large home-made grappling hook in order to drag the bottom for sunken buoys and moorings. So, we took up station at the buoy position and drifted across the location with the hook scraping along the bottom.
The first drag came up empty but on the second go we caught something.
Once we got the anchor on deck, we hooked on to the chain and raised up the remainder. Turns out we had caught a buoy but not the one we were looking for.
This was an older style steel buoy, which had obviously been at the bottom of the canal for a long time. Knowing the changes in lantern and battery technology, it was clear that this buoy had been under water for over twenty years! Pretty amazing considering the lantern was still attached and it didn't look much the worse for wear except for a buildup of growth.
With our surprise find on deck and out of the way, we tried another drag with our grappling hook. On the very next try we caught the buoy we were looking for.
Well, not much buoy actually left as the plastic body hadn't survived the propeller attack, the counterweights were gone, the plastic lantern had popped off the top portion and the top portion was cut up pretty good and full of water.
Not really the fault of the buoy, but I couldn't help thinking how the old technology buoy could be cleaned up and re-used while the new one was a write-off.
Another casualty to be added to the pile in our disposable world.
