West of Montreal flatland ride

West of Montreal in the far reaches of the Monteregie is the little triangle of land btween the Ottawa and St-Laurence rivers and the Ontario border.

This is an attractive area for cycling. There is the excellent Canal Soulange bike path (with the Parc des Ancres anchor park with a Soulanges Canal museum at Point aux Cascades), the bikes-and-pedestrians ferry at Les Cedres across the St-Laurence to St-Timothée, a ride through or around valleyfield (maybe by the Beauharnois canal bike path), and tons of quiet and flat roads between the St Laurence and the Ottawa rivers.

My ride took in all these things, and since it was a flat land ride, there were no exciting descents to coast and recover). In other words, nonstop pedalling, which taught my calf muscles that flatland is about endurance and, well, endurance!

I rode these west-quebec flats through st-Polycarpe and up to St-Justine de Newton, and almost as far north as Rigaud.

It was a fine summer day, sunny and warm, and a great ride for seeing some of non-urban Quebec and not too far from Montreal.