gazette travel section "Short Hops"

The Gazette travel section Short Hops feature by David Johnston has restated for the 2009 summer season.

This is one of the few reasons to buy the gazette, and it is a very good reason. This feature explores visiting areas beyond the bridges of Montreal island, to the many interesting and scenic locales our fantastic province has to offer us.

Today's feature is on a bicycle/barge (the floating hotel variety, not the bulk-commodities type) trip company which operates along the St-Laurence. It also has a nice map and article on the bicycling in the "Suroit" region which is west/upriver from Montreal and on and around the island(s) of Valleyfield.

There are some improvements in 2009 to the cycling in the Suroit, including a minivan shuttle to get across the non-bike-friendly bridges south of Valleyfield which is essentially the bike path along the Beauharnois Canal. On the north shore of the Valleyfield island/archipelago the Les Cedres bike ferry is in operation again this year. Doing a bike ride along the canal des Soulanges and St-Timothée with the bike ferry in the middle is fun, and in the summer, on the water, well, it's totally fabulous.


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In your local urban ride department, the Gazoo also had a feature today on Art Deco-era buildings in Montreal. There are many Art Deco jewels in the Montreal urban environs, and a bike is a great way to visit them. A book on Montreal Art Deco, "Northern Deco" is available in local libraries.