Will this September be the best September of your life?
Yes or no, the answer is to get outside for some September Adventures.
Inverness is on our destination radar. We had three immensely great rides here two years ago. We have wanted to go back ever since. These were three of our best rides ever. Going back again has not been the priority it should have been, so this year we're going back!
The area we want to explore is, broadly speaking, is the triangle of Victoriaville, Plessisville, and Thetford Mines. It is really beautiful countryside. The geographic tendency is mild Appalachian hills, forests, fields, and villages. Over hills as opposed to along rivers.
The first road between the then-capital of Canada, Quebec City, and the US was built through this area and that road exists today in the Chemins Craig and Gosford. These are also amazing cycling roads.Craig hill is memorable, and you can see Mont Ste-Anne on a clear day.
There are not too many villages in Quebec that are located on top of a hill. Three we know of are St-Malo, St-Clement, and Vianney. The hilltop village of Vianney is located in the Inverness area. Vianney is 6.5 km from St-Ferdinand/Bernierville. That distance is is made more entertaining by the 1100 ft drop in elevation. The road was new when we last rode here two years ago, so it's going to be a good ride. Which we think you will upgrade to "great ride" if you try it yourself. Note that only the road from Bernierville is paved. Roads from the west (i.e. Rt 263) are not paved and will be be super
ultra rugged.
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Vianney, a tiny hilltop village, has one of our favorite descents |
There are a few special attractions in the area and in he surrounding region: Inverness bronze museum for one.There is a tourism route called la Voie Celtique (The Celtic Way). This route visits memories of the celtic roots of this area during the first wave of irish/british immigration to Canada. Migrating bird festival in Danville. Cranberry festival in St-Louis de Blandford. Looking inside the giant hole in the ground that is the abandoned open pit mines at Black Lake or Asbestos: both have excellent scenic outlooks and these are colossal holes in the ground.
The recent and wonderful Velomag cycling guidebook "Quebec en 30 Boucles" has two rides in this area. Plessisville is the starting point for one of the rides, and this one can be modified to include the Vianney hill.
Here's links to the ride reports of our three
august and
september 2010 visits to this amazing region. You might have to scroll down the page a bit, but there are plenty of pictures as your reward.
No matter what your destination, get everything you need packed the night before, and get up early and go ride someplace new and fantastic and ultimate. Do it!