The sun is playing with the clouds as we head south on Le P’tit Train du Nord. It’s an easy pedaling day as the trail will tend to be downhill (mostly) and unless we take detours, our mileage should be around 35. We push hard though a forested grotto, which is cool and damp.
A few kilometers outside Mont-Blanc, the trail becomes a thin ribbon of soil running through an open mining pit of gravel and sand. The pit on both sides is deep and massive.
We arrive at a section of trail that has collapsed because of the rain. Navigating around, it will not be the last such damaged section we pass today.
We now are on a long, steady coast downhill. More cyclists start to pass us, headed north. Ted and I line up as traveling abreast is now too dangerous. Unlike our other cycling adventures, there are many families and individuals with saddlebags attached to their bike implying that they, like us, are on a multi-day journey.
We stop at Sainte-Agatha-des-Monts to tour the town a bit and grab a coffee and pastry. It is situated next to a large lake and the houses we pass are nondescript and the Main Street crowded with cars. After passing an impressive church, we make our way back to the safety of the trail.
Rivers and streams are still running fast, high, and loud. This sound will follow us for most the day. Clouds are thickening and it appears that a funnel cloud is moving over the adjacent mountain. We need to keep an eye on the weather.
The trail transitions to stone dust from asphalt giving us a little bit of resistance and making me pay better attention to the road conditions. Rolling down the hill, I almost spin out as I hit a patch of soft material. A few drops of rain reach us under the canopy of trees surrounding us.
A squirrel darts in front of me slamming into my front tire, then bouncing off my ankle before running off into the woods. It appears unhurt.
We stop at an outdoor cafe along the trail in Sainte-Adele for lunch. We are very close to Saint-Sauveur, where we will spend the night, but decide to travel to Prévost for a souvenir stop. Ted and I both purchase shirts.
It’s a short trip back to our exit for Saint-Sauveur. We must get on the road and the final mile is a killer as we have to bike (and walk) over a large hill. Approaching the hotel I look at the odometer and we have biked 265 miles in 6 days. Two days to go.
