Bonjour de Saint Jean sur Richelieu!

September 15, 2023

South Burlington VT to Saint Jean sur Richelieu QC

My host David dug out some old maps for a bike route I should follow up to Rouses Point NY. It comprises the two hero islands, Alburgh, and a bridge over to Rouses Point. There, I’ll pass customs into Quebec and head along the river and farm country to a bike hotel in Saint Jean sur Richelieu.

My host David is giving me the tour of Burlington

LocalMotion is a non profit bike advocacy group that makes all the Burlington paths and bike ferries a reality. I added a sticker to the growing collage on my bike

About 8 miles out of Burlington the path becomes this surreal bike causeway with water on both sides. It’s just for bikes and pedestrians there is no road at all. Apparently they hauled lots of stone (some marble too as I understood?) from nearby mines to make the base.

It looks like it’s from a dream and curves off into the unending distance. My photography skills are not doing it justice.

after the causeway, one must take a small bike ferry. There’s a 200 meter long gap in the path to allow boats through. It wasn’t clear to me why a draw bridge didn’t solve the problem but that’s okay. The ferry was fun.

The morning was a bit slower than my usual pace but I loved the crash course and history lessons about Burlington. Once I got to South Hero I decided I wanted to start putting some power down for a couple hours and treat it like a Mercer Island ride back in the day. It was just a beautiful place to be just focused on riding and taking it all in.

I actually ran into Benny and Emma for a brief moment- they were taking the ferry to Plattsburgh and following the New York side north so we parted ways again soon.

by the way today I was following David’s paper map.

The rouses point border crossing was actually closed for whatever reason, so there was a 5 mile detour to get to the next open one. No biggie, still was feeling strong at that point. It was exciting to have my first country border crossing by bike ever.

After the detour followed about 24 miles (excuse me, actually 40 kilometers) of country riding. It was equally beautiful to the morning on the islands. At some point a dog chased me but I barked at him and pedaled real fast and managed to get away. Silly dog I don’t want your corn

I am staying in a bike hotel tonight so didn’t worry too much about how tired my legs might get. The hotel is alright but not that different from a normal hotel.

Trying to figure out what I should do tomorrow as Montreal is so close now!

Thanks for reading.

Today's ride: 85 miles (137 km)
Total: 504 miles (811 km)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesThe bike paths into and in Montreal are fantastic. We, being originally from Montreal, recommend visits to St Viateur bagel factory which any Montrealer will tell you are the best bagels in the world, and Schwartz's delicatessen, which is Nirvana for smoked meat fans. Hope you find those 2 places if you are interested and hope Montreal is fun for you. Are you staying a few days or just in and out? We have family we could contact for you if you need help while there.
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8 months ago

Mark BinghamI completely agree with the above... the bicycle infrastructure in Montreal is better than any city I've ever seen. Pretty impressive for a city of 1.7 million people!

I wish I had known about the St. Viateur bagel factory and Schwartz's delicatessen when I finished last year's tour there, but I do recommend trying some poutine while you're there.

Also: thanks for sharing your trip with us!
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8 months ago

John PescatoreBack in 1999, three friends and I did a tour around Lake Champlain and biked up to the Rouse Point border crossing just to take a picture. We didn't have passports but we asked at the US side and then said no problem, go up and take your picture. We did and on the way back the US border person said "No passports? OK, you will have to sit on the Group W bench and wait for the invasive strip search specialist to come in at noon." A little bit of border patrol humor, in the pre 2001 days!
You didn't miss much at that border point - https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/ombt99/day-4-isle-la-motte-vt-to-plattsburg-ny/
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8 months ago

Om KelkarTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI was thinking about staying a couple days! Not sure what the plan is after maybe a short 2-3 day loop before returning to Montreal to catch a train home
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8 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Om KelkarLet us know at shadybrook at shaw dot .ca if you need help from our son/daughter in law.
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8 months ago