In Praise of Diversity in the Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships offer all the options for cycling enthusiasts, from Sunday rides to tough challenges popular with amateur cyclists. I explore some of this great potential by riding on bike paths, gravel roads and even some pump track curves!
This article first appeared in the excellent magazine Vélo Mag, April 2022 edition.
You will also find a video produced for the webseries of la Route verte at the bottom of the article.
Le Bromont National Cycling Center has multiplied its offer of services and its infrastructures – adding, among other things, a roller track – since it has been under the leadership of Nicolas Legault, this cycling coach who became general manager in 2012 and with whom we have an appointment, my two companions and myself.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games velodrome, moved to Bromont in 2000, was still under construction when we visited, with a view to being replaced by the first indoor velodrome in Quebec, a huge $20 million project. which we plan to complete before the fall of 2022 (NDLA: it is now open!).
The new Bromont National Cycling Center velodrome, before its completion. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
All smiles on the Estriade.
"The Center is for learning to ride a bike," says Nicolas Legault between cross-country trails and high mounds of earth (dirt jumps). And this learning is done from the first pedal strokes to professional training. Center staff organize summer camps and initiation days, in addition to traveling to schools to teach road safety. A group of students is also on site, busy learning the basics of BMX. Guessing my interest, the director lends me the necessary equipment to try this sport myself.
I am immediately charmed by the tight turns and the many bumps of the wave track. Throughout the course, I have to press more on my handlebars than on my pedals with each undulation. The sporting experience imprints on my face, then on that of my friends, radiant smiles and induces an astonishing fatigue for such a short distance.
The beautiful asphalt of the Estriade, near Bromont. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
The horses graze near Bolton-Ouest.
An island strikes its Waterloo
After the night at the Center Cycliste training camp, we set off just north of Bromont on the impeccable tarred road of the Estriade, a magnificent bike path lined with woods and pastures.
After about fifteen kilometers, we cross a culvert at Waterloo giving a view of the lake of the same name. In the direction of la Route verte 1, we cross new residential areas, where we come across Suzanne and her chihuahua, Hispanically named Jack Antonio Pépé Rodriguez Emanuel Alfredo Carlos. Suzanne evokes the story of a strip of land that would have detached a long time ago to become a floating island dotted with a few barns. “As she was walking around and crashing into the docks, it was decided to tie her up. »
Waterloo Lake. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
The Lion of Waterloo
Our trio in the Eastern Townships: Guillaume, Jonathan and Gabrielle. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
We continue towards Stukely-Sud by the chemin de la Diligence, all in gravel. We are obviously surrounded by horses. Passing over Highway 10, I cast a glance at the poor motorists trapped in their steel cage. We head quickly on the asphalt to Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton, where we discover by chance a garden of milkweeds laid out to attract monarch butterflies. On the other side of the street, in front of the town hall, I marvel at a technological antiquity: a white and blue telephone booth from Bell!
Brome Lake, just before arriving in Bolton-Ouest. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
Our friends the donkeys
The sky is colored over Brome Lake as we reach the top of the aptly named Mountain Road climb. After a frenzied descent on gravel, we veer left on Bailey Road and land in Bolton-Ouest, where Christiane Tétreault and Normand Beaudry are waiting for us at Anecdotes.
“In 2014, I trekked in Bhutan and fell in love with my mule,” says Christiane Tétreault, all smiles. The computer scientist then makes the decision to one day own donkeys and live on a farm. This dream will come true in 2019, when he retires and after a long cycling journey that will take the couple from Central Asia to Japan. Their first donkey was the sweet Lancelot, whom I have the good fortune to hug.
The farmers aim for self-sufficiency: they cultivate their garden, enrich the land with their humus from old wood, manure, grass and dead leaves, and grow dozens of vegetables, as well as mushrooms and flowers. edible. In addition to cyclists who are always well received, Christiane and Normand frequently lodge families curious to learn more about donkeys. Walks in the forest in the company of the latter – five nice animals that all have their own personalities – are calming and create an extraordinary moment of sharing with these sensitive animals.
Gabrielle is very fond of donkeys. (Credit Guillaume Milette)
Normand and Christiane, at Anecdotes.
The best of the world in Knowlton
We hit the road the next day for a few kilometers towards the village of Knowlton, where we meet Jeremy Reeves, the curator of the Brome Lake Museum. The young man wears the look of the job: tweed jacket, pocket square and wooden tie clip. Beyond the clothes, it is his contagious passion for history that makes him perfect for talking about the various buildings and exhibitions of the museum, and especially the exceptional German plane dating from the First World War: “Our Fokker D. VII attracts fans from all over the world, boasts Jeremy Reeves. Of the seven copies still remaining on the planet, ours is the one with the highest rate of original parts. » The guide explains that this model of aircraft was considered the best at the time, and that most of them were dismantled by the Allies after the war… in order to understand their mechanism! “It's a privilege to have such an object in front of you every day,” adds Jeremy Reeves, not without emotion. The privilege is coming to an end, since our host will a few weeks later continue his doctoral studies in medieval armor in New York. As I wrote: the real look of the job!
"You should stick...!" »
Credit Guillaume Milette
From Knowlton, we join the chemin de Glen which turns into an exhilarating descent on the rocks of the climb to Baker Pond. Back on a hard surface, we turn south while the great Lake Memphremagog spreads out to our left reflecting the sun like a gigantic mirror, and in front of us rises Mount Owl's Head, whose ski resort is located a dozen kilometers further. Just before reaching it, we bear right towards Potton by the Vale Perkins road, and we stop for the night at Camping Nature Outdoors. There, Serge Lehouillier gently reprimands us: we do not spend enough time in the region to enjoy it properly! "You should stick here a weekend!" supports the one who regularly welcomes kayaking aficionados on the Missisquoi River.
In the morning, we climb the superb and somewhat vertical Scenic Road – a popular climb among road cyclists – before descending with a bang towards Sutton. It is in this city that we meet Lyne Bessette, former cyclist and then federal deputy. Not far from the stretch of la Route verte which bears her name, she tells us that she now drives more often on gravel roads, which are much quieter and ubiquitous in the Eastern Townships. “It's certain that the hills here have made me a seasoned cyclist,” she says, squinting her eyes with happiness.
Of all the colors
We return to Bromont by Chemin de la Vallée and Chemin de Brome. On the wide shoulders, we pass dozens of groups dressed as much in elastane as in cotton. At the destination, the streets of the city are crowded with cyclists who have come to enjoy this early summer weekend. On a considerable proportion of the roofs of cars rise proudly on the horizon road, gravel and mountain bikes.
The road here is more than green. It unfolds in asphalt, gravel, earth, and even wood in the new velodrome. In the Eastern Townships, the cycling landscape comes in many colors.
Landmarks
Itinerary: 146 km in three days. See on Google Maps.
Elevation: 1400m
MY GOOD ADDRESSES
- Le Bromont National Cycling Center (400, rue Shefford, Bromont) rents BMXs and mountain bikes and teaches these two disciplines.
- À Anecdotes (107, chemin Bailey, Bolton-Ouest), you will share the daily life of adorable donkeys.
- Le Brome Lake Museum (130, rue Lakeside, Knowlton), managed by the Brome County Historical Society, houses the original house of Paul Holland Knowlton and presents several interesting exhibits in its complex, including those relating to the First World War.
- Le Camping Nature Outdoors (2733, chemin de la Vallée-Missisquoi, Potton) and its friendly staff offer kayaking tours for everyone on the Missisquoi River, under the rays of sublime sunsets.
- To the Green Devil (169, chemin Staines, Sutton) provides unique accommodation in nature, including tree houses.
- La town of Sutton has traced various tourist circuits to follow by reading explanatory signs or with the help of free audioguides.
The good world of la Route verte is a 10-episode web series, which I produced for Vélo Québec. All episodes are available for free here.
Impossible to miss the vast Gatineau Park which, on the map of the Outaouais, expands like smoke from a campfire. By combining it with the cycle paths of la Route verte, I was drawn to its many trails, lakes, and stretches of forest that seemed to invite me personally.