Day 9 in Quebec: A bike highway for part of our 73-mile day

In some ways this was our toughest day. Not only was it the most mileage but we climbed about 3,000 feet. And two-thirds of it was in the first 28 miles.

But we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Sunny and comfortable, no rain. So while we had to grind our way up some steep climbs, I at least didn’t feel all hot and sweaty like earlier in the trip.

Some of our route was paved, some on roads with no shoulders, some gravel but not super smooth like day 7. Sone of it was Route Verte 1, some were roads we picked to shorten the miles … and maybe we reduced the climbing?

Magog, on the northern shores of Lake Memphremagog, is lovely. Yes, that’s a ski resort in the distance.

Nessie’s cousin:

About the bike highway… when we got to Waterloo (please don’t start singing ABBA) at mile 32 or so, we saw plenty of cyclists. And then when we got on the trail … one, two, five or six at a time, no more than 39 seconds apart, many in shorts and t-shirts, not bike gear.

What else can you call it but a highway?

So great to see bike trail so heavily used. (Yes, I know it is peak Quebec vacation time. But still.)

Thankfully the trail is striped down the middle so everyone stays in their lane. But each lane looked about a meter wide. And walkers were relegated to the grass. Time to widen the path (if there’s room)!

The trail counter in Granby had already tallied 36,312 cyclists this month. I don’t remember crowds like this when we did a Vermont-Quebec-Canada loop back in 2018! Granby struck us as pretty dull back then, which is why we didn’t make it our stop for the night.

All flat to gently downhill. Thankfully the crowds thinned out after our ice cream break in Granby and especially after we left Route Verte 1 for a regional trail called the Route des Champs.