One thing I must say about Montreal is that the people here seem among the most outdoors-active municipalities I’ve seen. I think Madison, WI, is more so, and that’s not even per capita. But there’s a great deal of the island that is heavily bikeable, kayakable, canoeable, or hikeable. Unlike Manhattan, there is a lot of the island that isn’t really city (although technically, the entire island was annexed to the municipality in the late ’90s).
A couple of weeks ago, I drove out to Ste. (with an e because she’s a she) Anne de Bellevue with my bike in the car, parked in the free municipal lot (!!) and suited up for a ride. The town itself is a cute little neighbo(u)rhood, but my goal was not the town (especially after realizing how little, howsoever cute, it is), but rather the Cap St-Jacques park. I don’t know – it was a pretty day, I wanted someplace semi-exotic but not too far (vis the trip to Magog, back in February), and it seems like biking is a good way to see the area.
Once you get out of the city of Ste. A-de-B, past the canal lock, it gets very quickly estate-y and semi-rural as you slip into the town of Senneville. Just past the power station and the gas depot, I was completely surprised to see that there was not only ar-able farmland but ar-ed farmland ON THE ISLAND. I don’t think Manhattan’s had that since the late 1800s. The first farm I saw was an organic farm whose barn was a big silver semi-buckyball, which was pretty cool. The fields begin on the right side of the road, with horses standing patiently in pastures, and the occasional flock of sheep; while on the left side of the road (the side with properties that front onto the water) begins a series of enormous, in most cases really beautiful mansions. Not Potomac or even Bel Air McMansions, but big graceful houses set far back from the road across broad green lawns, sometimes with high walls surrounding, and with swaths of unobstructed water access. [Mmph - sorry, I was drooling again.] What makes it nice for biking as well is that there are speed bumps every kilometer or so, so that bikers doing 15-20 mph don’t get driven off the side of the road by freely-flowing cars. Eventually, I got out to the Parc CStJ, which is well worth another visit. There are roads and paved bike/hike-only paths, which was nice. There are several places to access the water: a sandy swimming beach in a wooded cove, a water-access place for canoes etc., and various waterfront accesses to just sit and watch the waves coming in.
Of course, I had a brilliant idea to load up a movie with sound and everything of the waves coming in but we are temporarily experiencing technical difficulties.
There are some pretty buildings in the park as well, including a small castle and something that looks like a gingerbread house out on a promontory, which would be a most excellent place to have a party, in my humble opinion. But a party for people you like, you know? They have bigger party spaces, too. Next to the organic farm. Sort of like my sister’s recent wedding, but also really not. Hm.
One thing that I do enjoy tremendously in this land of hypothetically-multiple-language-signage is when I find curious signs that allow funny interpretation. I’ll ask you to contribute your suggestions for captions for these:
And next post: Iles de Boucherville.
