| Name: | Day 4 Granby - Magog | 
|
| Description: | Thursday had us going from the plains to the hills. The first stretch was a paved path called Estriade going from Granby to Waterloo. Before that we stopped at Velo Gare bike shop - which is at the former rail station in Granby. I picked up a good map of the bike paths in Eastern Townships region. This region was initially settled by English speaking British loyalists from New England, and only in 1870s the frankophone population grew and became overwhelming. Therefore most of the town names are English rather than French. The ride on Estriade was quite pleasant, mostly flat and fast. We got a flat right when we rode into Waterloo, which I fixed and then rode to a nearby bike shop to pump it up well. The local mechanic was very helpful despite not speaking any English. I have to say I was somewhat surprised that many of the locals did not speak much English, or, claimed they don't. Being surrounded by English speaking regions I would have though learning English would be an easy and reasonable thing to do. But, then, a lot of Czechs don't speak any foreign language in spite of English and German now being everywhere as well. Anyway, after fixing the flat we continued onto Montagrade path, which goes further east on local road. The road is dirt for about 1/2 of the way to Stukely Sud and goes up and down some, the same is on the other half which is paved. So, we got some taste of the hills. Then the path goes onto a dirt trail which climbs mildly to Mont Orfort provincial park. This park is located around the prominent Mont Orford mountain and nearby lakes, and with its focus on recreation reminded of US state parks. In the park we ended up getting lost in the campground and just took the paved road through the park, instead of taking the trail. We stopped at the visitors center, had ice cream and then rode out of the park and then up a bit to the base of the ski area at Mt. Orford. From there we rode down to Magog, our destination. The last few miles of the ride went on a road turned into bike/ped path alongside Lake Mephremagog which was quite nice. Then we crossed a small busy bridge over the Magog river and arrived to the motel where we stayed for the night. Ve čtvrtek byl plán vyjet do kopců. Napřed jsme ale asi 20 km jeli po rovině po stezce Estriade z Granby do Waterloo. Hned na začátku v Granby jsme se stavili v cykloobchodě Velo Gare, kde jsem našel dobrou cyklomapu oblasti Eastern Townships - což je část Quebecu u hranic s Vermontem. Tato oblast je zajímavá tím že byla původně osídlena anglicky mluvícími britskými loajalisty z Nové Anglie, a až od 70. let 19. století začali přicházet Francouzi kteří teď zcela převládají. Estriade vede skoro pořád lesem takže byl příjemný stín. Ve Waterloo jsme píchli, po opravě jsem si v místní cykloopravně nechal kolo dofouknout, ochotný mechanik neuměl vůbec anglicky ale domluvili jsme se rukama. To že řada místních se s obtížemi domluví anglicky mě překvapilo, mají sice 20 TV kanálu francouzkých ale i řadu anglických. Prý ale jak v anglo tak i frankofonní Kanadě začínají cizí jazyk (francouzštinu nebo angličtinu) až na střední škole, takže podle toho to pak vypadá. Po opravě defektu jsme pokračovali po stezce Montagrade do parku Mont Orford. Stezka vede po málo frekventované silnici, která vede nahoru a dolů asi 25 km, první půlka je štěrk, druhá je asfaltka. Před parkem jsme přešli na štěrkovou cyklostezku která mírně stoupá do parku. Zde jsem v kempu stezku ztratili a tak jsme po asfaltce sjeli k navštěvnímu centru, dali si zmrzlinu a pak vyjeli kousek nahoru na spodek lyžařského areálu pod Mont Orford. Odtud jsme rychle sjeli do Magogu, posledních několik km vedlo po bývalé silnici, teď jen pro cyklisty a chodce, podél jezera Mephrémagog. Celkem bez problémů jsme našli motel který je přes řeku od centra a bylo to. | |
| URL: | TopoFusion Home Page | |
| ||
| ||
| Total Distance: | 44.84 miles (72.16 km) |
| Total Trip Time: | 5:49:36 (4:08:36 moving time) |
| Total Climbing: | 3263 feet (994 m) |
| Total Descending: | 2949 feet (899 m) |
| Average Speed: | 10.82 mph (17.42 kph) |
