Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Final leg of my biking day would take me back thru downtown Montreal. I was now on Ile Notre-Dame one of two recreational islands on the south shore.
The park is divided into different activity areas. Along the start where I was is the Montreal Grand Prix race track. It was fenced off so I didnt get to go on it. There is also a fake beach and city buses were bringing people to drop off there.
Next was the Montreal Casino before the bridge linking Ile Notre-Dame to Ile Sainte-Helene. I could see the Biosphere in the distance and there is a theme park with roller coasters but I wasnt interested in any of that.
Pont de la Concorde connects back to downtown. There was a bike lane and very good clear city views in today's weather. On the mainland is a narrow strip of land with strange looking homes facing back to the city. This is Habitat 67 built for the Expo 1967 and are some of the most expensive and prized homes in the city.
I was now in the old warehouse area at the mouth of the Lachine Canal where it connects to downtown. I had biked south the opposite way on the Lachine Canal this morning. Many of the old factories and warehouses are being converted to apartments and retail space, as is happening in many other cities, rejuvenating this once neglected part of town into an upscale trendy neighbourhood.
The bike lane now has many paths so I went back along the waterfront into Old Montreal. I had walked this yesterday so was able to wander more thru the touristy area.
At the eastern end the electric car grand prix was taking place this weekend so lots of road closures. These were formula 1 type cars but run on electric power instead of regular fuel. This was the first year the event was taking place so there was lots of interest.
I made my way round the detours to the Gay Village. This is closed to traffic now and had the street decorated with rainbow lanterns for its entire length several city blocks.
I made it back to boul de Maisonneuve which had bike lanes thru the financial district. One of our brokers was by the McGill University campus so I wanted to check that out. There were several nice old buildings in the main circle.
Heading west the bike lane had a curb which was nice at stop lights so I had somewhere to rest my foot. I made my way past Atwater where I had met another broker yesterday into the Westmount district. The street became single lane and less commercial with larger older homes.
I then detoured south to make my way back to the canal. The old canal warehouse have also been converted into modern apartments and there was a wedding event and photoshoot taking place with the backdrop.
I was back at the bike rental at 600pm after starting 930am this morning so 8.5 hours biking. I tried to plot it on the internet later and it was about 42km.
2025-05-23