Day 11: Papineauville to Montreal

133km/82m, 7hrs50mins, 17kph/10.6mph, 412m/1339ft of climbing.

Cumulative distance so far, 882km/545m.

Montreal! I had planned to take two days to do the 130-odd km from Papineauville to Montreal, but at lunchtime I felt pretty strong, the terrain was pan-flat and therefore uninteresting as well as easy, and the weather - foul when I started this morning - had turned nice. So, I decided to exert myself and do the whole distance in one shift. Really pleased I did, too. Montreal was the first real goal I had set myself, so to have got here a day early and in good shape feels rather good. And an extra day in Montreal can't be a bad thing.

I am staying at the "Auberge de Jeunesse" - the youth hostel, in our language. Miraculously, there is at least one guest who is even less youthful than me; and by a significant margin. The hostel is excellent, and costs less than most of the campsites charge you to pitch a tent. (Plug for hostelling international - no charge)

For anyone who is eccentric enough to want to do this sort of trip, the section of highway 148 between Thurso and Grenville is the only road I have so far encountered that I would go out of my way to avoid. My friends in the North East will know what I mean if I say it is like cycling the A19. However, at Grenville it completely changes its character, because most of the heavy traffic turns onto the 50; and for the next 30 km or so everything is sweetness and light. After that cycling into the heart of Montreal is like any other big city, but with more red lights; they seem to appear every 100 metres.

As I mentioned, the decision to do the whole distance in one day was made at lunchtime. This was probably influenced by the lunch itself - three courses, including a pea soup you could stand your spoon up in, in a no-nonsense transport cafe on the 148. Very sustaining. $10.20.