Take your pick: adrenaline packed or slow and contemplative?
Published on Jul 11, 2022
Well-known television personality, Dominic Arpin has been madly in love with the Eastern Townships for quite some time now. “When you love mountain sports like I do, you’re particularly well served here,” says the host of the TV show Van Aventure.
ByYvan Martineau
Without a doubt, my former TQS colleague Dominic Arpin has the Eastern Townships tattooed on his heart. He and his partner Annie Spencer, who also works in television, own a vacation home in Orford, near the Parc National du Mont-Orford. “In anticipation of buying our cottage, Annie was visiting the interior while I wanted to see the grounds, the wooded area and the surrounding vegetation right away,” he explains.
In addition to trail running, Dominic also enjoys gravel and mountain biking, especially in Bromont. His new hobby? Alpine touring, which he practises at Mount Sutton and Mount Orford during the winter. “The pull of nature is very powerful for me,” says Dominic. “I enjoy the proximity of our national park, the trails for running with my dog and biking or snowshoeing in the winter. I can even access Lake Brompton with my kayak and paddleboard. The best of both worlds, the mountain and the lake.”
The Sentier des Crêtes trail, at the PNMO, which allows him to reach the Pic de la Roche-Fendue then the Pic de l’Ours, from where you can gaze out over waves of peaks and Lake Stukely.
The region’s mountain bike destinations and gravel routes. “You can see valleys, peaks in the distance, herds of cows and sheep . . . as you ride you feel as if you’re in Provence.”
Among his other favourites, Dominic Arpin recommends the Sutton region, winter and summer, the Brome Lake region and the Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook, where he takes his mountain bike.
For sure, the restaurant Steforno La Fabrique, in Orford, for their pizza baked in a wood-burning oven. And La Rumeur affamée, in Sutton, for their delicious sandwiches that help hikers regain their energy. I must suggest trying their also famous maple syrup pie as well!
My guilty pleasures include the cheese factories and microbreweries of the Eastern Townships,” confesses Dominic. One of my favourite beers is called Pic-de-l’Ours, from the Cantons Brasse microbrewery, in reference to the second highest peak in the Mount Orford massif.”
“I feel so good here, as if I had lived in the Townships in another life,” concludes Dominic Arpin.
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