Take your pick: adrenaline packed or slow and contemplative?
Published on Jul 26, 2021
Mea culpa! Although I’ve covered thousands of kilometres since the beginning of my cyclo-tourism “career”, riding on the Eastern Townships’ section 1 of the Route Verte, linking Richmond, Danville and Warwick hadn’t made it on my list yet. I should have explored this circuit much earlier… I was delightfully surprised!
By Yvan Martineau
This linear itinerary covers 39 km, so a 78 km round trip. My friends and I also decided to take a side road, adding another 6 km that took us to Kingsey Falls, its waterfalls and the Parc Marie-Victorin’s botanical garden. Absolutely blissful! I strongly recommend these stops, although the overall outing will total 90 km. We have nothing but pleasant memories of this winding and hilly segment taking us across several wooded areas and clearings. Throughout the route nature interpretation panels describe the different tree essences found here. And at the end, the Parc Marie-Victorin welcomes us.
We began our ride at the Richmond train station. The enchantment begins as soon as we start pedalling along the old railway route, surrounded for quite a while by trees with their branches forming a canopy over our heads. The play of light and shade is always very delightful in a setting like this. Then, farms and agricultural fields add to the charm of the landscape. “We’re going to come back next autumn, it will be magnificent with all the broad-leaved trees and the beautiful hills,” say Sylvie and Bruno who are accompanying me.
Halfway between Richmond and Warwick, we pause at the Danville halt, which houses both the tourist information office and the regional cycling centre. Having trouble with your equipment? No worries, the mechanics can take care of all kinds of bike problems. Some RV and caravan drivers park here to start their outing from this point. An old railway car reminds us of the importance of this means of transportation for the development of the local communities. If you want to leave the trail for a while, Burbank Pond has walking paths that are famous for their bird-watching, with over 200 species to admire.
After Danville, we enter the Bois-Francs territory. I must mention the quality of the rest areas throughout, and this special feature: at each of the stops, we’re informed of the distance to cover before reaching the next ones. This is great for determining whether we should snack right away or if we have enough energy left to reach the next halt.
At 1.2 km from the final destination of the day, a good idea would be to stop at the Rivière des Pins rest area. Its bridge overlooks the river and a waterfall. Both the natural scenery and the cycling route layout are superb.
And then we find ourselves in Warwick where we head to the old train station to enjoy our picnic. Oh, but no! Instead, we let ourselves be tempted by the poutines of the Fromagerie Victoria Warwick restaurant! We could also have opted for Lampron steak and grill and its food truck… Or we could also have purchased some cheese from the Lemay family’s Fromage Warwick, cheese factory.
In short, although some bicycle paths set on old railway right-of-ways sometimes test us with their long, slowly ascending slopes, this one doesn’t subject us to any unpredictable conditions. We can easily shift from our need for silence to a need for keeping a certain pace. And because it’s an easy route, I recommend it to neophytes. I must also highlight these two points: since it doesn’t offer very many features, there isn’t a lot of traffic; plus, its rock dust surface reduces the risk of encountering speeding cycling groups. In fact, during my outing I saw many small families enjoying their day feeling totally safe here.
I will definitely return to this lovely sector of the Eastern Townships. However, the next time I come, I’ll start out from Windsor to explore the “Sentier de la Rive,” which follows the meandering Saint-François River all the way to Richmond. They tell me I’ll again be delightfully surprised by what I discover.
Suggested starting point: The Old Train Station in Richmond 739, rue Principale Nord, Richmond
For a shorter route: The parking lot of the Tourism Information Office and the Danville regional cycling centre 39, rue du Dépôt
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