Bos/treal Day 5: Mission Accomplished!

102 miles, 1500 feet of elevation.

Today's route: Burlington-South Hero Island-North Hero Island-Arlburgh-Champlain-Canadian Border-Miles of flat Quebecois farmland heading into the wind-Montreal.

Today we began in high spirits, as is evident in the photo below, taken a couple of miles north of our campsite on a bridge over the Winooski River where it empties into Lake Champlain:

From there, we rode to the Island Line Trail Causeway, originally the Island Line Railroad, built in the 1900s to connect the Champlain Islands with the rest of Vermont. I've been on this causeway on warm days when you're dodging walkers and joggers enjoying the spectacular lake views. That was not today--there was a fiendish 20 mph north wind that made the 4 mile ride feel like 8 miles of uphill. Eventually we arrived at "The Cut," a 200 foot gap in the causeway for boaters. Our trusty support team had chartered the Local Motion bike ferry for the day and a five-minute journey brought us to South Hero Island.

Friendly Captain Ed, who has been driving the ferry for 15 years, told me he's seen biking traffic explode recently, having ferried 17,000 customers last summer, mostly bikers.

Already somewhat exhausted by the causeway, we still had 94 miles to go. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. Both South Hero and North Hero Islands are rural and we stayed mostly on West Shore Road to avoid the traffic on Route 2. At mile 46 we crossed a big bridge into New York, where we had lunch before crossing the border.

The border crossing was quick. We each had to individually bike up to the guard window, present our passports, and answer a couple of questions, one of which was to confirm that we were not bringing in any cannabis (even though both medicinal and recreational cannabis are legal throughout Canada).

And then we were in Quebec! For the next 55 miles, we enjoyed lively head winds and lots of farmland:

As we approached Montreal, the scenery, as well as the bike infrastructure, became more interesting. At the city of Sainte Catherine, we entered the Parc linéaire de la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent, a 9 mile long linear park surrounded on either side by the St. Lawrence river.

As you can see, Sam and some others were wearing face scarves because thousands of moths were mating and swarming along the path. From the park to the Champlain Bridge, which has a dedicated 2 mile long bike lane:

And finally, we arrived!