Day 1 of the Long Walk_Montreal_September 3, 2014

Day 1, 20 kms, done in 4 hours.  It only took us twice as long to walk as to get from our B&B in Richelieu to the start of the walk. We went by car, bus, metro and city bus.

Started at Parc des Hirondelles in what was once Sault-au-Récollet.  I was happy that I noticed the Parc Sault aux Récollets as it explained the origin of the name.  It was in memory of a Récollet who drowned in Rivière des Prairies in 1625. (So 79 years before the arrival of Abigail Nims to the area.)

Half of our walk was along Avenue Papineau. For a while there was grass in the middle of the boulevard and we walked on that.  We were also happy for the shade of the trees. I found three bird feathers and tucked them in my pouch. At kilometre 3, I stopped to make a photo of them with the hand-sized native doll I am carrying.  

 Not a bookstore in sight.  We did find a wonderful Italian bakery to have lunch!  Glad I did not accept anything less.  It appeared at 12:55 pm which was the deadline for lunch. Lots of garderies (daycares along the way too.) 

Also saw no fabric stores.  There was a friperie in a church but Pauline said she wasn't stopping at that point.

Saw 2 police officers as we got to bike path approaching the Jacques Cartier bridge. They were camouflage-type pants except the woman's was pinks and the man's blue!

When I began walking across Jacques Cartier bridge, was when I felt most alive.  And wanted to stay alive.  I could feel and hear the shake of the bridge underfoot and the rails shaking and that was before we got over the water.  The bridge looked tremendous.  The bike trail is alongside the bridge and extends 3.3 kms. On the Montreal side there are houses underneath it: I wouldn't want to live there. The water of the St. Lawrence River had a beautiful green tinge.  We were thrilled to get over the bridge only to see that there was another bridge and it seemed steeper.  The water under the second bridge looked shallow. It was windier going over this part. Between the two bridges we could see Laronde which reminded me of when I was there when I was 16.  As we went along and we started the decline of the path, I felt more self-assured though I had to keep on my half of the path as experienced cyclist whizzed by.

My feet are sore.  Time to get some rest to be ready for Day 2.

Pauline does not seem to worse for wear.  Dean's feet are sore too.  Both retired a while ago.