Day 3

Knowlton to Sherbrooke (45 miles)

Wednesday, the shortest day of the tour, was my favorite for sight-seeing, even though it rained most of the day. The route was hilly to make up for the short distance, but there were no climbs as hard as the steep one the day before. About sixteen miles along we reached a crossing for the town of Austin. I didn’t see a town, just a few buildings and a gas station, and an odd exhibit of a model of the sun with a plaque describing it, like someone’s science project. After riding in the rain so much we had to stop to admire and take photos.

This intersection is also the turn-off for a side trip to l’Abbaye de St. Benoît, a tall, handsome stone building. The monastery houses about fifty monks who practice the Benedictine tradition of meditation, study and manual labor. Though they are cloistered, they keep orchards and produce popular cider and cheeses.

The skies began to clear a bit after we left the monastery, riding past orchards and vineyards. I caught some nice views of Lac Memphrémagog through the trees, though a rainstorm blew in at our rest-stop on a bluff above the lake. From there we rolled downhill into the town of Magog, about twenty-seven miles along.

Magog is kind of an artsy village at the end of the lake, with nice paved bike and pedestrian paths among trees and lawns and the sandy beach, and a board walk leading in to the town center. I put away my rain jacket here, and we stopped for lunch at a bistro/bar across from a little park and the town bike shop. I would have liked to look around town more, because I like artsy-fartsy places with nice cafés. Unfortunately, the street and sidewalks were narrow, with parallel parking on both sides, and some construction work in progress. Mid-day car traffic was backed-up and slow, and despite new bicycle amenities, drivers didn’t seem to have much patience for sharing the road with a line of cycle-tourists.

With afternoon sun we followed quieter country roads along the Magog River to Sherbrooke. The last mile or two entering the town didn’t seem too welcoming, since Sherbrooke is the center of business and industry in the area. There were shopping centers and wide multi-lane streets with fast traffic, a couple of steep pitches of a hundred feet or so, and some railroad tracks to cross to get to the hotel. But once there we set our shoes outside to dry and settled into lawn chairs on the walkways outside our rooms, enjoying a little sun and the warmth of the parking lot blacktop, watching the clouds and momentary sprinkles of rain. There were nice restaurants and two bike shops close by, and the motel served a good breakfast in the morning.