Planning your own Bicycle Tour - Part 5 - The Process

So we have our trip concept set, a week long ride from Vermont to Montreal and back. An evening in Chambly is desired and days should be around 40 miles to make the ride enjoyable for my wife.

Information has arrived, maps of the bicycle routes in Vermont and Quebec, a Vermont Camping Guide, “Cycling in Quebec” from Velo Magazine, and a Vermont Vacation Guide.

From this point on the process becomes recursive with each decision interacting and affecting previous decisions. However, we won’t let this process go on too long .

Since my wife will be with me deciding where we will stop each night will be more important than route initially. I need to find spots about 40 miles apart that have acceptable accommodations or camping. I haven’t decided yet if we will camp, that will depend upon what I find for campgrounds near out tentative route.

Another key decision will be where to leave our car for the week. Usually I leave it at a motel or ferry parking lot.

I am also thinking that I may not ride into Montreal but find a place across the river in Longueuil to spend a night or two. This would let us use the ferry (bikes and ferries go together very well) to take our bikes to Montreal and give us the freedom to travel around the city without our bikes. I have done that several times, staying at the Holiday Inn in Longueuil. I think that approach might be much less expensive than staying in Montreal. The current exchange rate has made this a much bigger consideration. Accommodations in Montreal have almost tripled in price for US Visitors during the last few years. Still much less expensive than Boston and NYC, Montreal is no longer the bargain it was a few years ago.

I will need to pick places to stay for the night first and then try to find a parking place that will give us a reasonable first day. Saint Jean sur Richelieu looks like a good place to stop.

So back to the Internet for me as I try to sort out places to stay along the way. When I am done with this process it will all seem simple but for now I am juggling cost, mileage, and route.

Note: I will do a completed route write up at the end of this process and after the trip a route critique.