The day begins in the home of Benoit Charlebois and his wife Anna Maria. While I am deep in sleep, Benoit prepares a wonderful breakfast complete with items normally one would find on the breakfast table in Colombia. Yum.

I make my way to the cafe Santropol in Montreal for a gathering of alumni over lunch. As always it was inspiring to hear about what they are doing. I also get to understand more about what is behind the student protests in Montreal. I learn that it is much more than about tuition fees. Over a few hours, about ten alumni drop by. Including alumni from other UWCs, spanning about four decades. Several had never met before so it was a good way to connect them with each other.

It is mid afternoon before I start cycling out of the city. Again, I have set myself a challenge to see if I can get to Quebec City, about 300 kilometers away, in two days.

It takes me what feels like forever to get off the island of Montreal. It is much longer than I think but all the way I follow a dedicated bike path. I do finally leave the city on a bridge with a special lane for bikes and begin following the north shore of the St Lawrence River and La Route Verte.

It is dark by the time I get to Berthierville. I did manage to get in one hundred kilometers even though I left Montreal late in the day. And I realize in my effort to make some reasonable distance, I hardly took out my camera all day.

I did manage a few shots of the river as the sun was setting.

And one looking west after the sun fell below the horizon.

Stats – for Thursday 26 July 2012

Start: Montreal
Finish: Berthierville
Distance: 100 km
Time on Bike: 5 hrs 25 min
Average Speed: 18.4 km/hr
Distance to Date: 6,125 km