Here are five bike picnic destinations in and around Montreal Island

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Montreal has made major strides in recent decades toward becoming one of North America’s most bike-friendly cities. Summer and fall are great seasons to explore the island and beyond by bike, so why not pack a picnic in your pannier and head out on a cycling adventure?

Here are some ideas for bike picnics on or near the island that are all accessible by scenic bike-path routes … because on two wheels, the journey is as important as the destination.

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Lachine

At the western end of the the canal of the same name, Lachine offers great potential for bike picnic destinations.

If you are coming from the west, you can follow the scenic bike path along the lakeshore. From downtown, take the Lachine Canal path to its western end at Lac St-Louis. If you start at the Old Port, you will ride 14.5 kilometres along a picturesque, although often very busy, bike path. The route highlights the canal’s history as Canada’s “cradle of industrialization,” with many former factories transformed into swanky condo developments. You can stop at the Atwater Market to grab some fresh picnic fare, then head onward to Lachine. When the canal ends, keep going along the path onto the green peninsula known as René-Lévesque Park.

There is an official picnic area with tables, but you can choose any spot along the water to sit on the grass and enjoy beautiful views of Lac St-Louis, the South Shore and the Mercier Bridge. This park boasts one of the largest open-air sculpture gardens in eastern Canada. From here, you can see the future site of Lachine’s much-anticipated New Waterfront Park, another peninsula park expected to open in 2027 or 2028. The borough is transforming a former marina into a more accessible, year-round public park offering non-motorized water activities like swimming, paddle-boarding, canoeing and kayaking. Over the next few years, the borough will take down some decrepit buildings, perform environmental impact studies, stabilize and restore the shoreline and add walkways, bridges and docks.

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Another good option for picnicking in Lachine is Noel Spinelli Park on the lakeshore between 21st and 24th Aves. There are picnic tables, a pergola, chaises longues and swings. On Wednesday evenings throughout the summer, the borough offers a free concert series called les Pique-niques musicaux.

River ride

From the Atwater Market footbridge, follow the bike path to École secondaire Monseigneur Richard, then south to the river. You’ll pass Arthur-Therrien Park with its football field, baseball diamond and public outdoor swimming pool.

You can stop for a swim there or continue a little farther to Verdun’s very popular urban beach. This sandy beach opened in 2019 and on hot days it has proved almost more popular than its modest size can accommodate. Although many people jump into the St. Lawrence River from docks or sandy stretches all along the river, some prefer the urban beach, as it has lifeguards and a breakwater to calm the strong current.

After the beach, continue westward along the bike path, taking in the breathtaking river views, maybe stopping at the belvederes, observation areas and docks. You’ll pass Verdun’s Dancing Terrace, where you might pause to watch a salsa, tango, line dancing or zumba class.

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Parc des rapides in LaSalle would be an excellent picnic stop. More than 225 species of birds have been spotted at this 30-hectare park, home to the largest heron colony in Quebec. It is part of a larger bird sanctuary protected by the federal government, the Île aux Hérons Migratory Bird Sanctuary, a 631-hectare area that encompasses most of the Lachine Rapids. Established in 1937 to protect a great blue heron nesting site, the sanctuary includes several islands and islets — Chèvres, Herons, Les Sept Soeurs, Diable and Île à Boquet — visible from the Parc des Rapides.

You’ll have to lock your bike at the entrance to this peninsula park, which is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and explore on foot. After the picnic, it’s worth continuing southwest along the bike path another kilometre to the Vague à Guy (Guy’s Wave), where you can pause to watch surfers ride an “eternal” wave, a natural static wave caused by underwater rock formations.

Îles de Boucherville Park

This provincial park is made up of five islands just a few kilometres off the southeastern shore of Montreal. To get there by bike, you take a short river shuttle, operated by Navark, either from the Yvon-Julien dock in the South Shore community of Boucherville (445 Marie-Victorin Blvd.) or from the Promenade Bellerive dock in the east Montreal neighbourhood of Mercier (8500 Bellerive St.). Both docks are reachable by scenic bike path routes; either the Jacques Cartier Bridge bike path to the dock in Boucherville or the Notre Dame St. bike path to Mercier.

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It is recommended to buy an access pass to the park online to ensure you get in on busy days ($10 per adult, free for kids). Once on the islands, you can bike around or lock your bike and rent a canoe, kayak or paddle board to explore the channels separating the islands. There are gorgeous views everywhere you look and birds and wildlife aplenty to observe, although fewer white-tailed deer since the province held a cull last fall due to overpopulation.

Plage de l’Est

If you’ve never ventured to the eastern tip of the island on your bike, this beach destination is an excellent excuse to explore the much-improved bicycle routes out to Bout-de-l’Île Park. You can take the Notre-Dame St. bike path, which eventually leads you down and along the river, then to quiet neighbourhood bike paths through Pointe-aux-Trembles and Bout de l’Île. Or you can ride along Gouin Blvd. on the north shore of the island, equally scenic with its views of the Riviere-des-Prairies.

Stop for a break at Parc nature de l’Île de la visitation, with its historic mills and pretty belvedere. The bike path goes through the Coulée-Grou regional park, and then it’s just two more kilometres to the beach. The Plage de l’est is a 1.2-hectare waterfront park with a pebbly beach, picnic area, two beach volleyball courts and a pavilion with bathrooms and outdoor showers. There is a raised, illuminated concrete walkway that leads to an observation deck to take in views of the river and nearby Île Ste-Thérèse.

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This beach project has been in the works since 2006 and the idea is to one day allow public swimming, but water quality is a problem. The borough of Riviere-des-Prairies—Pointe-aux-Trembles is working to correct crisscrossed pipes from many residences that send untreated wastewater into the river. With about 170 pipes reversed so far, water quality is gradually improving, but not swim-ready just yet.

Another problem is that the sediment at this part of the river is contaminated with gasoline due to its former use as a marina. The federal government is concerned that decontaminating the sediment would interfere with the habitat of an endangered species of fish, the copper redhorse. The borough is determined to push on with the project and believes decontamination will restore the habitat of the copper redhorse over the long term. It is collaborating with researchers at Espace pour la vie and the Biodôme to find solutions.

Ste-Catherine RécréoParc

This nine-kilometre linear park in the Montreal suburb of Ste-Catherine is connected to Montreal via a 14-km bike link in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. The link is car-free and the width of a regular roadway, with great views on both sides. You can access it from the ice bridge (or Estacade) parallel to the Champlain Bridge or via the bike routes that connect Île Ste-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame. At certain times of the year, flying insects can make the ride unpleasant (wear glasses and a light face cover). Once you get to the RécréoParc, you can enjoy a swim at a constructed beach (for a small fee), more great cycling along linked bike trails and many excellent picnic spots.

mlalonde@postmedia.com

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