Best route along La Route Verte from Montreal to Quebec City?
I'm doing a bike/camping trip from Montreal to Quebec City along La Route Verte in a bit less than a week, but I haven't exactly pinned down a good route. I'd prefer to bike along the river, but I'd also like to avoid any major roads and try to stay along a more nature/scenic route. I can't seem to get the map on Route Verte website to work and it's probably a bit too late to get the Velo Quebec book on time. Would anybody have any suggestions on a good route and perhaps some interesting spots? It would be greatly appreciated!
Most people would say the best route is highway 138 on the north shore, which happens to be the Route Verte #5. It's a major highway with shoulders but relitively quiet since the parallel highway 40 takes up most of the traffic. IMO, the best part is between Trois-Rivières and Donnaconna. I like to ride on the south shore from Montreal up to Sorel (ferry) but there's a 12-15km stretch that really sucks on highway 132 because of high traffic, lack of shoulder and really bad pavement. Maybe they fixed it.
I biked most of it and it's quite nice. Some is actually another Route Verte (#8?). From Rivière-à-Pierre to Quebec City, it's bike trail from nature to downtown Quebec City.
A completly different route would be inland on the south shore, almost all on bike trails, mostly rail-trails, usually on Route Verte #1. It does get a little boring except around the Eastern Township section. It looks a bit like this but Google Maps is missing many many trails. For exemple, between Richmond and Levis, it's one very straight rail-trail.
Thanks a lot for the info, ended up taking route #5 with some detours and it was beautiful! I'm definitely heading back some day to try the other routes, especially around the Gaspe Peninsula.
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