maximusvt

Has anyone ridden the route verte to montreal? In a few days I'm gonna set out to bike/camp my way up there from Burlington VT. I can find a few sites about the route and a few lousy maps but none of them show me (clearly) where I can connect to it once I cross the border. It looks like route 223 connects, but it's kind of hard to tell, I would appreciate it if anyone who's ridden it before can enlighten me. Also, how is the signage along that route? And are there good places to camp along the way?
This saturday I went on a training ride to see how far I could go fully loaded. After a late start at 4 pm, I ALMOST made it across the border- got about 10 miles away from it, but the sun was going down and I needed to find a campsite. Had a beautiful night sleeping under the stars. 55 miles under my belt and I slept great. Sunday morning I woke up to the realization that there were gonna be thundershowers that day, so I got an early start into KILLER winds from the south that reduced my average speed to about 9mph!! After an hour of that, rain came into the picture. So, long story short, the ride up took 3 hours, and the grueling ride back took 5.5 hours but it made me appreciate my comfy couch that much more. I'm looking forward to going the whole distance later this week!

AndrewP

I have ridden from Montreal to St Jean sur Richelieu. The connection from the border to St Jean sur Richelieu is along route 223 which follows the west bank of the Richelieu river. From Chambly to the south shore suburbs of Montreal the route verte is packed dirt. This is easy cycling, provided it hasnt been raining on the previous 24 hrs, with no road crossings to slow you down as it runs next to a railway line. This website https://www.tourisme-monteregie.qc.ca...isme/index.php gives you maps of road routes (Cartes des circuits routiers) and cycle paths (Cartes des pistes cyclable). Once you get into the suburbs there is a lack of route signage. This shows a route from the end of the marked trail to the Jacques Cartier bridge:

https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=396268

It is part of my commute home. You can also go via the St Lambert locks on the seaway, which avoids the climb over the bridge but you may have to wait for a ship to pass through the locks. It involves going into private CN rail property for a couple of hundred yards, but they have never hassled me on my commute.

https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=396226

Sorry I can help on camping facilities

maximusvt

Thanks Andrew, that's good to know. I tried looking at the tourisime-monteregie website but the map wasn't that detailed (or user friendly) so I wasn't sure. Also good to know that the road is dirt. It's not supposed to rain so hopefully that won't pose a problem.
I purchased a lake champlain bikeways map that looks like it covers the whole region as well.
I'm not looking for camping facilities so much as a place to camp undetected/undisturbed. I'm sure we'll be able to find something.