On this New Year’s Day holiday, we took the opportunity to ride in the region of Chaudière-Appalaches. So, here is my summary of this 380 km ride.
We left from Hôtel Bernières in Lévis, where we can park our vehicles and trailers for 20 $. In return, we receive a gift card for immediate or future use at the restaurant or the hotel. You will really like the Resto-Bar St-Rédempteur now operating under the Normandin banner. This famous chain of restaurants has announced the renovation of the hotel and the construction of a new Normandin restaurant on the same site. This project of 14 million $ should start in 2017 to be achieved in May 2018. A shuttle is also offered to clients from Québec who wish to cross on south shore, leaving from Hôtel Colibri (32 $ to 50 $ per snowmobile). From the Hôtel Bernières, you will take trail #75 that will bring you to federated trail #5.
For the first part of our trip, we rode mainly on Trans-Québec #25. Snow had piled up on December 31st and trail had not been groomed on this holiday. Still, we could see that usually, it was wide and well groomed. Be careful, anyway. Since this ride is mostly in forest, we faced many holes that were rather dangerous due to waters that were not frozen. Also take note that on this trail, we must share many kilometers with road users in Saint-Ferdinand.
After 200 kilometers, we reached Thetford Mines where we were awaited at the Comfort Inn. Even if there is no restaurant on the premises, there are many close by. Gas stations are also easily reachable before going back on trail.
On our way back, we headed east on regional trail #540. Trails were freshly groomed and it was a very nice day! Then, we took a local trail that crosses Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton and Saint-Jacques-de-Leeds. Of course, this local section was narrower but with much less traffic; so, we could enjoy the beautiful country landscape. Finally, we ended up our week-end by few kilometers on trail #35 to reach Sainte-Agathe and to finish on Trans-Québec #5 by Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon.
Next time we go back there, we would choose to ride about 100 km more as we found our ride sadly too short. We would probably use a regional trail rather than a local one and we would head deeper in Beauce region. There will be another time, we will surely come back here this winter!
