Daniel_Williams

**Deciding to Go to Magog*

It was too pleasant of a fall day today, and my schedule was too free and the leaves are too just about PEAK now. How could I NOT take advantage and EXPLORE? I remembered from a trip to Sherbrooke a few years back that the bus seemed to stop close to a charming-seeming commercial area with antique shops in the town of Magog. A little researching the bus schedules and I saw that the day trip to Magog in the Eastern Townships of Quebec would be feasible with a few morning buses for the one-and-a-half hour ride out to Magog and a few late afternoon/early evening departures out of Magog arriving back in Montreal. $59 paid and I was off. The ride rewarded me with the colourful leaves on the "mountains" visible on Highway 10.

*Magog Woes*

Stepping off the bus and surveying my surrounding, I initially wondered whether I was totally off-base in my recollections, or even whether the bus station had moved. It seemed I was on rue Sherbrooke, a roaring main thoroughfare with Napa Auto Parts across the street and no charming Rue Principale, nor a tourist information centre anywhere to be seen. The "café" in the bus station looked pretty dismal and bare-bones; let's just say it made "Mel's Diner" from the popular 70s TV show look somewhat upscale...mind you, Magog's "Terminus Café" kind of charmed ime n a way.

I thought the Rue Principale couldn't be too far off, so I set off on Sherbrooke in the direction I thought a charming area should be; after several minutes of walking of more suburban-looking retail shopping, a roadside diner, this just wasn't working out how I imagined it would. I spot what appears to be an old church! I think old church= perhaps the historic centre! Let's go with this hunch, I said to myself! I pull off the whizz and whirr of rue Sherbrooke and go through a quiet residential area and am pulled inexorably toward the church. Church reached some 30 minutes after arriving at the bus station... hmmmm... a lovely church in what appears a pleasant enough working-class quiet residential area, but really not what I remembered. I'm beginning to wonder if that charming area is MILES away!

*Magog Treats*

I finally go into a dépanneur (convenience store in Quebec) close to the church to get directions and the handsome guy behind the counter says “mais, c’est pas compliqué là! Vous êtes sur la rue St. Patrice; la rue Principale c’est la prochaine rue, 'faut juste tourner à droite pour arriver à la plage!”!” (Why didn't I just get directions in the first place? Translation of above: I'm really close. )

Anyhow, the Rue Principale is a pleasant enough place to go to a café or restaurant, but the real highlight is walking along the park with its narrow sandy beaches that abuts the north shore of Lac Memphrémagog. The lake is huge (extends all the way down to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont some 20 km away) surrounded by "mountains" (pointy hills) in a very uniquely aesthetically pleasing configuration, especially lovely given the fall colours. Climbing up a few flights of steps of a lookout tower on the pier, I enjoy this delightful view, but also watching a couple romantically rowing their boat in the waters below and hope they don't get eaten by Memphré, the "mythical" Loch Ness monster that purportedly inhabits the waters of this chilly lake.

All in all, despite my initial misconceptions, Magog is a charming, walkable town and I think would be a good Eastern Townships base for a cycling trip, not too far from Parc Orford, North Hatley and Sherbrooke, all of which area situated on the extensive-in--Quebec cycling paths known as the Route Verte. Boating activities apparently are also quite prevalent during the summer months.

Happy Travels! Daniel

zootsi

Fun report. My wife and I discovered Magog a few years ago, and now it's one of our favorite weekend getaways - great biking, beautiful lake, nice vibe. Never been near the bus station. Yes the promenade along the lake is very nice, walking or biking. Our favorite place to eat is Jesse's. Surprisingly, the lake is quite warm in the summer. We've never seen the monster (yet!).

annetti

Nice report. Thanks.

Daniel_Williams

Zootsi, annetti, thanks for giving the report a read. I'll check out Jesse's when I return! Zootsi, I know you're from nearby in the US, but it pleases me that you seem to enjoy exploring la Belle Province as much as you do.

Funny enough, the bus station really *is* relatively close to the eastern edge of the commercial area of Rue Principale... perhaps a 10-15-minute walk from the bus station walking straight down Rue Sherbrooke. I just got impatient too early and got pulled about 10 minutes too far east by that old church.

Best wishes, Daniel

annetti

Daniel - I always enjoy your reports. You manage to find these out of the way places that most of us don't know exist.

Daniel_Williams

Thanks Annetti, I appreciate that.

While I'd say Magog is reasonably well known in Quebec/Montreal, you're likely right that outside the province, few have heard of the town. Personally, I'm thrilled to discover yet another place to day trip from Montreal where renting a car is unnecessary (Transdev Limocar runs the buses from Montreal-Sherbrooke, stopping in Magog).

Best wishes, Daniel

Vttraveler

Your report brought back memories of a lovely fall day my husband, son and I spent at the beautiful Abbey of Saint-Benoit-du-Lac on (on the western shore of Lake Memphamagog) and in Magog 4 years ago. Our son was studying at McGill at the time and had been home in Vt for the long weekend (Canadian thanksgiving). We drove up to the Eastern townships, bought apples at the orchard and some other food goodies at the abbey gift shop, had a nice lunch sitting outside at a cafe in Magog, walked along the lake and dropped our son off at the bus station so he could get back to Montreal.
We often to to Canada for the day on our Columbus Day -- we were in Europe this year so will have to visit some other time.

Very few people we know in central Vt go up to the Eastern Townships even though we are only about 1 1/4 hours away from the border. We keep trying to promote the area including the wine route.

zootsi

'Very few people we know in central Vt go up to the Eastern Townships even though we are only about 1 1/4 hours away from the border. We keep trying to promote the area including the wine route.'

Vttraveler, so true. We were in Magog for a few nights, and Cowansville for a night a few weeks later. I don't believe we saw one US license plate!

Vttraveler

We were just up in the Eastern Townships today. It was a beautiful winter day and the scenery was gorgeous. We stopped at the abbey of St. Benoit du Lac to hear the mass with Gregorian chant, then went on to Knowlton where we had a good lunch at Le Relais Restaurant. The specialty in this town is duck; there is a large almost-100-year-old duck farm on Lac Brome.

When we entered the US on our way home at a small crossing in northern Vermont, the border guard did not seem to know where either the abbey or Knowlton were.

As noted in the posts above, this really is a great area to visit.

Daniel_Williams

Thanks for this vttraveler!

You've given me more ideas for day trips or possibly weekend getaways out of Montreal. Thanks for the reminder that I have much yet to discover in the Eastern Townships! Daniel