The Passionate Hiker: Biking the O&Q (4): Fall River Road to Mountain Grove, via Sharbot Lake

Tues. 24 May: Biking the O&Q (4): Fall River Road to Mountain Grove, via Sharbot Lake

Plenty of wildlife today

Note: click on pictures for full size view.

It would be a hot day today. As usual, an early start was the answer. I was on the trail soon after eight o’clock in the morning.

This section of the O&Q railway line passes through Sharbot Lake village, where for a short distance it shares the right of way with the North-South K&P line, before turning west. Sharbot Lake station would have been a busy place at one time. Trains haven’t run on the O&Q since April 1967, yet I’m sure I detected the nostalgic smell of steam engines as I biked through the rock cut at Sharbot Lake.

Leaving the village behind me, I entered a long, lonely section of line which ran westwards along the south side of the lake. This was now the Trans-Canada Trail, which had been following the K&P up to Sharbot Lake. The line passed through swampland, through the woods, sometimes on embankments and sometimes through short rock cuts. I had to bike through one large puddle, and the surface of the railbed was quite varied. Mostly hard-packed, the trail occasionally deteriorated into softer gravel or rougher sections. Did I mention that you needed a mountain bike? You definitely do.

The wildlife seemed to be surprised to see a human being along the trail. I caught sight of a raccoon crossing the path just ahead of me. It climbed a tree and froze there, trying to look inconspicuous. It failed. Further down the line I saw an osprey perched on its nest and shrieking out its displeasure at my presence. Two otters ran across the trail ahead of me, travelling from one pond to another. I had this world to myself all day.

Approaching the isolated village of Mountain Grove, I was surprised to find myself in a very English-looking valley with low hills of grass with tall trees on the skyline – quite unlike any scenery I had seen on my journey to date. The village sat quietly under the dark blue sky. A monument to the early settlers stood on a prominent rock, and there was a large War Memorial on a grassy knoll in the centre of the village. The railway line stretched westwards through green fields and beside houses and barns. The old church and manse looked a little worse for wear and may have been closed up. What a beautiful setting for a home.

The return journey looked flat but was in fact slightly downhill, so I made mincemeat of the miles, returning to Sharbot Lake in time to relax beside the lake under the canopy of a huge tree. The temperatures had climbed to around 26C and so I was in need of a break to cool down a little.

The final leg back to Fall River Road seemed to be uphill, but this might have had something to do with the fact that I had biked almost forty kilometres today, and it was only three days ago that I had completed the 100 km Settlers Trek. Or maybe the Passionate Hiker is starting to feel his age?

Nevertheless, plans are already in progress for the next stage westwards. This route has much to offer, and I am always keen to see what’s around the next corner.