Day 3 (310 km)
Saturday – 2015-06-13
Maniwaki – Senneterre (PQ)
Wow!! Bright Sunshine for our start this morning from
Maniwaki, heading North through Réserve faunique La Vérendrye, provincial park.
Our first stop will be at Chutes du lac Roland (which are a great set of
waterfalls at the end of Lake Roland. The
Trans-Canada Highway (Route 117) through the park is 178km or just over 110miles.
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| Roland Falls |
Our Gas stop will be at Le Domaine which is about 1/3
through the park, there is a restaurant and gas station on the lake, but it is
better to have a full tank then to run short (ie out of gas) in the middle of
nowhere, from this point we only have about 200km to Senneterre.
Lunch will be at the North entrance to the Park not far from
Val-d’Or at the Royal Motel / Bar 117, lots of other bikes are stopping here as
well, and it turns out to be a decent place to stop, we will not need gas as we
are now only 40km away and about 30minutes to Senneterre our overnight
destination.
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| Royal Motel / Bar 117 |
After checking in at the Motel La Bell Villa (which is the
best place in town) and dropping off all the motorcycle luggage etc plus hanging
up gloves from Friday that are still note dry.
Our next stop is the abandoned Canadian Forces Station – CFS
Senneterre which was part of the Pinetree Line or the southerly line forming
part of the DEW line (Distant Early Waring) which were radar sites trained to
the North to watch for incoming Russian misses and aircraft.
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| Old Radar Site CFS-Senneterre |
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| Old Radar Site CFS-Senneterre |
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| Old Radar Site - Main Buildings CFS-Senneterre |
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| Old Radar Site - Church/Community Centre CFS-Senneterre |
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| Senneterre Topo Map of the old Pinetree Line Base |
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| CFS Senneterre ca.1959 showing the admin building and the Domes on the hill above |
Most of the Pinetree Line sites sit along the
50th parallel, about 150 miles apart from each other, there were
over 40 sites at one time. Little by
little I am exploring each site as part of my motorcycle trips. Found some old 1959 B&W photos on the Internet of the base which help show the site without all the overgrowth of today, note 3 domes on Mont Bell.
After the CFS Senneterre visit Ben and I do a quick review
of the railway bridge which will be the site of the Sunday AM photo shoot and
do a quick tour of Town before when park the bikes and find an Italian place to
eat (called Le Mateo), which was an excellent choice and one I would recommend.
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| Welcome to Senneterre - my Bike in the foreground |
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| La Bell Villa Motel in Senneterre |
Weather: Sunny, Warm 24c, low humidity
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