After a late Saturday night the thought of crawling out of bed and going to Mont St Hilaire was less than appealing but the weather forecast was reasonable and like the heroes that we are, off we went. Stopping at Dorval we met Tom and Bob so at least there would be four of us. Bob cheerily said well it won’t be too bad it’s a gentle walk, odd I thought that’s 
not how I remembered it. Easy drive to Mont St Hilaire found a gang of eager beavers, NOT, we were still only four. Looks like we were going to have major bragging rights for this one, but it was not to be, in dribs and drabs a few more appeared until we had fifteen, chomping at the bit to get going. It obviously had been raining recently and there was a cool breeze, I put that in for the weather buffs , sadly I forgot to take the temperature, looks like no Christmas bonus for me… Anyhow back to Bobs gentle walk, as usual we went to the Burned Hill first, in itself a steady climb for a couple of kilometres, and a handy warm up for the much more demanding Pain de Sucre. This path is a steep little pitch of irregular stone steps followed by a short sharp rope climb. Nice views from the top but not a day to sit and eat butties due to the aforementioned cool breeze so down the rope we slipped and back to the main trail. At this point two of the group had to leave due to time constraints, leaving us a group of thirteen, unlucky for some, indeed we did consider sacrificing one of the group for the benefit of the majority but indecision prevailed and we carried on. Our next 
destination was Dieppe, another steady walk followed by a steep finish. Nice views, cool breeze, you get the message not a place to stop long, so off to Rocky. Then horror of horrors in both official languages a warning sign of the dangers ahead. I knew we should have sacrificed one of the group then this would not have happened, no indecision next time. Just then a group of fast moving walkers blew past us and the sign. Well if they can do it so can we and off we set in a fast, well quicker pursuit. Soon the reason for the warning became clear, the trail ascended an eroded hillside so it was necessary to exercise a little care in the ascent, and arrival at Rocky our fourth and last tick. A little further on the trail divided and two of the group decided to take the shorter way back to the cars, whoopee the curse was broken , but was it, after a short while of ups and downs but mainly downs we came upon a broad path of mud, typical of the paths taken by cows at a dairy farm in the U.K. or a herd of water buffalo in a paddy field. Still never mind it was downhill and we would soon be at the parking lot. So Bobs gentle walk turned out to be about 12 kms and a few sore legs in the morning. A good day.
not how I remembered it. Easy drive to Mont St Hilaire found a gang of eager beavers, NOT, we were still only four. Looks like we were going to have major bragging rights for this one, but it was not to be, in dribs and drabs a few more appeared until we had fifteen, chomping at the bit to get going. It obviously had been raining recently and there was a cool breeze, I put that in for the weather buffs , sadly I forgot to take the temperature, looks like no Christmas bonus for me… Anyhow back to Bobs gentle walk, as usual we went to the Burned Hill first, in itself a steady climb for a couple of kilometres, and a handy warm up for the much more demanding Pain de Sucre. This path is a steep little pitch of irregular stone steps followed by a short sharp rope climb. Nice views from the top but not a day to sit and eat butties due to the aforementioned cool breeze so down the rope we slipped and back to the main trail. At this point two of the group had to leave due to time constraints, leaving us a group of thirteen, unlucky for some, indeed we did consider sacrificing one of the group for the benefit of the majority but indecision prevailed and we carried on. Our next destination was Dieppe, another steady walk followed by a steep finish. Nice views, cool breeze, you get the message not a place to stop long, so off to Rocky. Then horror of horrors in both official languages a warning sign of the dangers ahead. I knew we should have sacrificed one of the group then this would not have happened, no indecision next time. Just then a group of fast moving walkers blew past us and the sign. Well if they can do it so can we and off we set in a fast, well quicker pursuit. Soon the reason for the warning became clear, the trail ascended an eroded hillside so it was necessary to exercise a little care in the ascent, and arrival at Rocky our fourth and last tick. A little further on the trail divided and two of the group decided to take the shorter way back to the cars, whoopee the curse was broken , but was it, after a short while of ups and downs but mainly downs we came upon a broad path of mud, typical of the paths taken by cows at a dairy farm in the U.K. or a herd of water buffalo in a paddy field. Still never mind it was downhill and we would soon be at the parking lot. So Bobs gentle walk turned out to be about 12 kms and a few sore legs in the morning. A good day.