Our ultimate starting point (for the Tour de France afficionados, let’s call it the depart réel) is Quebec City. We take the train from Montreal to Quebec City on Via Rail, Canada’s intercity passenger railway company.

We are leery of North American railways, so do a recce, firstly finding Montreal’s central railway station which is no easy task as they seem to make it as hard to find as possible. There is no grand ediface. We slip through a discreet door, go underground to find the station, then work backwards to find an entrance we can bring the bikes through.

If you’re ever looking for it, you’ll find an entrance to Montreal Central Station in Rue de la Gaucheteière, near Place Bonaventure. There’s street level access to the main concourse from that entrance.

I had already booked our tickets to Quebec City, but wasn’t able to book the bikes. I had email correspondence with Via Rail, and they told me we could take bikes on specific trains that had luggage cars. Those trains were 6:20am, 12:20pm and one other. However, the way our bikes would be carried depended on the configuration of the train on the day, and there was a chance we would have to box the bikes – boxes of course being avaialble at a cost from Via Rail.

We found the checked baggage area and spoke to the operators. Be there 30 minutes prior. No boxing necessary. The bikes go onboard as they are. But there is a $28 (CAD) per bike cost that we’d not heard about before.

Good. We have an early start, having chosen the 6:20am train. We arrive at around 5:45am, and are admonished, as the checked baggage closes 30 minutes prior. We made it by the skins of our collective teeth. Our bikes disappear into checked baggage land, and we make our way, curiously unencumbered, to our carriage.

At the end our bikes await. Apart from the misinformation/misinterpreation of information, the process is seamless.

We head out into Quebec City. From now it is strictly leg power until Toronto.