[Translated by Rod Willmot] Saturday morning, 9h30. Daniel and I turn into the meeting place at Labelle. Several other skaters are already waiting: Alain, François, Daniel, Nathalie, Frank, Dileep... soon to be joined by Julie, Charles, Annie, Seb, Claire... In all, 16 of us are eagerly waiting to set out for the start of the trail at La Macaza. Or rather, we're waiting impatiently for Marcel and Isabelle, who should show up any minute now... Finally Michel decides to call Marcel, who announces that we'll have to start without them. He and Isabelle had left Montreal the night before to be closer to the start, but (rats!) he hadn't brought his skates along. They've just gotten back to Montreal, and since they can't be here on time they've decided to stay home and just skate the good old Lachine Canal. We're all disappointed, but soon we're back in our cars to drive over to the start of the trail, km 112 at La Macaza. It turns out we have a car to carry our luggage, because Annie Pazzi is going to skate part-way with us, return to the start, then drive up to meet us at Mont-Laurier. So after loading up her car and doing a few stretches, we're just about ready to head off. Then Marcel calls. He just couldn't accept having to stay in the city, so they've decided to come and join us along the way. We agree to meet up at Nominingue, about 30 km from La Macaza. So now we're all happy as we start off on our adventure. But Marcel hasn't a clue how much his forgetfulness will cost him in ribbing over the weekend... At our first official stop in Nominingue we found ourselves in the middle of a festival organized by the town. The braver among us had a few hot-dogs, the rest did some stretching, then off we went with Marcel and Isabelle as planned. Soon our train of skaters was like the original P'tit Train du Nord come back to life, a beautiful example of teamwork. With Charles as conductor, the more experienced skaters formed the locomotive while remembering that the skaters behind them weren't quite as fast. Alain was on his bike and would speed ahead to the intersections, letting us know if the way was clear so we could skate through without having to slow down. We had a marvellous time. Gorgeous countryside, a ribbon of asphalt stretching ahead as far as the eye could see! But the weather mixed things up a little and would have us pretty wet by the time we got to Mont-Laurier. Nothing disastrous, a few heavy showers but with sun now and then. In any case the mood was fantastic and there was no way the weather was going to get the better of that. Last stop Mont-Laurier, official photo at km 200, clean our bearings, get a shower, a beer... and we're ready to hit the restaurant. It was Nathalie's birthday that Saturday, so she got a nice surprise when the gang showed up with a Joe-Louis sporting two candles, not to mention a chorale that made up with enthusiasm for what it lacked in practice. That's all it took for the party to begin, at our table anyhow. Our friendly waiter, Suzie, undoubtedly had her best night of the week and wasn't in the least inclined to quieten us down, on the contrary. After singing her a thank-you song we went to rejoin the rest of the group, who were sitting outside in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn with a few cold beers. Unfortunately, we have agreed that whatever happened at Mont-Laurier would stay at Mont-Laurier, so the rest of this story is subject to a little self-censorship. However I must pass on some really important things we learned during the course of the evening: If you want to skate, you gotta have skates. Never leave your girlfriend alone with your buddies while you go to the toilet. Alain once won a most unusual contest. If you have a bald friend, we know a great way to get him free beer. Julie isn't the least bit interested in cars, nor in steam locomotives. The abbreviation B&B does not mean Bed & Breakfast, but rather Beer & Bearings. The abbreviation B&B does not mean Bed & Breakfast, but rather Bald Buddha... On Sunday morning we woke up to heavy rain, but it stopped by the time we were ready to set off on the return journey at noon, and in the meantime we'd had a chance to say good-bye to our friends at the restaurant over breakfast. We were tired from the day before but nothing could have kept us off our skates (as if we had any choice in the matter...). The weather would turn out to be like Saturday's, one good shower but on the other hand more sun. The pace was good and we skated in smaller and more numerous packs in order to accomodate our different levels of ability. It never felt tough until the last 15 km or so. Back at our cars, we congratulated one another for doing so well, and are already dreaming of the next adventure. Thanks to everybody for making this such an amazing weekend! Annie Lafontaine