Across the road, the Rivière du Nord. Under your feet, the trail. More than a hundred seats when it is all open, a short seasonal menu, a cold pint, and seven rooms upstairs if you want to stay. Our terrasse in Val-David, in the Laurentians.
You settle in with the Rivière du Nord right across the way and bikes slowing on Le P'tit Train du Nord a few steps off. The terrasse is big, not intimate. Roughly 72 seats last year, about 45 more this year, plus another 12 to 16 on the side near the parking. A proper riverside terrasse in Val-David, open almost every evening in season. Only a storm or heavy rain stops it, and even then some seats are sheltered.
You have been pedalling since Saint-Jérôme, or walking a stretch of the trail. You roll in with tired legs, you find a place for your bike, you sit down. That is exactly what it is for. Come off Le P'tit Train du Nord, eat a real meal, have a properly cold pint. Families are welcome, and there is room for everyone.
A short, seasonal menu, fish and chips done properly, the scotch egg, beer on draught, and private import wines Tim picks each week. Lunch and dinner, in season. And if it gets late, and the last pint tasted too good to drive on, there are seven rooms right upstairs.