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, 7 days a week. And if it gets late, and the last pint tasted too good to drive on, there are seven rooms right upstairs.