Welcome back; welcome to Retirement Rides 2025, the 14th such trip on a trusty BMW touring motorcycle  

I hope you have all been well and I am glad to have you aboard for what I hope will be a interesting ride. I have worked out an itinerary that, unlike in other years, the upcoming segment I will reveal on a, hopefully, daily basis.

On the news front, I spent all of last week in Montreal at the inaugural Académie chorale d’été led by the amazing choral conductor Jean-Sébastien Vallée at McGill’s Schulich School of Music.  A group of very dedicated choristers and student choral conductors from across Canada, and elsewhere, came together to learn and perform some beautiful music. I am sure that the memories and the soundtrack we worked so hard to perfect during the week will accompany me on the trip. 

I set out early this morning on the first day of my journey. The temperature, that has been a warm 24 degrees when I left home climbed steadily over the course of the day, and by the time I arrived at the hotel in Lévis it had reached 32 degrees. While being stuck in the blazing heat in stop-and-go traffic on a 10 kilometre stretch of the highway leading to the the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel that goes under the Fleuve Saint Laurent in Montreal was no fun, the rest of the journey on Autoroute 20 was more enjoyable even if it’s a route I have taken before. 

I am about to step out and forage for some evening sustenance. And then it’s early to bed to rest for more exploration tomorrow.