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All roads lead to the bench.

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After talking about it for years, Cycling Grannies team member Janet Spergel finally held a fundraiser earlier this year to install a bench at the top of a beloved trail in the conservation area of ​​the Laurentian Lake.

“In January, I was snowshoeing on the trails here at the conservation area, and I was like, ‘why aren’t we doing this’?” Spergel said Tuesday when the hilltop installation was complete.

Although the location of the bench is not very accessible to cyclists, the grannies also hike and snowshoe together.

Spergel emailed his team and within months the group raised the $2,500 they needed for the bench, plus about $100 more, which they donated to Conservation Sudbury.

“The conservation foundation has accepted the money and we support the trail system and programming that takes place here in the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area,” added Julie Houle, director of advancement at the Nickel District Conservation Foundation. . “The bench is recycled plastic and metal, and it’s pinned in place, so it’s not going anywhere.”

The bench was designed to withstand the elements.

It sits atop Mount Ramsey, which overlooks its namesake lake, as well as the conservation area. Park at the bioski lodge and follow the beaver pond trail (the red trail on the Conservation Sudbury trail maps) to the Mount Ramsey trail (yellow). Stay on this trail until you see the lookout with the 360 ​​degree view.

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There are now three snowshoe trails that lead to the bench. Two are accessible during the summer, but the third runs through a swamp, so it’s best left to the winter months.

“All roads lead to this particular bench,” Spergel joked. “There are other benches along the way, but we wanted to share with the whole community this view and the feeling of being one with nature. Having this conservation area within the city limits is a blessing to all of us.

Once you spot the bench, sit back and enjoy the scenery.

“Every time we’ve snowshoeed or hiked up there, the views are amazing. You can see all the way back to the bioski chalet. You can see pretty much all of Lake Ramsey and you can see the marsh on the east side,” Spergel said. “From this point of view, we feel in harmony with nature. It’s so beautiful.

The Cycling Grannies have been around for nearly 10 years, advocating for cycling infrastructure, as well as improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Long before there was a bike path along Notre-Dame Avenue, grandmas were creating space for cyclists of all ages in Greater Sudbury.

As Spergel noted, the group started small — just four women who enjoyed riding bikes together — but over the years it exploded and there are now 50 members. They try to meet twice a week on their bikes or on snowshoes, or in their walking shoes.

“A lot of times we’ll take out 20 riders at a time,” Spergel said. “Not as many hikers, but we had 20 hikers on occasion.”

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Group activities are important, especially as people get older. In addition to promoting health, Spergel, a retired nurse, said riding with her crew promotes camaraderie and friendship and supports mental health.

“Once we leave our careers behind, we need that connection with other people and other opinions, and we need that communication and that friendship,” she said. “It’s important to stay active because if we don’t, we lose our mobility. That’s why we cycle and snowshoe in the winter, and hike. It’s a question of mental well-being. »

Spergel said Lake Ramsey is a gem – “who else has such a big lake in the city itself?” – and a perfect recreational paradise for paddlers, swimmers, anglers and skaters.

“It’s a playground,” she says. “Who else has this?” Who else has 330 lakes within the city limits? »

Spergel said the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area has something special. For one thing, it’s within the city limits, but there’s also plenty of diversity to discover.

“There’s so much to see,” she says. “The views are high; there are marshes, there are lots of birds and beavers. It really brings you closer to nature.

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