This route in the east quarter of old St Boniface is half on sidewalks and half on the Seine River Greenway. It is named in honour of famed author Gabrielle Roy who was born and raised in t
he rambling frame house at 375 Rue Deschambault. You can see the cute yellow house pictured to the right. Today, the house is a museum and visitors center.
To be completely honest this trail is a bit unnecessary because the good parts of the trail are just along the river, which I think is the Seine River Greenway (already a nice trail). The Gabrielle Roy Route was made to encompass the famous house and really does not feel like a trail at all. I started at the house and then walked down the street towar
ds an industrial area and then into a tiny swath of trees that lead me down to the river. This was a little odd for me because it felt mildly tresspass-y and the beginning of the trail had lots of broken bottles and empty cans near the benches. I think this trail is used more as a party spot. The view I had to begin the trail is to the left.
The best part of the trail was walking along the river. I went under the tracks and along the gravel path. There was some pretty cool graffiti there (seen right). I went around 7:30pm and the sun was starting to go down which gave me a creepy vibe. I also heard a lot of industrial noise and sirens, so this wasn’t the most tranquil walk. I am a nervous Nelly. The river itself was pretty and I loved all the birds you can see when you’re walking. They come pretty close and I think they aren’t used to many people walking down that way. 
Once you finish the river part of the trail it leads you out onto Provencher blvd. The route can take you across and through the Historic Park but I decided to go down Provencher and then back to Des Meurons (which is the last part of the route). This again, did not feel like a trail because it is a very common street in Winnipeg and was not anything spectacular other than a lit way for me to walk back to the museum. I would go back to the museum for a tour, but other than that I would not go out of my way to walk this trail again.
Written by: Samantha Worden (Sam)
Sam is a Trails Analyst summer student with The Winnipeg Trails Association. She is working towards a degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Manitoba with a focus in Natural Resource Management. Her hobbies include reading, bike riding, camping, watching and posting on YouTube, and various forms of paper-crafting and planning.
