Wed June 29: St Ours Wall to Chambly Lock #3 Wall

A long, but not hard, day from St Ours to Chambly.  A lot of sun & wind, and a strong current running against us, down to the St Lawrence.

Part way along we began to get close to the mountain (Mont in French, don't you know) we had been able to see from Montreal, Mont-Saint-Hilaire.   Just on the other side is an area we biked when we did the Eastern Townships of Quebec Tour with Discovery Bikes.  See how it's all just coming full circle! 

Quebec, being very Catholic, has kindly sprinkled a large number of Disney-ish spires around the countryside, to make for great picture taking.

 

Upon arrival at Chambly Lock #1, we followed the instructions and pulled up to the blue dock to await park staff. It's a 'flight' of three locks - you can see in the distance two sets of green canopies.  Each of those is a separate lock - #2 & #3.  Each of the three will lift us 10' up.

Cool Hand Luke greeted us - the park staff was made of ADORABLE and capable, young people.  Mostly women.  You can see her 'gear belt' consists of a coin purse, a tablet and a credit card charger, rather then a taser, gun, baton and pepper spray.  We immediately bonded over the fact that all female clothing needs to have pockets.  I love Canada.

From the top we look back down - now we are higher then little Chambly Lake.

This entire series of 9 locks is operated by hand, using the original equipment (all the locks are historical parks).  The park staff not only got us tied up properly in the locks (handing us the cleanest lines we have ever seen), but opened/closed the locks and adjusted the incoming water levels by hand.

INCLUDING hand cranking open the bridge at the top, so that we could pass through and onto our wall.

Bridge open...I don't know why, but it really tickles me to see a piece of road moved perpendicular for little old us.

We tied and prepared to enjoy the peace and quiet.  No hull slap, no Cirque du Soliel/bar music, no noisy roads.  Ahhhhh..

We are just across from Montreal - we could bike there in 3 hours, but it took us 2 days to get here.

After a lovely rainstorm, predicted by Mr Weather, we ventured out to see the sun set over the Chambly Basin (the little lake right before the locks).  Wow.  The steeple again adding drama.

I think we will stay an extra day!

Tues June 28: Montreal to St Ours Lock

It's a good day that starts with doughnut holes from Tim Horton's - Canada's version of Dunkin Donuts.  Or so I thought until I tried the doughnut holes... Ima stick with DD.

 

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Since we didn't do much today except travel, I'll take the time to outline our itinerary for this year, since at least KIM cares (dig at my children....sadly they won't see me throwing shade at them as they have no desire to ever read this blog...).  I guess we didn't talk about the plan for the year yet?  This year is all about Canada, because we can FINALLY get in.  This is the third year of the 1-year adventure precisely because we didn't want to finish without the Canadian part (well, and perhaps also because Rick lost all will to work and didn't know what else to do with himself - read on to see how I solved that problem).  We will go out (also called downbound) the St Lawrence Seaway, visiting Montreal and turning right at Sorel to head down into Lake Champlain (again) so we can be in Burlington VT by July 4 for Rick to lead his first bike trip with Discovery Bicycle Tours (THAT was my solution for work for him).  There we will pick up Mike Duffy, Rick's childhood friend, and wife Linda and take them (hopefully uneventfully) back out the Chambly Canal, where they will disembark (if they haven't begged to be let off prior).  Then we will head east to where the Saguenay River joins the St Lawrence, as there lies the only fjord in North America, and the summer grounds for 5 different types of whales.  We are very excited about that - but Rick is also nervous about the famous 15' tide on the St Lawrence in that area. ( It might take us until Oct to beat our way back upriver to Quebec City.)

After that we will turn back and go upbound, back past Montreal, then up the Ottawa River to the famous Rideau Canal (and its 47 little locks), which will bring us back to Lake Ontario.  At that point Rick has to get back to Burlington VT to lead his second trip with Discovery.  Then we will see where we are, and what time remains before the Erie locks close mid-Oct.  The boat will again spend the winter at Winter Harbor in Brewerton, and we plan to finish the Great Loop in 2023.  More to come...

{OR, we will do the DownEast Loop - but I haven't told Rick that as he is likely to blow a gasket.  That would be, continue out the St Lawrence, through the Canadian Maritimes, like PEI, and come around Maine, down to Boston, and back around to Winter Harbor.  This is something we could not have done two years ago - but now makes sense for many reasons, except not for Rick's blood pressure.)

This piece of the Great Loop map shows the Triangle Loop (upper Chambly, Champlain Lake, lower Champlain Canal, Erie Canal, Rideau)- which we did part of last year , and will finish this year.

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It was an easy day - we were just FLYING down the channel.  The fast water that made Rick nervous on the way into Montreal, helped us save fuel on the way out!

Look at this!  We've never seen a speed like this before.  She was barely holding it together!! (We could hear Scotty saying 'she's giving it all she's got, captain!'.

Once we got onto the Richelieu River we were the only boat around.  Once again we are going in the opposite direction of ‘normal’ Loopers.  Until July 15 - when all of Quebec goes on “Construction Holidays” - basically summer vacation for the last two weeks of July.  Followed by Aug holidays. We understand that the waterways can get quite crowded.  Well, we’ll deal with that when it happens. 

The Lock at St Ours - Canadian, so very organized.  The adorable park/lock staff came down to verify that we had already paid (of course Rick had - he bought the year pass).  Otherwise it would be $1/ft for each lock - X9, and then the same coming back out. The lock had a floating dock inside of it, which the lock hands tied us to and managed.  Like lock concierge service!  I wandered off to make a sandwich IN THE MIDDLE OF LOCKING.

We tied up at the wall above St Ours, which was part of a cute and quiet park. 

Rick models the famous Chaises Rouges/Red Chairs.  The Canadian Parks came up with this idea, and placed red adirondack chairs in some of its remote locations, challenging people to find them.  It has exploded into Chaises Rouges being EVERYWHERE that we have been; on park and on private land. Nothing wrong with that - they are very picturesque.

Goodnight!

PS - I forgot to mention the new fun twist of this canal.  Cable Ferries!  There are three on this stretch, and they are pulled from one shore to another along a cable.  When they are in motion the cable is snapped tight, and just under the surface of the water - from one bank to the other.  The trick is to guess when the ferry is dormant and scamper across so the boat's prop does not get yanked off on the cable.  Fun Times!

 

 

Sat June 25 - Mon June 27: Montreal

Sat & Sun we toured Montreal by Hop-on, Hop Off bus (because we now speak French we called it the Op-on, Op-off. Lol.).  Aside from the heat, it was a great way to get an overview of the city.  Sat we rode the entire route, and Sun we jumped off at a couple of places to get a more in-depth look.

We both feel we have never seen so much use being made of the public spaces of a city.  There were people playing sand volleyball, canoeing, sailing, biking, running, etc.   There were countless parks and performing art spaces full of people; drum circles, aquatic centers, food trucks - and all the visitors.  So many countries were represented at the various happenings.  We saw groups from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Europe, Latin America, etc. 

They are, as we have mentioned, Festival-Happy.  Coming up festivals will include:  the biggest JazzFest in the world,  more fireworks, Francos (French language music), Film Festival, TransAmeriques (performance art), Go Velo (biking), over 700 street performers, Japan Fest, International Music, Just for Laughs (Comedy), and a boat load of other festivals. 

On Mon we road the LaChine bike path out to the end of the canal.  That bike path is part of a Trans-Canada Trail called The Great Trail.  We only did a tiny piece of its 20,700km, but it seemed, to me, like at least half. LaChine is the original canal that was replaced by the St Lawrence Seaway.  It is named, cheekily, after the boast its founder made that it would go all the way to China.  We have been told that it is super fun to ice skate on in the winter!

After the bike ride we had to sample the famous Montreal bagel.  I didn't know that was a thing - but I would have eaten a flip-flop after that ride. Those triathletes have nothing on us - by the end of our time in Montreal we had ridden 37.5 miles, walked 11.5 miles and taken 2 showers.  That counts as a triathlon in my book!

Please enjoy some Montreal Memories:

Norte-dame de Bon Secours - particularly important to us as she protects mariners - here you can see her blessing the harbor.

Grateful mariners carved little boats to serve as votives.

We really enjoyed the Vieux Port/Old Port area - the original buildings all around the port.  Montreal has done a great job of keeping these intact and vital.  Below the Marche Bonsecours in ye olde days, and now.

 

I made Rick go into a Christmas shop with me - and he was HAPPY TO.  The weekend was in the 90s, and the shop had great AC.  We also spent some time in Montreal's 'underground city', as it was nice and cool.  It's basically a warren of shops, tunnels and the Metro that connects much of the university, shopping and financial areas. Based on these two food-vending machines, I'd never need to go above ground.  During the winter around 500K people use the underground city each day.

Chinatown

Montreal was a summer Olympic City, and much of that infrastructure is still used.

Montreal has a rather overwhelming commitment to public art.  There are statues everywhere, and the giant wall murals are repainted every year with new themes.

This seems like a house perfectly suited for social distancing...

On Sunday we went to a Vespers Organ Concert.  I'm not a church person, but there is no better place to really appreciate an organ, and it was wonderful.

A big sailboat from Quebec City came in beside us, and while Rick and its owner spoke Franglish, I admired this furry sailor. Rick got lots of good info about an area that has been weighing on him - I just hope he understood it.

Opening salvo of the Fireworks Competition, Sat night.  We were happy to be able to see it from the boat - too crowded everywhere else.

By Monday night we had gone from being charmed by the Cirque du Solel tents, to being super happy they were dark on Monday and it was Q U I E T... Time to move on!

Fri June 24: Montreal - St Jean Baptiste

Happy Birthday, St Jean Baptiste!!  This is the #1 holiday of the year for Quebecois. Not Canadians, mind you - the Quebecois always got to be doing their own thing.  It turns out that Montreal, with only 3 months of summer a year, PARTIES HARD, and has more festivals then any other city, per population.  We happened to arrive in time for the 36th International Fireworks Competition, the International Lions Convention, and the World Triathlon.  Oh joy - I do love a Big Party Crowd.

I'm in charge of activities on land, and boy did I have some.  Biking was the first thing up - I wanted to see Habitat 57 - I can always count on Atlas Obscura to give me some funky ideas.  This one was much better then the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet in Burlington VT, which I don't think Rick has ever recovered from.

While this was once seen as a cool way to give the middle class an affordable way to live, it is now the most expensive real estate in Montreal. It is on a peninsula and has water views on both sides. Plus all the roofs have gardens, which I think should be mandatory.

Rick gets a rest between stops - I'm not a slave driver, after all!

Next up, The Biosphere.  The Canadian pavilion for the 1967 Expo - designed by Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome.

And why not, just as good a destination as any!

Then, the serendipity that sometimes comes from just going with the flow.  We got to ride on the Formula One Track!!  Fortunately the actual race happened last week, so we didn't have to go 200 MPH to keep up.

We had ridden across the water and many miles - it was time to turn around.  Montreal's streets are often under construction during the summer, so people turn to bikes, and it has developed into a great biking city, with hundreds of miles of paths. 

See if you can zoom in and find Blue Horizon - she is on dock just in sight on the very left.

Right now those bike paths needed to lead us to food, as even Rick was starting to act hangrey!.. We found one of the main marches, markets - Marche Atwater.  It's a crazy combination of farmers market and food court.  It's hard to be sensible when one is so hungry-we wanted to buy/eat ALL THE THINGS!

The Paradise of Cheese!!  And the biggest display of tubular meats we've ever seen.  We have SO MUCH FOOD on board, so I had to slap Rick's hand when he reached for his wallet.

We are so French now we travel with baguette!

All over the city there were detours and crowds of either runners or bikers zooming by - the World Triathlon. It is a 4-day event, with different ages groups, heats, etc.  We saw some FIERCE older women tearing it up on bikes... It inspired me to go home ... and take a nap.

By 5pm we were exhausted by the crowds, activities and sun and happy to get home, turn on the AC and make the boat a dark, cool cave.  Don't think it was quiet, though - it wasn't.  It was a cacophony of competing music, from the Cirque tent, to the bars around the basin to the loud party music on all the boats.  But the energy was fun, and we were content to watch the sun go down and the lights come on from the marina.  We only ventured out for glace (ice cream) once it was dark....