Day 110...Chambly

TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2012

     We decided to stay another day at Chambly. We were told that today the canal is enjoyed by tourists and more than 7000 pleasure boaters in the summer and ice skaters in the winter.

     We walked into town before we went to the large new supermarket to buy grapes and bread and other essentials. 

     There is a Dairy King Restaurant there that has the cutest table and chairs that look like ice cream cones.  Their fountain also has a turtle and a frog spouting water out of their mouths.  I thought the kids would like to see them. 

     We also went to the library so I could use one of their 4 free computers to let everyone at home know where we were and how we were doing. They were very nice to the non-French speaking Americans.

     Gary walked over to the restored Fort Chambly (It was built between 1709 and 1711.) to see if it was too far for me to walk, but the day was dismal and then rainy. We just never got around to going to see it.

     By the time he got back, we had company by the wall.  Two larger French-Canadian boats joined us for the night.  We have found that one person in the group usually understands and speaks enough English to translate for the rest of them.  My French is limited to Bonjour, Merci and Oui.  They do seem to appreciate you trying.  I always apologize for my horrible Southern French accent. 

     As usual there is a bike path on the other side of the basin.  We saw this daddy riding with his two children.  Gary was the slow one with the camera this time.  The smaller child is in front of the daddy and the older one is riding the bike attached to his bike.  Can you tell the front wheel of the child’s bike is not touching the ground?  The little girl was not letting that stop her.  She was peddling as hard as she could.

     By now the skies have opened up and we are glad to be inside out of the rain.   

Day 109...Saint-Ours to Chambly, Quebec, Canada

MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012

     We left Saint-Ours at 5:45 a.m.  We wanted to get an early start so we could enjoy Chambly after we arrived.

     I wanted to show you this floating dock that is on the grass.  The rivers and lakes up here freeze solid in the winter.  Because they do, most of the docks are taken out of the water.  This one just hasn’t been put back into the water yet.

     I liked the way this single row of trees looked running along beside the Richelieu River.

     Remember I told you about the cable ferries.  You can see the cable better in the close picture of the ferry at Saint-Denis.  We were always careful to wait until they stopped to cross their paths.  This one had red and green lights on top to tell you to stop or go.  We appreciate all the help we can get.

     Gary couldn’t get over the parking job that was done with this camper.  I’m glad I don’t have to back it into position.  It would probably end up in the water if I did.

     There were more of the beautiful silver topped churches one almost directly across the river from each other.  The first one was in the town of Saint-Charles and the next one was in Saint-Marc.  There are many silver-steepled churches all along the waterway.  No two of them are the same.

     In the background is Mont Saint-Hilaire.

     There were a few marinas along the river.  Most of the boats in the marinas were smaller speedboats or pontoon boats.  I guess they are easier to use and take out of the water over the winter.  One of the marinas seemed like it should be farther south.  It had buckets of palm trees on the dock and near the office.

     We had read about a very narrow bridge with a swift current in one of our guide books.  There it is.  It is the 27 foot Beloeil Bridge.  There was a sign board to tell us how high the bridge was.  It was the first one we'd seen since entering Canada.  Of course, it really didn't help us since the measurement wasn't in feet.  They were right about the speed of the current though.  We were already fighting about a one knot current.  The additional 1.6 current against us reduced our speed from 5.7 mph to 4.1 mph.

     Just after we passed under the bridge there were rowers practicing on a course near the edge of the river.  Then there was a lot of activity at what seemed to be a rowing club. 

     We had to cross the lake-like Bassin de Chambly before we were able to enter the locks. There was another church on the banks with silver steeples.

     We pulled up to the blue line of the Chambly Locks (Locks 1, 2 & 3, up 35 feet) with the Vermont sailboat, PILGRIM.  They were a nice, young couple with two small children that we had met at Saint-Ours when they stopped there for lunch.  

     These lock were a set of three locks and then a protected basin and then a series of bridges and locks along the Chambly Canal.  The lock staff dropped lines for us to hold on to.  Again it was a case of needing to be flexible about where to put the boats since they usually put as many in as would fit.  Also again this was a set that once you start locking through there was no stopping until you went through all three.  When another boat came out of the nearby marina that made 3 boats to lock through together.  It was us, the big 40 footer and the about 37 foot sailboat.  For some reason the lockmaster wanted us to go in first, then the big boat on the other side and PILGRIM on the side behind us.  Boy were we stuffed into the first lock.  Look how close the big boat's fender is. 

        In the second lock they put us closer to the front and the big boat farther back so we weren't as close together.  I was happy about that.  I talked to the French-Canadian lady on the big boat's bow as we locked through.  She was very nice.

 They moved the bridge and Gary got back into the boat to drive us out of the last lock.

     We pulled over to the wall in the basin to spend the night.  We traveled 32 miles in almost 6 hours for a total of 2077 miles.

     We walked back up to the locks and took some more pictures of the locks, boats in the locks, the cute little house for the life preservers and the lock houses.

Day 108...Ile Hervieux to Saint-Ours, Quebec, Canada

SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2012

     We knew we were going to want to make an early start because of all the boat traffic we encountered yesterday, but we had no idea we’d wake up at 5:00 a.m.  This is the sunrise from our anchorage.  

     We did wait until 5:30 to start to weigh anchor.  There were tons of weeds on the anchor rode so it took Gary about 15 minutes to pick them all off of the chain.

     We found ourselves pretty much alone on the water.  At about 7:50 we entered the Richelieu River passing Sorel.  I just knew we were lost because for the first few miles the scenery was industrial.  I liked the colors on the dredge, barge and tugboats along side of the river.

      Then the river opened up to houses and cottages along the shore.  Some were close to the water.  Others were on low bluffs.  And others were on even higher bluffs.  Most of them had direct access to the water with boats of all kinds.

     Just before we stopped for the day, we saw a cable ferry crossing the river.  These ferries are different than the ones we’d seen before because they are pulled across the water with a cable that runs in front of and behind the boat.  We were never sure how close to the surface of the water the cable is so we never passed them while they were operating because we didn’t want to get hung up on the cable. 

     We locked through Saint-Ours (up 5 feet); our first and only lock of the day.  We tied to a dock in the lock again.  It couldn’t have been easier.  

     We talked to some Canadian boaters later that told us that ours is the French word for bear.  There wasn’t a town nearby but quite a few people were enjoying picnics in the park on this Sunday afternoon.  We were looking forward to a quiet time to rest and relax.  We traveled 29 miles in 4 hours and 45 minutes.  Our total mileage now was 2046.

     While I was working on the boat (OK, so I needed to wash dishes.), Gary took some pictures of the very busy lock.  The boat traffic was nonstop.  There were boats coming and going all day long.  They would zoom up to the lock so they wouldn’t get locked out.  Of course, that meant a lot of rocking and rolling with the wakes.

     There were also quite a few very loud, go fast boats (How do you like my technical term?).  They would circle around waiting for the lock to open, playing loud music and dancing.  I guess you can tell we didn’t have much peace and quiet until the lock closed. 

     He also took a picture of the restored Lock Master’s House for me.  It is part museum and part snack bar now.

     This dam at Saint-Ours was built in 1969 to raise the water level all the way to Chambly to aid travel on the river.  This modern dam is unique in North America because it uses variations in water pressure, not electric motors, to operate the floodgates.

     The Vianney-Legendre fish ladder opened in 2001 to provide fish with a passageway around the dam.  It allows the fish to travel upstream to reach spawning grounds and other habitats.

     After everything settled down, we enjoyed a quiet, restful night with the trees across the river on one side and the wall on the other.