The bridge- and lock-tenders start their workday at 9:00 and we were ready to go as soon as they were. We had about a one mile run through farmland and countryside on the way to the first of two bridges that had to open for us. The road hugged the canal along this stretch. Unlike in America where we have guardrails to protect the reckless from hurting themselves, there were no such barriers here. I bet that these Canadians don't even think of texting while driving.
Our second bridge opening was immediately followed by our first lock of the day. A really cool aspect of these locks is that they are all hand operated. Tenders crank giant winches to open and close the doors and control the flow of water. Four more locks, including a final flight of three, earned us the right to pull over and call it a day. As planned, there were no other boats on the wall when we arrived and we were able to hook up to shore power. There is one bridge and one flight of three locks remaining (below, right) before we enter back into the Richelieu River.
Within a quarter mile of the town dock is Fort Chambly. The fort was originally built of wood by the French in 1665, but was rebuilt in stone in 1711. It is a Canadian National Historic Site and features interpreters in period dress that do several small group tours and demonstrations throughout the day.
The musket firing was the first demo we checked out then we headed inside to make our way through some very nice exhibits -- all bilingual (French/English). Parks Canada goes above and beyond to make history interesting to today's kids with an expansive interactive exhibit on smuggling. We both wished we could have picked up a guidebook and passed through and completed that journey as well.
The fort sits at the foot of the Richelieu River Rapids and is surrounded by a large park. We walked around for a few hours until the sky darkened and the wind picked up. A few drops of rain fell, but not enough to cut the heat. Even though we're in Canada, today's temperatures were around 90 and it will be hotter over the weekend. When we returned to Crossroads, the wall had filled up. On the boat in front of us are fellow Loopers, Debbie and Ron aboard Bucket List. We had met them way back in April at the Great Loop Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk. We visited and caught up for a while before heading back to Crossroads to fix dinner.
Bucket List travels twice as fast as we do. They will leave in the morning and make Montreal by evening. We will stay here in Chambly tomorrow. There are quite a few restaurants, ice cream spots and a grocery store all within half a mile of us. With those temptations, we'll need to get in a good walk as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment