July 14, Day 31 - St. Jean to St. Ours

We have been on the Loop now for over one month!! The time has gone fast. All seems to be well this morning – we woke up to RAIN! (but only for a short shower). So, what else is new. Gerry’s shoulder is a bit sore, but seems to be mobile enough to help with the locking chores today. Good thing, we have several to go through.

We went through a total of 10 locks today. 9 locks on the Chambly (5.5mph speed limit) that took quite a while. We had a bit of trouble at the first bridge – prior to Lock 9 on the Chambly – seems that it didn’t want to open. They finally got it to work after the third try and we were on our way about 9:30.

The Chambly canal was very narrow, but a beautiful run. It was SLOW - 5 mph speed limit - idle speed. They need to protect the banks against boat wakes, so it was certainly justified.

It was interesting in the fact that after the first lock, the next one was about 2 hours away – then we hit the next 8 all at once. The last 3 were a bit intimidating because we could see the Chambly basin below us and it was a long way down. It was just one lock right after the next so it didn’t take too long, but we dropped many, many feet.

We were accompanied by lots of grade school age bicyclers all the way to Chambly. They were going twice as fast as we were. They wanted us to sound the horn all the time. Gerry complied a few times, but it required a lot of attention to keep the boat between the banks and finding the horn button was not a high priority.

We were then back in the Richelieu River with a 40 km speed limit (we were screaming down the river at 20 km/hr – 8.5 knots with a 1 knot current pushing us). We arrived at St. Ours at 4:30 . Seemed like a long day.

The lock mistresses and masters were terrific people. Very helpful and good at what they do. One bridge was manually operated as well as all the locks but the first one. It appeared that there was one senior lockperson and an intern at each lock. We think all of the interns were young college girls.

Once we passed into Canada, all of the towns seem to be very vibrant and not all boarded up the way the towns on the Champlain Canal were. We are guessing that it is the proximity to Montreal that helps the economy up here (20 – 30 miles away from most of the towns). The size of the homes and property seemed to grow exponentially as we neared the end of the canal system.

We stayed on the lock wall at St. Ours tonight. There is a small canal museum and park here. Lots of picnic tables and flowers.

Since there is no place to go out and spend money here, Linda did another pressure cooker meal (pork chops with stewed Mexican-style tomatoes and potatoes). Gerry gave it high marks.

Tomorrow will see us in Montreal. We hope to be in the same marina as Ralph & Anne - a couple we met in Rondout Creek, NY who will be there for the next day or two.

Bridge 12 finally opening. It was over 1/2 late because of problems.

Bridge 9 and the kids on bicycles.

Sailboat following us down the Chambly

Superintendent's House at St. Ours

Traffic jam on the Chambly

Towpath along the canal - this goes for miles and miles

Ready for take off. There were many homes that had planes in their backyards.

Floating dock in this lock. - St. Ours

Manual Locks - college interns get to crank the handle.

Lock Keeper house

Another Lock Keeper House

We both got in the lock - tight fit - we locked all the way through the Chambly with this sailboat

Cute little boat.

Canal coffee club. This was the first lock of the morning and there were several men gathered at different picnic tables having coffee. We also saw several women doing yoga, but didn't get a picture of that.

Tight fit in some places.

Canadian lawnmowers - look closely and you'll see 2 goats.

Looking down at houses below the canal.

Manually opened bridge

This is the famous bridge #9. It is the only one left of the "uneven" design.

Narrow passage and fast current.

Church

Another church

and ..... more churches - every time you turned a corner, there was another church

Kids bicycling on the Chambly tow path. They went a lot faster than we did

Plane in backyard.

Last 3 locks down to Chambly Basin

Tied to the wall at St. Ours.

This was a boat that tied up behind us at St. Ours. They were celebrating the birth of the father who would have been 100 years old (if he was still alive). Wife is 80 and was on board.

Sunset at St. Ours

Chambly Canal

Wide Spot on the Chambly

Narrow spot on the Chambly