Day 31 – Fri. July 10, 2009

Today was a text book day! The weather was perfect and the cruise on the Chambly Canal was incredible. This 10 mile canal has nine locks (our first one is on the left) and 7 swing bridges. One of the swing bridges broke down as we approached it and we had an hour wait while they fixed it. Parks Canada kept coming on the radio to apologize for our inconvenience and I radioed back for them to take there time as we were enjoying the country side. The last three locks were step locks which means as you exit one you enter the next one! With the lock length less than 100 feet and 21 feet wide there isn’t much room for error. The lock doors are hand operated by cranking levers and hand operated sluice gates to fill the chambers. Nothing has changed since they were built in 1843.

The speed limit on the canal was 6.2 MPH which sounds slow but when you are in a channel where you take up more than half of the width and can see the rocks on both sides of the boat its fast enough! When we arrived at the last lock there was a Parks Canada dock where we tied up for the night. Barb and I purchased a season pass to use all of the locks and Park Canada docks for this trip. If any one ever considers taking a trip like this I would suggest a season pass. We entered the town of Chambly and found a great place to eat at a micro brewery that was recommended by the Lock then walked to Fort Chambly that was built by the French when they were fighting the Indians and English in 1665.

There was a free band concert tonight that we enjoyed listening to from the boat.

Tomorrow we will move closer to the Saint Lawrence River and Seaway. If we find an interesting place to stop before reaching the St. Lawrence we will do so……Montreal here we come!

Last 3 locks before the Chambly Basin