SAINT JEAN SUR RICHELIEU to CHAMBLY & SAINT OURS

On Wednesday morning it was pouring rain! So we decided to treat ourselves to a rainy day French Bistro breakfast in the town of SAINT JEAN SUR RICHELIE (I miss the sunshine, but breakfast was fantastic :) The rain diminished and we departed from our floating dock just before noon, with our rain jackets still on!

We headed North up the Richelieu River on the Chambly Canal. We have eight Locks and five Bridges today! The historic Chambly Canal opened for commercial navigation in 1843. This canal played an important roll in the export of Canadian Forest products to the United States. Today the canal is enjoyed by a varity of pleasure craft.

The Chambly Canal is 19 kilometers in length between SAINT JEAN SUR RICHELEIU and CHAMBLY and allows boats to negotiate a drop of 24 meters while avoiding the rapids on the Richelieu River.

The hand cranked historic locks are meticulously maintained with lots of Canadian pride. The lock attendants (mostly college students on a summer job) wear a uniform and hand pass you the clean lock lines (quite a difference from the US locks).

We arrived in Chambry about 3:30 and discovered that there was a weekly summer concert tonight in the park on the canal. We purchased a picnic consisting of: cheese, pate, baguette and wine... I am enjoying this French life style! 

Looper tip: Always fly your AGLCA burgee because you meet the nicest people. We enjoyed Docktales before the concert with new looper friends and made plans to stop for lunch together along the Richeleiu River the following day.

On Thursday we departed CHAMBLY for SAINT OURS at 10 in the morning....it was sunny and cold about 57 degrees and we put on our jackets for the first time since Norwalk, CT. We are now officially flying our Canadian courtesy flag.

The River is beautiful and we stopped for lunch at Auberge Handfield. After lunch, we entered the unique floating Lock of SAINT OURS and docked Thistle by 3:30 in the afternoon on the floating wall just North of the lock. This is a very rural area so the "Chef" (as in Chef Boyer d) made an excellent dinner.

We went to sleep early since tomorrow is a long journey to Montreal.

Our trip from SAINT JEAN SUR RICHELIEU to CHAMBLY & SAINT OURS.

Rainy day French Bistro Breakfast :)

The historic Chambly Canal.

The Lock Attendants pass you clean lock lines.

Chambly Canal Locks 1, 2 & 3.

Happy to be on the Floating Dock at CHAMBLY.

The CHAMBLY summer concert series...we listened to Les BB :)

Flying our Canadian courtesy...it's chilly....And passing under a low bridge!

Lunch along the way with Looper friends.

Checked In at the  SAINT OURS Lock Dock for the night with our new pass.