Loop Life with Greg and Reenie: SAINT ANNE DE BELLEVUE to MONTEBELLO

On Sunday morning we departed the mooring wall at SAINT ANNE DE BELLEVUE and headed to MONTEBELLO. This destination has been recommended by many fellow loopers as a must stop port. The weather on Sunday, was sunny, clear and about 76 degrees for our day long journey on the Ottawa River.

We had two locks to pass today, the first being SAINT ANNE DE BELLVUE which was just a few yards from where we spent the night. Greg checked the evening prior and the first lock opening was at 10 am, we got to the the "Blue Line" (waiting wall) on Thistle about 9:30 am and we were the seventh boat in line. The lock opened at 10 am with lots of jockeying for position...WOW, we had to be a little proactive to get a place in the very crowded lock filled to capacity with ten boats. We made it through with no problems and crossed into the expansive Ottawa River. For the next four hours, the scenery along the river was beautiful, changing from the city skyline to farms, rolling hills and evergreen trees.

We arrived at the second Lock, Carillon about 1:30 pm and were advised in French of a 2 pm opening. This is a very exciting lock, as it has a huge 79 foot lift......slightly claustrophobic when the doors close and you can't event see sunlight ??? It took about 30 minutes to clear the lock and all was well. The other interesting thing about this lock is that it's a popular spectator event, with people lining the lock walls, taking pictures and cheering as you rise to the top :)

At 6:30pm we arrived at our reserved dock for a planned two day stay at the Chateau MONTEBELLO resort. It was a long almost ten hour day, we were both tired and happy to finally arrive :)

Looper Tip: The resort room rates are much more reasonable with a Sunday arrival ...and if you stay in the resort your boat dock is free! So, at $3.30 a foot it was about the same cost to book a basic room as the slip fee. We still spent a lot of time on Thistle but enjoyed the comforts of our room :)

When checking the weather report (a multiple time daily function on our trip) we both realized a huge rain storm was on the way ... So, for safety we extended our stay here from two to four nights! (News reports say NYC received a record 13 inches of rain from this same storm.) Honest...this was NOT planned...but what a nice place to be stranded.

The Chateau is recognized as the largest log cabin in the world. Starting in 1930, the Chateau was build in 3 months time with thousands of workers laboring day and night. The six sided log structure was constructed out of 10,000 red cedar logs transported directly to MONTEBELLO from British Columbia via Railway. There have been many international summits here over the years.

The Chateau MONTEBELLO and it's quaint adjoining town, with museums and restaurants is a great place to stay rain or shine...Hopefully, weather permitting we are off to Ottawa tomorrow morning!