July 15, 2008: Saint Anne de Bellevue

Tom was up at the crack of dawn this morning and took his bike the 27 mile round trip to purchase the necessary navigational technology from the store in Dorval. He was back by 10:30, and we took a walk around the quaint little town, stopping in the park where we discovered an unsecured internet signal. I took a picture of the Becker dam (canal in the lake) that I talked about yesterday because I thought it was so interesting. We watched how fast the current flow through there catching boats sideways as they pull out of the small marina there. After grabbing a pizza in town (and Tom’s nap), we head back to the boat to move on.

The St Anne de Bellevue lock was the easiest one we have been though – talk about service! We pulled in, and a couple of lock hands took our ropes and tied us up to a floating dock. No catching their wet ropes, or fending off of a slimy wall. We rode up with four other boats and exited out for a sunny ride across the very shallow Lac des Deux Montagnes (Lake of Two Mountains). As we passed Oka, we saw their famous ferry which is a towed barge full of cars and people. We watched the skilled pilot of the small white tow boat sling the ferry to shore sort of like slinging a skier in to the dock at Lake Gaston. Pretty cool.

Next we came to the Carillon Lock where we passed it’s local motored ferry just leaving the shore. This lock has a 200 ton guillotine lock gate at its downstream end which is unique in North America. Its counterbalance weighs 185 tons so the gate operated by a 40 hp motor. We tied up at the lock, and got out our bikes to visit the country side. It was delightful to discover a two lane paved (including the yellow line) bicycle path from the little town out to the next town. The lane was sunny except where the overhanging trees created a arbor above us. The greenery was such an interesting mix. We saw little evergreen Christmas trees, blackeyed susans, and an unusal tree with red cones on it. We also road by wonderful ponds full of cattails along the way. There were even latrines and picnic tables provided along the way, so I am assuming that people traverse from town to town this way, camping as they go. At the end of our 10 mile ride, we cooked spaghetti and ate it watching the moon rise over the lake.