So arrived at the Camping du Lac Mineur RV park in Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur and it turns out the lake it’s on is really a big pond. The water levels were very low but they told us that when we booked. Didn’t really matter, we weren’t going to swim in it (weedy and mucky bottom) despite this crazy heat wave! Wow at least 30C every day we’ve been here and feels like almost 40 with humidity. After this crappy summer, just not used to being in this kinda heat.
The campground is almost right in between Montreal and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (SJSR) so we got in some decent day trips. Spent the first day here stocking up on supplies in SJSR. Navigating around and shopping was a bit of a challenge when all the signs are in French only. Good thing I can read French much better than I can speak it so that helps. Our favourite phase is “Parlez vous anglais?”. Thankfully most people do.
It’s wierd to be in your own country and not see any English signs. Our experience at this RV park with the other guests has also been limited due to the language barrier. If any of them do speak English they don’t seem to volunteer it. Only one other overnighter actually spoke to us. The rest, especially the seasonal residents barely even looked at us…not even a “bonjour”. I felt like I was wearing a sign that said, "I can’t speak French so ignore me."
The lady who checked us in spoke pretty good English though and she was quite friendly. Overall the sites were spacious and shady (thank god!) but it still got so hot we had to close everything up in the camper and put the AC on.
Turns out that there was some pretty good biking in SJSR so we packed up our bikes and biked the 20K trail along the Chambly canal that connects SJSR to Chambly. The canal is operated by Parks Canada and one of the unique things about it is that 8 of the 9 locks are still operated by hand. More about the canal can be found here if interested.
The staff who operate the locks work out of these little houses which were at each lock.
One of the nicest things about this bike trail is that most of it is by the water….either the canal or the Richelieu River. Chambly seemed like a very quaint little town, right on Chambly bay. We ate there but didn’t explore much more of it because in this heat, the 20K ride back to SJSR was going to be hot. Believe me it was!
Spent the day after the bike ride relaxing at the park. Did some laundry, read and played dominoes in the shade. Today, eventhough it was still scorching out, drove to Montreal and explored the downtown historic area.
Pics from our bike ride and Montreal are here.
Tomorrow, we head towards Quebec City for a week.