And here we are....MONTREAL!! Taking our first rest day of the whole trip, and it sure feels good. We are at our good friend Noe`s home enjoying a BBQ, a washing machine and going out for breakfast. Bacon is king. Our dreams of rowing our way through downtown Montreal to the old port were dashed at 9 AM yesterday when the Lachine canal operator informed us we would not be allowed to use the canal.
The reason.....too much rain the night before overloaded Montreal`s septic system and they pumped the excess raw sewage into the canal. Wonderful! This means no non-motorized boats for 72 hours. Motorboats, being the main money producers are fine for some reason. AKA, the city wouldn`t want them to know their dirty little secret! We waited 2 hours for them to call every person they could think of to finally say no. Permission for this, permission for that, blah blah blah. So, finally, we portage, one more time, 14 kms along side a perfectly good canal to the dock where the boat is waiting patiently for tomorrow.
The irony of the ordeal being the banners all along the bike path, now portage trail exclaiming ``30 ans sur la bon piste verte!`` Surely a 30 year old environmentally friendly bike path offsets the raw sewage that goes into the canal with every rain storm. However, Noe met us halfway and kept our spirits up, getting a real glimpse of the silly people and things we deal with every day, all day long. Cèst la vie! We are happy, enjoying the sun and looking forward to good weather tomorrow when we shove off into the last 10 days of this section of the trip. Next stop, Quebec City!
Hey Dave and Adrien,
ReplyDeletefantastic news that you guys have made it all the way to Montreal. Have you guys been experiencing a lot of rain the whole trip or just the montreal area. A Raw sewage paddle would have been memorable to say the least, to many misdirected laws keeping the innocent away from reality, talk about keeping something hush hush. It sounds like your spirits are constantly high, and it is likely because the daily exercising of your body, mind and relationship. You deserve a nice rest. Your journey is quite the inspiration to the age of our generation, don't kill yourselves in Quebec city, but come close too it. Dirty rye shot from your friend.
Jay.