An orchard and a fort

Sunday, August 19 We decided to avoid the City of Montreal today. There is so much to see in Quebec and we wanted to see some local sites without the dreaded traffic to contend with.

Just a couple miles from the campground is an orchard that sells some very delicious cider we had been told. Just to verify the claim......we went for a visit!

Mont Saint Hilaire ahead of us.

Montreal is on the horizon. We are actually part way up on Mont Saint Hilaire.

That is Mont Saint Gregoire in the distance. There are five of these 'mountains' on the south side of the Montreal area.

The apples are not quite ready but they won't be long!

Lots of cider here. We tried a few small bottles. Very tasty!

They even had a small petting zoo here.

We took a back road to the town of Chambly. There is an old restored Parks Canada site called Fort Chambly. As luck would have it there was a special annual festival there today called Saint-Louis Day. Back in history, the King would give his soldiers a day off with pay so they could attend local celebrations. The local natives would come and sell or trade their goods. A little recreation would give the soldiers a well deserved break.

Small rapids on the Richelieu River

Next to the fort

Re-enactors were camped here this weekend.

They were smoking trout. 4 hours in the smoker, basted in spices.

They gave out free samples. It was very good!

Re-enactors practising their craft.

Ready to fight!

They marched onto the parade grounds beside the River.

First lets shoot the small cannon.

Noisy!

Next the soldiers demonstrated loading their muzzleloaders.

These kids are not loading live rounds, just practising.

Fire! I even caught one of the muzzle blasts. See the orange glow to the left of the smoke?

One more time. This time from a kneeling position.

The drummer tried to keep the marchers in step, but without much success.

reviewing recent events.

The entrance to the Fort. Our Canada Parks Pass got us in for free.

Lots of activity in the center square.

More shooting. I caught the muzzle blast here too!

Supplies for loading and shooting the cannon.

Just a baby cannon, but you get the idea.

This guy got to shoot the cannon.

Nice choir singing.

Inside the fort they had displays. This is archaeological digs of the original fort. The fort of today is a re-production built to original specifications. 

The Richelieu River

This is very tasty beer. Notice the alcohol content. One is 7% and another is 9%!

A stop at the grocery store for some staples, including some craft beer selections, and then we headed home to the campground. We enjoyed some peace and quiet and planned our day back into Montreal tomorrow. Are we nuts? Yep, likely!

.....and that was Our View From Here!