Jun 24 - The Wine Route & Summit Drive, Eastern Townships, QC
Well who knew it was St Jean Baptiste day in Quebec today?? Obviously we didn't!
We left Venise-en-Quebec this morning heading towards Lac Megantic. You may remember the rail disaster there – more on this later. There are two campsites there; maybe our luck will hold.
From Venise, we drove deeper into the Eastern Township, passing through fields and fields of growing corn and pretty little towns.
On the way to Austin, Jen suggested we take a short cut on a "local" road. It started off as pavement then turned to gravel.
In North Hatley, Jen snapped this picture. The main road was closed for St Jean Baptiste celebrations.
Part of our journey today was along the Wine Route, although at 10:30 am, even with the "ouvert" signs swinging in the breeze, it was a tad early to think of wine tasting.
Out of Cookshire-Eaton, we continued east to La Patrie, the start of "The Summit Drive". Yup, it was over hill and straight up dale!
At Saint-Augustin-de-Woburn, we turned north and soon arrived in Lac Megantic.
As we walked along the boardwalk to the small memorial, the smell of oil still lingers in the air – almost 3 years later.
At the other end of the boardwalk was this Maison du Vent.
I shot this video of the site. Neither of us realized how large an area was destroyed by the inferno.
Remember, if you click on the YouTube logo you can watch a video in full-screen mode.
Unfortunately for us, both campsites in Lac Mégantic were full. So after due deliberation, we decided to drive to Saint-Georges and spend the night at the local Walmart. This is the first time, since we left the Island last February, that we have overnighted in a Walmart parking lot.
