Day 2 – Thursday, September 4, 2014

I drove back to where our walk ended yesterday.  The gentleman who had been painting high columns on his house was out there again.  I lowered my car window and I let him know we were back.  The day before he indicated where the bus stop was that we needed to take to get to the beginning of the walk.  It was enjoyable to exchange warm greetings.

We were back on the bike trail and it was wonderfully shaded with shrubs and small trees.  Very much appreciated as it was hot again even though we were starting earlier than the day before, 9:25 am.

I wondered what things were like 300 years ago when Abigail and other captives came by.  I wondered what it would be like 300 years from now.

There was an interesting bike and pedestrian overpass.  

How lovely that there is this green lane to travel on. When the trail ended, Dean turned around to go back to the car and to move it ahead.  

Did I mention there are too many stop signs and stop lights?! Maybe others feel frustrated too!

I noticed a sign that said it was 31 + degrees Celsius already.  I took a photo of my childhood friend, Pauline Bernard, under the sign indicating the morning temperature.

We walked along chemin de Chambly and the 4 kms of highway 112.  When was plastic invented? I was walking on the other side of the protective railing because there was short grass softer for my legs and feet.  There were all variety of plastic! I found a infant’s cloth stuffed turtle.  Cute design.  I stuck it in my pocket, but it was gone when I got home. 

Also saw a dead bird, maybe a hawk, along the side of the road.  What did all those captives and their captors eat? 

(photo added December 25, 2014) 

It was exciting to see the sign for Chambly as from the following book, I knew the captives had been by there.

Quote from Captive Histories: English, French and Native Narratives of the 1704 Deerfield Raid by Evan Haefeli and Kevin Sweeney, Univ. of Massachussetts Press, 2006

Chapter-(Reverend) John Williams, the Redeemed Captive

(At Chambly)

“The village is about 15 miles from Montreal. The French were very kind to me.  A gentleman (probably Joseph Francois Hertel de la Fresniere (1642-1722), the seigneur of Chambly and the father of Jean-Baptiste Hertel, who led the French raiders against Deerfield) took me into his house and to his table and lodged me at night on a good feather bed… Here I saw a girl taken from our town and a young man (John Stebbins Jr.?) who informed me that the greatest part of the captives were  come in and that 2 of my children were at Montreal, and that many of the captives had been in 3 weeks before my arrival. Mercy in the midst of judgement!”

In Chambly, while Dean was again off to get the car, we stopped for Hagen Dazs (sp.?) ice cream and sat outside the convenience store to eat it.  Two women joined us at the picnic table happy to set down the heavy bag each of them carried.  I thought they must be books, so I asked if there was a bookstore around. Yes, there was one in the mall where the Metro was.  They were waiting in the shade to catch the bus. We got to talking.  The older woman with clear blue eyes told us her fridge had broken down and she had spent over $500.00 to replace it and now did not have the money to buy groceries.  They had been somewhere where she could get $60 worth of groceries for $20.  And here we were eating expensive ice cream.  Then she asked her daughter, Manon, where she preferred her, the mother, to be buried, a subject her daughter did not relish.  It turns out she had bought a lot years ago and she could bury herself, her children and her grandchildren in the plots she held.  There was a cemetery across from where we sat, a traditional one, and there was a super modern one_we had been, sure it was a place where people went to get married and to have their photograph taken as it had a lovely magnificent landscaped pond with two fountains!  I hope that the funeral owners were not trying to switch her lots. We left before the bus came by.

Chambly looked ordinary til we got to the water and then it was like a little resort.  The old part made me feel like I was on a holiday.  Forgot I had walked a long way. 

We met Dean in this part and we walked along a cycling path, not the planned route.  We got to see Fort Chambly (need to look up when it was built as it was the Governor-General Vaudreuil who had ordered the raid that signed the capitulation of the fort in 1760, if I remember correctly.)  Past the fort there was a line of great houses to do with the military including one by Melchior Hertel, the descendant of the  aforementioned J-B Hertel, who wanted to have himself and his sons ennobled according to the book previously mentioned.  So history is not so far removed despite the years!

We arrived at our B&B, the end of today’s walk at 3:45 pm.  Pauline forgot to turn her garmin back on at one point, so no idea how long the 20.3 kms took.

After supper at Marius, in Chambly, overlooking the Richelieu River (aka Chambly River, aka Riviere des Iroquois), we went to the librairie and picked up some French children’s books.

Photos from our house

Dean shared photos he’d received from the people staying at our house.  Even though it was the property I’ve lived on for 29 years and photos from the kitchen, the angle they chose to take the photos made it all unfamiliar and surprisingly felt unattached!

More images another time, as there was no wi-fi on day 2 and I am tired after day 3!

Addition October 22, 2014:

After the day's walk, I took out my Native Doll at our B&B in Richelieu.  I placed the found object, I had collected from the road, behind her head.  I took a couple of photos from the second-story porch.