Day 12 - St-Roch-de-Richelieu, QC to Saint-Hillaire, QC

A long day!

Peg and I flew to Albany and drove to Quebec to have one night in Montreal before finding the guys, but realized that I had reserved the room for 2 nights before!  Everything in Montreal was sold out, William and Kate were there yesterday, so we decided to surprise Mr. Frei and Brian by just showing up along the canal with our "Row Canada" t-shirts on.

It was a bit difficult, as we had to calculate where they would be at the time we arrived, but luck was with us and Peg spotted Mr, Frei rowing with his signature smooth stroke. The road was right next to the canal, and there was no traffic, so we just drove at his speed. On his third look up at this car (actually, his own car!), he realized that it was the two of us!   We met him at a dock about 100 yards down the way, as there was no place for us to park or for him to pull over.

He was so excited to see us (especially Peg), and looked fit as a fiddle, considering the difficult row against the current and into strong headwinds.  Brian was about 10 minutes behind him, and came in looking just as good.  His exit from the boat was quite humorous (photographed). I commented on how good his hands looked, but then he showed me the blisters!  Not as bad as one would have thought. Maybe today he will let me take a photograph of his hands, so that Cecile, Katherine and Emma can see up close!

We thought that we would have a nice dinner with them, but we were so wrong!  We planned to meet at a marina 2 miles (1 hour) away in Beloeil.  Peg and I decided to go along and have a glass of wine and an appetizer at a charming restaurant in Beloeil called Le Cote a Cote de Vieux Beloeil (wonderful outdoor patio and waitresses who thought everything was "parfait"). While we were feeling like we were in Paris, but people dressed more casually, Peg took an alarming call from Mr. Frei.

They had been turned away from the Marina!  They would meet us underneath a railroad bridge in half an hour, where they thought that they might camp.  We hightailed it to the bridge, and when the train went over us, we jumped. How could they sleep there?  Also, the current under the bridge on our side of the canal looked treacherous.

We had another call from Mr. Frei a few minutes later that they had crossed to the other side of the canal due to these very same currents, and Brian was going up to a house to see if they could camp on their lawn. Since Peg and I knew generally were they were, we programmed Helen (our GPS with the British accented voice) to take us over the bridge and to that general vicinity.  We were sitting in a parking lot when we took the next call. The homeowner said no to them camping (he had just planted grass), so they were off again. Imagine how exhausted they were.

Mr.. Frei called again in a few minutes and said that they were at a kayaking club and there was a blue lit church steeple across the canal.  So, went down each road (Peg was on the phone with Mr. Frei) until we almost ran straight into him! It was quite dark by now.  The sign at the entrance stated that it was a curling club, but luckily it was their location.

We drove the mini down onto the beach and sat with them for a little while, giving them the snacks that we had picked up (cupcakes at a fantastic bakery in Plattsburgh, NY and some onion rings and fries from the restaurant).

All I can say is, for two guys that are almost 60 years old, they are amazing!

Peg and I are off now to buy Mr. Frei a new GPS and will meet up with them at lunch time.  Enjoy a couple of photographs.

Brian meets up with us for the first time

Mr. Frei and Brian on the Richelieu

We brought provisions to the guys