We have been nursing a slow leak in one of the truck tires and it seemed to be losing air quicker so before we left the hotel this morning John decided to change the tire. Thus we did not leave until 11:30. If you take Highway 40 and just drive the freeway it will take you about 2 1/2 hours to reach Berthierville from Montmagny. Since we avoid freeways if at all possible we meandered along the St. Lawrence coast road and arrived 6 hours later.

The ski hill on the far side of the river is the Mont Ste-Anne Ski area.

I had managed to find a few things to see along the route that we have not seen before, but it was mostly a bust. The first two were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the third we could not find, and we somehow missed the turn to find the fourth.

We did find the remains of the Fort la Martiniére, which was just the concrete remains WWI and WWII St. Lawrence protection system.

We drive by so many lovely stone or brick manor-style houses and many of this type that are most often painted in lovely bright colours.

Lunch was enjoyed on a small municipal park bench in a town whose name I don’t know. The towns just seem to run one into another along this drive.

The river in front of the little park had a long stretch of marsh land and there were signs up about protecting it.

We saw a sign for a viewpoint but when we drove down the road we came to a boat jetty with a very popular restaurant.

We crossed the St Lawrence River at Trois Rivières and continued down the north coast. Not far from Berthierville we saw a sign for the Moulin Seigneurial de Point-du-lac; another old flour and sawmill.

There was only one thing inside the mill that I photographed. We had been told about the miller having to lift the millstones and ‘dress’ them (make sure the grooves were clean so there would be no wear spots), but the Old Balmoral Grist Mill did not have the hoist pieces. This mill did. Each of the millstones weighs a ton so they use the hoist to lift the top one off and swivel it to the side so each stone can be cleaned and checked.

The grounds around the mill had several hiking trails and the lake – although very muddy – was quite a scenic spot.

The old waterwheel flume looking down.

And looking up.

We decided to take the plunge and go to Montreal. We usually avoid big cities but we would both like to see Old Town Montreal and the road we have been driving goes right into the city so we will do the small villages and then stop lights at every block on the way to our hotel. We plan to park the car at the hotel, which is not far from the Old Town and walk everywhere. John has not quite figured out how to get out of Montreal and avoid their massive, busy freeways, but he is working on it. They do not bother him at all, but I hate multi-lane freeways with everyone going 100 kph and changing lanes here there and everywhere.