(Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada)
Our Eastern Townships home base is Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, just south of Sherbrooke. I had heard about Bishop’s while attending Queen’s University but had never actually visited the campus. However, university residences are an excellent alternative to hotels for summer travel: they are generally inexpensive and often have great settings too. Bishop’s is awash in red brick (see photo above) and seems like it would have been a nice place to spend a few years of studying!
The next morning, we ate our first university cafeteria breakfast in a very long time before heading south to our first destination of the day: Compton, Québec. I had never heard of Compton before this trip but this village of 3,000 has made a significant contribution to Canada: it is the hometown of Louis St. Laurent, Canada’s Prime Minister from 1948-1957.
St. Laurent’s childhood home and the adjoining general store remained in the St. Laurent family from the late 19th century until they were acquired by the Federal government roughly 100 years later. We visited the site (now run by Parks Canada) and enjoyed both the multi-media presentation and the tour we received of the general store. The store has been restored to how it would have been at the turn of the 20th century, while the house itself still has most of the St. Laurent family’s furnishings.
We saw some interesting photos of St. Laurent playing tennis and croquet on the grounds. While the tennis court is gone, there was a croquet set available for our use! Of course, we jumped at the opportunity to play croquet at a Prime Minister’s house.
From Compton, it is a very short drive to the slightly larger town of Coaticook. It is known more for its outdoor pursuits and I took advantage of the fine weather to visit the Coaticook Gorge. However, this is no ordinary gorge…
The Coaticook Gorge is notable for being 50 metres deep. OK, not quite the Grand Canyon, but still very deep when you’re at the bottom of it and looking up. However, the Coaticook Gorge has something that the Grand Canyon does NOT have: North America’s’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge!
The suspension bridge is 169 metres long. As a suspension bridge, it does of course move and sway when you’re walking across it. This is where the 50 metre-deep gorge suddenly becomes quite significant. Check out the pictures for a better idea of just how small people look from the bottom of the gorge or the top of the suspension bridge.
A veritable forest of inuksuks has emerged at the bottom of the gorge…there are now hundreds, if not thousands,on virtually every flat surface. There is also an observation tower located at the very top of a nearby ridge – again, climbing up an extra 30 metres of scaffolding doesn’t sound like much, until you’re up there yourself and very exposed to the forces of gravity. There are also many trails through the surrounding mountains and forests, once you’ve defied the gorge itself.
While our schedule did not permit it, there is also a “Foresta Lumina” walk that takes you on a special journey on the trails at night with “son et lumière” shows and special effects. Apparently, you also cross the suspension bridge as part of the show! It costs more than a daytime visit but I am sure that it would be a spectacular experience if you are spending the night in the area.
Stay tuned – our Québec odyssey is only just beginning!