Views along the St. Lawrence River

It was an excellent route today. I was on highway 2 almost the whole way (except for a minor detour through Williamstown and Lancaster to avoid Cornwall). This is the old road between Toronto and Montreal, before the 401 was built, and is only lightly used these days. The road follows the St. Lawrence river, which is visible for much of the trip. The road is in very good shape, with a decent shoulder much of the way, and there is even a bike lane for a bit! Beautiful views of the river for many parts as well.

The road is the “main street” through a number of small towns, like Prescott, Cardinal, Long Sault, and Morrisburg. These towns are old by western standards and there are plenty of cool old stone buildings in the towns. Between towns, there is a lot of farmland, but also some really nice homes all along the St. Lawrence river, as well as a fort or two left over from the war of 1812!

The monument in this photo commemorates the battle of Crysler farm, where “we” routed an American invasion force even though we were outnumbered 5:1. I believe the Canadian forces still use the cannons in the picture.

You can gauge how old a town is by how big the cemetery is. Some of these tiny little towns have really big cemeteries! I also saw a building that was built in the 1700’s. Ok, it was 1799, but still, that’s old by my standards!