On to Lake Champlain.

A good view from the balcony of our North Hatley B&B precedes a breakfast that sets us up for the day. We have company at the breakfast table, two couples from British Columbia. Turns out one of them has even been to Wales.  

We set a course for the US border with a degree of panic that the border guard may have a gotten out of bed the wrong side today. We have divested ourselves of the remaining trail mix (given to the landlady) so that we can answer the 'do you have any food you've bought in Canada' question at the US border with a 'no'.

The route takes us west towards Montreal before leaving the expressway at a roundabout, and roundabouts are pretty rare around these parts, especially those with a horse sculpture in the middle. 

Our path now heads south and we stop for a comfort break at Venise-en-Quebec, which doesn't seem to have any canals, but is alongside the Mississquio Bay, part of Lake Champlain that is in Canada. 

It's a pretty looking town. 

These were rows of small boutique shops that thankfully were all shut as it is out of season - probably saved us a fortune. 

The lake promenade, and Eric enjoying the view in the sunshine.

We can't delay any longer, we have to make it to the border, about 6 miles down the road. It is very quiet and we are the only car at the border as we pull up, to be greeted by a smiling young guard who asks all all the regular questions including why we chose this crossing point. He is satisfied with our reasoning of a quiet road in terms of traffic and a possibly interesting route through the Lake Champlain islands. He smiles again, more in bemusement this time, but does request that the boot is opened for him to perform a rather perfunctory search and then wishes us a good a day and safe journey. Just goes to show that US border guards are human too. Although he didn't stamp our passport darn it!

We are back in the US and our first stop is at a sign for a wildlife area that seems to sum up some Americans view of nature

Eric is relieved he won't have to dodge any spears or buckshot. 

Our first view is of a banded kingfisher hastily leaving the scene.

But only to be spotted keeping an eye on us from a suitable distance 

Mud Creek looks a little scruffy but we liked it. 

We carry on through the islands hoping to make few stops to look at the wildlife of the lake. Whilst it was an interesting drive disappointingly there were few stopping places as most of the waterfront is in private ownership and lots of keep off signs discourage loitering. 

We did manage a few stops, getting a good view of a turkey vulture.

And an interesting scene worthy of the Turner Prize at a 'closed for the season' national wildlife area.

Or it might just be that they have put the picnic tables away for the winter. 

Travelling on, another scene symptomatic of the private land ownership and lack of access to the lakeside. This man, sitting on an upturned bucket, was sitting on the bridge to Grand Isle fishing.  The pavement was very narrow and he looks a tad uncomfortable.

Although they did seem to be big on solar power. Perhaps we could install one of these at the top of the garden.

When we reach the nights stop Eric is concerned as the height of the sleeping quarters as it needs a set of steps to get in.  No time to worry about that now, time for a walk before dinner.

The path to the waterfront was downhill - we might need a rest before we make our way back.

Quite a few boats in the marina. The water looks a little choppy, probably the wind picking up.

The mountains in the background are the Adirondacks.

Eric finds some fish to play with

An interesting piece of pavement art that encroaches on to the roadway. 

After dinner, at the Skinny Crepe, we intersperse the steeper bits with some shop window gazing along the flat before the rise and thus graduating the haul back up the hill. 

Decide to watch some of the Trump-Clinton debate but not sure how long we can bear it...and we still have to negotiate those steps to get into bed...