Tag Archives: Québec

Running Up an Historic Trail

UpSlope

 

And to think the British brought their cannons up in pieces!

I ran up the Wolfe Trail,  1,5 km of slope, to train for my upcoming marathon, along with my cousin who is an experienced marathoner. It concluded a 16-km run…

We ran from Anse au Foulon, and went through lots of little signs that explain in detail the operation of passing by this trail to attack Quebec defended by Montcalm. Obviously the trail was not paved …

Nevertheless, I thought about the soldiers wearing those heavy loads and equipment, and about the defenders of Quebec who risked (and lost) their lives.

It’s always easy to say in retrospect, long after the lost battle: “Montcalm should have done this or that, he should wait for reinforcements to Bougainville and Levis instead of an exit …”

But without cell phone, while the besieged Quebec residents lacked everything (Wolfe had burned the fields and razed villages up to 100 km downstream of the city), the Marquis de Montcalm could not actually * know * if his allies and volunteers had not themselves been decimated, or whether the British allies Iroquois warriors would not come later join them to form an unassailable mass.

So he ordered a sortie against an enemy superior in number.

(The two leaders were killed in this battle, which was rather short as columnists reported it: about 15 minutes, for the French engagement.)

*

I am really feeling the exhaustion of the training for the upcoming marathon, hence this shortened comic!

 

 

I am so waiting for spring…

 

The joys of  freezing at the signing table!

This scene unfolds at the Salon du livre de Québec, so the last panel shows the Québec Parliement in the background. There was no freezing spell there, but it really happened at a similar event!

This comic page was done with my Intuos tablet and modified on Manga Studio. It is no 27 in the Splendors and Miseries of the Signing Table series, the French version here.  And yes, it was snowing when I drew this comic…

Many thanks to Jack Ruttan who translated this page from French!