Update August 10, 2011 - the Rideau Canal

Greetings from St Ann de Belleville, Quebec. It has been quite a trip the last month or so and this update will provide some highlights and some pictures. During this segment of our trip we have passed through some beautiful countryside as well as the capital of Canada and are now poised to visit another of Canada’s larger cities.

Our trip in this update has taken us across Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario, up the Rideau Canal to Ottawa, ON, and then down the Ottawa River to where we are now which is close to the junction of the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River.

Our trip from Cape Vincent to Kingston across Lake Ontario was a little rougher than we like but ok. We docked at Confederation Basin Marina which is right downtown and cleared customs by phone. We then walked around a bit, visited the tourist info center and took a bus tour around the city.  The following day we walked some more and toured the Maritime Museum and the Pump House Museum. The maritime Museum had been on our list last trip but we arrived there a bit after it closed. No problem this time. The Pump House was also interesting. It was how Kingston got its water (from the lake) for many years – all by using coal fired steam engines. George & Jane joined us for dinner that evening.

The next day we started up the Rideau Canal. This canal was completed in 1832. Three (of the 45) locks have been modernized but the rest still utilize the technology of the early 1830’s.  At the time, they did not feel this technology was safe for a lift greater than 15 feet, so when they required a lift greater than that they put together 2,3,4 up to 8 locks together to accomplish the needed amount of lift. Here are some examples of 1830’s technology.

Lock door control

Lock & lock door-note beams

Valve control mechanism

In addition, building dams required different technology than today as there was no concrete at that time. They utilized wedge shaped stones with the wide side facing upriver, thus the force of the water would push the stones tightly together. This is a picture of the dam at Jones Falls. At the time it was built, it was the largest dam in North America.

Our trip up the Rideau was great. We stopped for the first night at Brewer’s Mills (Lock 43) after a long wait for the bridge at Kingston and a pretty run up through the canal including locks 49-46, the first flight locks.  The next day we went all the way to Jones Falls (lock 39) where we played tourist visiting the restored lockmaster’s house and the blacksmith shop.  The following day was even shorter, six miles to Chaffy’s Mills where we stopped above the lock and walked up to the Opinicon Lodge for an ice cream. These are some scenes from the trip up the Rideau.

 

Another short day (5 miles) took us to the lock at Newboro. We had been thinking about staying here and as we went through the lock we noticed a series of tents set up on the adjacent hillside. We asked what was going on and found out there was to be a music festival that weekend. We got the last available spot and spent Friday and Saturday there.

We walked up to the town and had lunch at the Stagecoach Inn. That evening we walked up to the resort, found the bar and tried to use the wi-fi. It didn’t work well but we made dinner of the appetizers!. We walked up again the next morning and were successful with the wi-fi, having breakfast in the process. The music festival was good, although one of the best acts was a steel drum band whose performance was the shortest as they led the parade.

The next stop was Smith Falls, the largest town on the canal. They had been having a large festival that weekend but it was now  Sunday afternoon and the festival was winding down.  We walked around town a bit, toured the canal museum and had dinner with friends. That evening a strong thunderstorm hit. We were on the windward side and sheltered by some trees but it was wild on the other side of the harbor as one of the docks partially broke free and the boats on it had to move. We heard a woman screaming for help as she tried to control the boat as the dock separated and were able with some others to help them land it on our side of the harbor. It was a quiet night after that.

On the way to Smith'Falls- glad there were no boats coming!

By the park at Smith Falls

Merrickville was the next destination. This is another neat town. The mooring area is off the canal and again we got the last available space. Because of the way the dam is, the boat was actually moored higher than the road! We found the ice cream shop, walked around town to the grocery store and pharmacy and toured the museum.

The following day we stopped at Pirates Cove Marina, did a pump out and found our slip. The boat would spend at least a week here while we flew back to Florida to see son Bill. The flight out of Ottawa was fine but the next leg got messed up and we wound up getting into Melbourne at 1 AM versus Palm Beach at 8:30 Pm as planned.  Alan and Susanne were real troopers to meet us at that hour!

We spent 2 weeks in Florida in all where we spent time with son Bill, enjoyed the pool, did some shopping and had several nice dinners with our friends Alan & Susanne. The flight back to Ottawa was easy although we had to race through the Philadelphia airport to make our connection. We arrived at the boat around 1 PM, took on some fuel and headed for the next lock where we spent the evening.

The following day we went to Dow’s Lake Marina which is in Ottawa.  We washed the boat. In the process we showed a boater from Montreal how to use lemon juice to get rid of  the waterway smile and other stains from the tannic acid in the water. They were quite impressed and invited us aboard for happy hour. That evening, we walked to Little Italy for dinner and also walked through some of the parks that were near the marina.

Downtown Ottawa was a 3 mile trip the next day, although we did get held up about 15 minutes by a draw bridge. There is much to see and do in Ottawa, Canada’s Capital City.

We walked up to the visitors center for maps, etc and then over to the (open air) Bytown Market where we had lunch at one of the pubs. That afternoon we walked to the Currency Museum and the Canadian War Museum which was a couple mile walk. We had a light dinner on the way back and when we got back to the boat we met up with friends who invited us to join them for the light show at the Parliament Building. So we grabbed our chairs and walked back up to the parliament building for the show, joining several thousand other people. It was a story of the history of Canada and was quite impressive. The pictures following show the parliament building during the day and one of the scenes from the light show at night.

The next morning we walked to the lockmaster’s to check in and then went up to the Parliament building again for the 9:30 changing of the guard ceremony and a tour. We watched the ceremony which is performed with real soldiers dressed in 1800’s uniforms but carrying modern rifles.  The “old” guard is led in by a bagpipe band and the” new” guard is led in by a brass band. The new guard is then inspected and it then relieves the old guard although all guards are led out by the combined bands at the end of the ceremony. In the pictures that follow we are standing behind the new guard. One of the impressive things about this ceremony is the number of people involved. I estimated around 100!

The new guard marching in

The band leading in the new guard

Inspection

We couldn’t get a tour until 12:30, so it was back to the boat for lunch and then back to parliament for the tour. After passing through security not unlike an airport we were guided through the building, learning some more Canadian history, seeing both chambers and some of the committee meeting rooms and learning how the senate is appointed and how bills are passed.  As one would expect, it is an impressive building.  After the tour it was off to the market, this time for some shopping.

The next day, we did some more shopping and then Tim and Jan joined us on the boat for the evening. We walked around the market area and trying several of the pubs and finally having dinner. We then walked up to Parliament hill to see the light show again as Tim & Jan had never seen it.  The next morning we went back to Parliament hill to see the changing of the guard again. 

The flight of 8 locks at Ottawa

The following morning we were up early to get a space on the blue line to down through the last 8 locks in Ottawa. These are flight locks, with all boats traveling down through them and then another set of boats coming up. Had we missed the first locking, we probably would have had to wait over 4 hours for the next chance which would have made for a long day as there are few anchorages along the Ottawa River.

Chateau at Montebello

We traveled about 40 miles down the river and then stopped at the Montebello Marina to see the Montebello Chateau. This structure is claimed to be the largest log structure in the world and it certainly was impressive. We had a drink & appetizer there and then walked back to our marina which was in poor shape. The next day we traveled the rest of the way down the Ottawa River, passing through the 65 foot Carillon Lock as well as the one here at St Ann de Belleville.

St Anne was a neat little town with just about everything on the street next to the canal. We spent a full day there, walking around town to the McGill University satellite Campus and trying out the local restaurants while we waited for the rain to go by.

Next Stop – Montreal – 40 miles by water!