August 3 – Merrickville
44°54′58″ N 75°50′17″ W

Today we travelled from Kemptville to Merrickville, which includes a 20 mile stretch of water without any locks between Long Island & Burritts Rapids.

We had just passed through the last lock before Merrickville when we met up with the Kawartha Voyager which was en route to Ottawa. I was happy that we encountered it on a wide stretch of water so there was lots of room to pass by each other.

We waved at the people on the boat as we passed & I gave a short toot on my (tiny) air horn. The Captain of the Voyager responded with a hearty short blast of his air horn, which pretty much rattled Santosha’s glass windows. One of the passengers on the Voyager’s sun deck called out “our horn is bigger than yours” & there was lots of laughter on both boats!

When we arrived in Merrickville the lockmaster told us that all of the dock spaces above the locks were taken but that we were welcome to wait a couple of hours & then tie up on the upper level blue line dock after the locks had shut down for the day. That was fine with us. We tied Santosha to the lower dock & walked into town to look around. On the way to the main street Bruce & I found an opportunity to have a ride in Santa’s sleigh.

It’s so hot out we would welcome a little bit of real snow to go with the sleigh 🙂

Merrickville is a fantastic little town. The main commercial street runs perpendicular to the canal & there are lots of interesting shops. The town was established 225 years ago & it’s main street architecture is really well preserved.

Catherine & Barb window-shopped while Bruce & I found a comfortable bench to relax, enjoy the streetscape & watch the world go by.

Parks Canada has preserved some of the original buildings that housed a water powered grain mill & a woodworking shop. We especially liked the comfy chairs by the millstream.

There is also a very interesting blockhouse/museum beside the upper lock.

This weekend is going to be busy because Merrickville is holding their annual “Canal Days” festival with 1800’s era re-enactments, special exhibits & arts & crafts sales.

Another museum adjacent to where we were docked is operated by the “Friends of the Rideau Canal”. To our surprise this building features a Parks Canada poster that shows our very own Barb in a canoe that was taken “a few” years ago when she started working for Parks Canada. What year was that photo taken Barb?

After sampling some local ice cream & picking up some groceries we all returned to Santosha, brought her up through the triple locks & then tied up for the night.

There was more exotic meat waiting to be BBQ’d & Bruce & I were ready to take on that task.

Cheers!

August 2 – Kemptville
45°4′8″ N 75°38′9″ W

We left Hartwell Locks around 8:30am & headed towards Hog’s Back lock which was only about 30 minutes away. The locks do not start operating until 9:00am so there was no need to rush.

Our goal today was to get to Kemptville or Burritts Rapids. As we passed through the lock stations along the way we saw quite a bit of boat traffic in both directions.

Photo above: full house in the lock

We concluded that it was not likely that we would be able to get a dock space with electricity at one of the locks so decided that Pirates Cove Marina would be our destination for the day.

Photo above: Catherine & Barb on watch for approaching traffic.

The crew was full of energy after being on the boat for most of the day.

Once we were secured at our dock Catherine & Barb & Bruce decided to have a swim in the marina’s pool. I had noticed that after filling up Santosha’s fresh water tanks that she was listing a bit to starboard. So I went back to the boat to resolve that problem. It was a pretty easy solution – too much gin & tonic on one side of the boat, so if I had a nice big G&T to level her out.

After the crew had their swim we switched our focus to dinner. Bruce assumed the role of BBQ chef. New York strip steak & wild boar sausages were on the menu along with assorted cooked & BBQ’d vegetables. The meat was awesome (so were the veggies – kinda 🙂 ).

Cheers!

August 1 – Hartwells Locks
45°23′0″ N 75°41′58″ W

This morning our friends Barb & Bruce joined us on board Santosha. We had their cabin all ready for them – including a very special “Welcome Aboard” package.

After stowing their luggage we all headed off to the Byward Market fir some provisions. Bruce & I were in charge of procuring meat & bagels & Catherine & Barb had the fruit & veggie portfolio.

We will be eating very well over the next week for sure.

Time to cast off & start our adventure by heading up the Rideau Canal & River. But wait, there’s the Pretoria Lift Bridge ahead of us & it has stopped opening for 90 minutes to accommodate the noon hour traffic. So we took up positions on the flybridge & watched the world go by us on the streets above. I offered to serve up some Spamderves but everyone wanted to save enjoining that delight with a fine bottle of wine later in the week.

We finally cast off at 1:30 pm & headed towards our first lock. The tourist boat on the canal did not have to wait for the Pretoria bridge to lift. With only 10 feet of clearance under the bridge & our height of 17 feet we had to wait for the operator to raise it a few more feet before we could pass under.

Not too sure how far we were going to get today. It was now starting to cloud over pretty heavily & other boaters would be stopping soon to avoid traveling in the rain.

While we were passing through the Hartwells Locks I asked the lock master if he knew if any overnight dock spaces were available at Black Rapids. Unfortunately they were full up so we decided that Hartwells would be our resting place for tonight.

Time to secure Santosha to the dock & open the bar! We just got nicely set up with our drinks & the rain started, so our timing was right on. We enjoyed our beverages under the flybridge bimini cover & planned our evening.

Barb set up a relay system to get everything to our dining tables on the flybridge.

After a great meal we all pitched in for the cleanup & then enjoyed a couple of card games for the evening’s entertainment.

All in all, a great start to our adventure. Tomorrow we head towards Kemptville.

Cheers!

July 31 – Ottawa Downtown
45°25′27″ N 75°41′39″ W

We got up at 7:00am. The construction workers on the opposite side of the canal were already doing their thing but Mr Jackhammer across the road from us was probably still working on his morning coffee.

Around 8:00am I walked up the dock to see if any better spaces had opened up & we were in luck! Several boats had already headed towards the waiting line for the step locks to take them down to the Ottawa River. We moved Santosha right away to the very first space on the overnight dock. Hooray! There was still construction noise but nowhere near as bad as the day before.

After securing the boat we headed off towards ByWard Market in search of breakfast & provisions.

The Chateau Laurier Hotel is just a few steps from where we are docked. We could go in there for breakfast but I am not likely to get past the Maitre ‘d unless I shaved.

The market area is a great place to wander around. Lots of restaurants, coffee shops, food & craft vendors.

After shopping here we know will be eating very well for the next several days. There’s even a healthy place to leave your car!

Our friends Bruce & Barb were scheduled to fly into Ottawa from Winnipeg around 6:00pm. We had arranged to meet them for dinner at their daughter’s apartment which was not far from the boat. Take out Jerk Chicken was on the menu. We got one order for each person but there was enough food for twice as many people.

Bruce & Barb will join us on Santosha tomorrow morning & we will start heading south towards Smiths Falls. Looking forward to lots of fun together.

Cheers!

July 30 – Ottawa Downtown
45.4231961,-75.6889863

Catherine (aka “The Admiral”) arrives today. She took the train from London to cut down on the driving.

I started the morning at Black Rapids locks so I had 3 sets of locks and a lift bridge to get through before I could reach downtown.

I had 30 minute delays at Black Rapids & at Hog’s Back locks and then about an hour’s delay at Hartwell locks so my cushion of time was evaporating. While I was waiting my turn at Hartwell a beautifully restored cruiser passed by me. Nice to see someone take so much care to preserve a classic.

After going through the locks I headed over to Dow’s Lake Pavilion to get my fresh water tanks filled & to pump out the waste holding tank. Catherine & I were trading text messages. Her train was arriving about 1 hour late so that delay actually worked in our favour.

After servicing the boat I headed towards downtown.

My goal was to secure a dock space on the canal close to the National Arts Center, Chateau Laurier Hotel & the Parliament Buildings.

I was in luck, there was one space left at the end of the row. I just got nicely tied up when Catherine called to tell me that she had arrived in Ottawa & just stepped off the train. Unfortunately I could barely hear her because of all the noise from the jackhammers & concrete cutting saws working on the government building directly across the street from where I was tied up. Now I understand why this space was not taken! Anyway, I was here & Catherine was arriving in a few minutes. Surely the construction workers would stop at 5:00pm. Not so! This racket continued until almost 10:00pm! Here’s a “taste” of the fun for you to enjoy! I took this “sound” video from Santosha’s deck.

https://youtu.be/USue2rvyWn0

What a romantic reunion Catherine & I had. We had to shout at each other to be heard – but at least they were words of love – I MISSED YOU TOO, HONEY 🙂

We decided to tough it out at this spot & move to a quieter place tomorrow. In the meantime we went for a walk through the downtown/Byward Market area in search of some peace & quiet & some earplugs!

Photo above: the 8 step locks leading from the Rideau Canal down to the Ottawa River – a total drop of 76 feet.

Cheers!