43°6′9″ N 77°26′37″ W

Aug 17 – Fairport, NY

We went through Lock 26 at 7:00am this morning. When we first got up the outside of the boat was absolutely covered in mosquitoes. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be sleeping in a tent!

On to the next lock a few miles further up the canal. This particular lock location is also a “home base” for many of the work boats that are used to maintain the canals, locks and dams. Some pretty cool equipment here.

It would be neat to take a tour of this facility. It even has a massive dry dock.

As soon as we exited the lock we encountered an English style canal boat, very similar to the kind we chartered in England last fall.

Upon closer inspection we saw that there are a few companies in this part of New York State that are chartering them. The boat’s here are wider because the locks can accommodate a wider beam.

We stopped around noon at a small public marina in Palmyra. It can only hold 4-5 boats but is really well done.

They offer free dockage for up to 48 hours & that includes electricity, water, bathrooms & showers – plus a self-serve pump out facility. We had lunch on the boat & then walked into the town in search of a hardware or small department store.

The downtown area is very nice with lots of interesting stores, galleries & museums.

We found a dollar store & picked up a couple of umbrellas. The beach umbrella we bought in Brewerton is too big to hold on to for extended periods of time & there is no way to safely secure it to the helm seat so we hope that the smaller ones will be easier to hold on to & give us some shelter from the sun. We will be able to put the bimini back up once we reach Buffalo.

Other boaters meeting us on the canal must get a chuckle out of this sight but it’s better than getting cooked in the sun!

We arrived in Fairport around 3:30 & decided to call it quits for the day. This town is a very popular & busy stop on the canal route. We were lucky to find a spot to tie up.

This town also has the first of 14 lift bridges that we will have to pass under en route to Buffalo. None of the bridges are high enough for us to pass under without lifting so we hope that they will not delay our rate of progress too much. All of the locks & lift bridges operate on demand. However, in this section of the canal their service hours are from 7:00am to 5:00pm each day.

Cheers!

43°3′29″ N 76°50′15″ W

Aug 16 – Erie Canal Lock 26

Today we travelled approximately 55 miles & are now well on our way to Buffalo.

We were up early and ready to leave at 7:00am but the river was covered in fog so we stayed on the dock until 8:30.

Catherine took advantage of the situation & got acquainted with the marina’s two cats, Max & Grommit.

Not sure which one is Max & which one is Grommit.

They are both very friendly – so friendly in fact that the marina has a note on their “Welcome Packs” that they give to each boater asking you to check for feline stowaways on board before leaving. Apparently they like to jump aboard boats tied to the docks.

We were also visited by a flock of swallows who were having a great time catching bugs off the river beside our boat.

The birds took a break on our bow railing while the fog was lifting.

We finally got underway as the sun burned off the fog. It was our first day “topless” (i.e. no bimini) & thankfully the sun was not too intense. We bought a beach umbrella in Brewerton yesterday & it helped provide some shade but was also a bit unwieldy as there was no way to secure it to the deck of the flybridge so we had to resort to holding on to it with one hand & steer with the other. In retrospect we would have been better off to buy a couple of golf umbrellas.

After about 3 hours into our journey today we came to the dividing point at Three Rivers Junction. This is the place where you turn right to go to Oswego or turn left to go to Buffalo.

We hung a left & started the 192 mile trip to Buffalo. We hope to make it there by Saturday or Sunday at the latest.

Cheers!