Overnight at Newboro

44°38′52″ N 76°19′6″ W

We left Poonamalie at 8:30 this morning & headed for Newboro Lock which is the highest point on the Rideau System. It’s all downhill from here – i.e. all of the locks we pass through from this point on until we get to Kingston will be taking us down in elevation.

Catherine & Emily did a great job handling the lines in the two locks we passed through at The Narrows & at Newboro.

With an able crew on board I could relax on the flybridge while we were passing through the locks. The lock at The Narrows was pretty busy. It was full for our trip through.

We arrived at Newboro around 1:30 pm & settled in to a nice spot on the dock just beside the spot where I had been a few days before with Yang & Amber.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing under the shade trees on shore & napping in our cabins. Not sure how long we can keep up this pace!

Cheers!

Overnight at Poonamalie

44°53′34″ N 76°3′21″ W

We were up at 8:00am & off to the Roosteraunt for breakfast. This place is becoming a bit habit-forming!

After breakfast we walked over to the grocery store & stocked up with provisions for our trip. This is the best place to get groceries between here & Kingston so we bought a lot of stuff. It’s a good thing that there were 3 of us to carry everything back to the boat.

We cast off around 11:30am & headed for Poonamalie. Our timing was good because just as we were exiting the lock at Poonamalie a group of other boats were arriving from the other direction. We got the last space available mooring space with an electric hookup.

I was looking forward to an afternoon of snacks & snoozing when I got a call from Steve Flewitt, the owner of Aylings Boatyard in Merrickville. He & I had placed an ad on Kijiji to sell my dingy & outboard motor & Steve had an interested person taking a serious look at them back in Merrickville. After a bit of negotiation over the phone we arrived at an agreement on price. Way to go Steve!

I bought the dingy brand new in Florida in 2017 & had never used it.

The outboard motor was pretty new too. It was a good setup but I believed that it was going to be a bit too much for me to handle, moving the outboard back & forth from the storage rack on Santosha each time I wanted to use the dingy. Catherine & I both like kayaks so I will use the money to buy a couple of smaller used ones. They will be easy to carry on the boat, much lighter for me to handle & we can have some fun with them exploring the shallower waters along the way.

We had BBQ’d salmon & corn on the cob for supper to celebrate our first day of the trip to Kingston.

After the supper dishes were cleaned up Emily dug out the Yahtzee game. She ended up being the champion for the evening, handily beating her mother & me.

Better luck next time, eh!

Tomorrow we head to Newboro.

Cheers!

2nd Overnight at Detached Lock

44°53′41″ N 76°1′37″ W

Today Catherine (aka “The Admiral”) arrives with her able assistant Emily.

The boat was pretty clean after Yang & Amber headed home but I still had some tidying up to do in the cabins & bathrooms to clean.

After those chores were done I took advantage of having a decent cellphone signal & used my phone as an internet hotspot for my laptop so I could make some updates & edits to Catherine & Valerie’s Spanda Yoga & Retreats website.

When that chore was done it was time for a nap.

Catherine & Emily were scheduled to arrive on the train at 10:30pm but unfortunately it was delayed for at least an hour.

It was almost midnight by the time their taxi arrived at the boat from the train station. With no energy left for a welcome photo session, we had hugs all around & headed off to bed.

Our “slow boat to Kingston” adventure begins tomorrow.

Cheers!

Overnight at the Detached Lock

44°53′41″ N 76°1′37″ W

Sadly, today Yang & Amber had to start on their way back home to London. We had a leisurely breakfast & only a very short trip from Poonamalie back to Smiths Falls where Yang had left his car.

We had a lot of fun over the past few days & it was a good introduction for both of them to the “boating life”.

Yang starts a new job in London in a couple of weeks & he was interested in learning a bit more about Canadian style cooking & for preparing simple lunch meals that he could take to work with him. So we prepared our lunch before we left Poonamalie.

I felt it was a bit too soon to introduce him to my secret Spam recipes so we started with making egg salad for sandwiches & wraps & then step up to deviled eggs!

Yang caught on fast & has good technique – must come from the years he spent in the chemistry labs at university 🙂

Yang & Amber both promised to share some of their favorite recipes with me when I get back home to London.

Thanks for coming & Cheers!

Catherine & Emily arrive tomorrow (Friday) night so now I have to get busy & get Santosha ready for our next adventure – Smiths Falls to Kingston.

Overnight at Poonamalie

44°53′34″ N 76°3′21″ W

Today we had to head back towards Smiths Falls because Yang & Amber had to be home in London for the weekend.

We started out in a light rain & the forecast was for it to continue for most of the day but thankfully the forecast was wrong & within an hour of our departure the sun came out & the sky kept getting clearer.

Yang was becoming an old hand at managing the lines in the locks. Too bad there aren’t more locks to pass through as I was enjoying having the help!

I also showed Amber my favorite spot on the boat during a smooth passage through the Rideau Lakes.

We arrived at Poonamalie Lockstation around 1:30 pm & there was lots of space on the overnight docks so we decided to stop & enjoy the spot for the rest of the day & overnight.

It will be easy for us to get to Smiths Falls early tomorrow morning as we are now only a few kilometers away.

The afternoon sun was hot so after we had a brief rest we found a shady spot to sit on shore & I mixed us up some cool drinks of rum & grapefruit juice.

An hour or so later our thirst came back so we decided to quench it with a margarita. Not a bad way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

Tonight I continued to share my Canadian style cooking with Amber & Yang & we had BBQ’d chicken with boiled mini carrots & cold baby potatoes (from yesterday).

I have probably missed an opportunity to try out a Spam recipe on my guests but there’s always next year!

Here’s another update on our adventure from my guest bloggers:

8月21日，早晨7点半细细的小雨把我们吵醒，当我们洗漱完毕回到船上，Wally早已为我们做好了他拿手的咖啡拿铁。Wally教我们怎么做omlette（一种煎蛋）当我们的早餐。味道好极了！！ 吃完早餐后，我们启程开回Poonamlie. 在回去的路上还是有一些小雨，但不是很冷. 雨点并没有给这次旅途带来扫兴. 而是让我们在船上有了不同的体验。毕竟，没有任何事情是完美的，但是要学会在不同的事情中寻找自己的乐趣。刚开出不久，雨停了、天晴了. 真是应了那句不经历风雨怎么见彩虹呢？ 我们一路讨论很多有趣的事，关于生活，爱情，以及事业. 我们到达Poonamlie时大概1点半. Wally 为我们做了他的拿手牛排卷饼. 当我们吃完饭后，Wally给我们做了他的拿手饮品水果朗姆酒. 我们拿着酒坐在岸边，听着鸟叫，聊了一些有趣的事. 可能是朗姆酒的原因，Wally和Yang小憩了一会. 下午6点， 我们又喝了另一种Wally叫它Fargarita.这是倩倩最喜欢的了. 天色渐晚，我们准备开始晚餐了.我们的晚餐是烤鸡胸肉和煮土豆，小胡萝卜. Wally的厨艺好棒呀！ 晚餐后我们又聊了一会就睡觉了。我和Yang将在明天上午和Wally分开去我们的下一个旅程，Kingston. 真的很荣幸收到了Wally的邀请到他的船上做客. 这次旅途给我们的生活带来了更多的经历. 很期待我们和Wally的下次相见.

Cheers!