Overnight at Newboro

44°38′52″ N 76°19′6″ W

Today we traveled from Smiths Falls to Newboro but our first stop was at the Roosteraunt for a hearty breakfast!

We cast off about 9:30am & with only 2 locks to pass through were hoping to reach our destination in the early afternoon. The weather was great for this 30 kilometer passage & Yang tried his hand on the helm as we traveled through the Rideau Lakes section.

When we arrived at Newboro the upper overnight dock level was full so we tied up on the lower side. That turned out to be a good choice as we had Newboro Lake right off our swim platform.

We relaxed on shore for a while & then Yang & I took a swim. Amber cheered us on as we took our “best” dives off the boat.

No fancy moves for us! It turned out to be a contest to see who could make the biggest splash!

We followed up our swim with BBQ’d steaks, new potatoes & red wine for supper.

After supper we settled down to preparing some blog entries & Amber & Yang had the task of sharing their thoughts about the events of the day.

8月20日，我和倩倩度过了非常舒适的一晚，清晨起来，我们和Wally在隔壁的Roosteraunt餐馆吃了一顿早餐，我来加拿大这么久，居然还不知道各种鸡蛋的做法，Wally要的poached，以后我也要尝试一下，看起来非常不错，之后让店主给我们照了张合影，发型都没弄，哈哈哈哈，之后我们出发向Newboro lock。一路风景很好，天气也非常不错，在船顶，吹着风，一切都是那么惬意，中途当我们开到了Big Rideau lake。水很深，Wally教我如何开船，后面差不多一小时的时间都是我在开船，我也算是小captain了！这也是我第一次开船，不像开车一样，不用很紧绷，我们开的也并不快。差不多5小时之后我们到了Newboro lock。当时一路开过来确实还有点小累，所以第一件事就是吃喝了，Wally还特意调制了秘密配方的酒，让人为之一振，我们也准备了很多东西，像sushi啊，中式的卤牛肉啊，鸭翅之类的，之后因为下午的缘故吧，太阳也太大了，倩倩决定去船里睡一会，我和Wally换好了救生衣，跳到湖里好好爽了一下，后面我们直接把倩倩叫起来，给我们拍照，录小视频。湖水差不多22，23度左右，一点都不冷，很干净，真的很适合下水游游泳，消消暑。之后等差不多天黑，Wally开始做晚饭，是牛排和小土豆，我也学习了很多，才发现为啥之前我做的牛排都有些问题。我们一人一块大牛排，只有我把牛排都吃了，哈哈哈，Wally和倩倩的都剩了一些，准备留下来明天做Wrap吃～后面把红酒喝完，也差不多10点多了，接着就休息了～不过今天外面没有多少风，船舱里有一点点小热，不过都还好。差不多就这样了，明天的让倩倩写，哈哈哈哈哈哈～

Cheers!

Smiths Falls Detached Lock

44°53′40″ N 76°1′38″ W

This morning I traveled a very short distance from the Combined Lock in Smith Falls to the Detached Lock – maybe 500 meters in total.

I had arranged with my friend Yang from London to meet at the Detached Lock. I met Yang in 2017 when I was volunteering at the Cross Cultural Learning Center in London & we have been friends ever since. He and his girlfriend Amber were going to spend 2-3 days on the boat with me.

After getting secured on the dock I walked over to several stores to pick up food & beverage items that we would need for our adventure. I got my steps in today & my legs were certainly reminding me of that by mid afternoon.

Yang & Amber arrived shortly before 7:00pm & after a welcome drink we headed off to a local pub for dinner.

The plan was to cast off the next morning & head south to Newboro Lock – about a 4-hour trip by boat – 30 minutes by car!

Here are some comments by Yang & Amber:

8月19日，我和倩倩早上10点怀着异常激动的心情从London，ON出发，目的地是Smith Falls小镇，Wally的Santosha号，这将是我们第一次在船上度过将来的几天时光，所以我们非常激动，虽然路上因为401修路耽误了一些时间，不过路途还算顺利，当我们到达Santosha停留的港口时，感觉一切的劳顿都是值得的，Santosha看起来是那么的漂亮，映照在夕阳下。Wally非常热情的迎接了我们，当我们拿着行李进入船舱后，一切都是那么温馨、整齐、干净。Wally特意帮我们收拾了船舱内的卧室，Wally也非常喜欢我们从中国山西带来的十二生肖彩色剪纸。Wally也特意准备了香槟为我们接风，喝了一些之后，我们便去小镇中心一家酒吧吃晚饭。聊了聊最近各自发生的事情，非常开心。回到船上以后，我们又喝了一些红酒，聊聊最近国际的一些新闻，和各自的看法。祝福各自的生活越来越好。最后我们计划了这几天的安排，我们还会在Santosha上面度过两个夜晚，之后便休息了。最开始我还觉得船里会很热，但实际，晚上睡觉非常凉快，甚至有些冷，船上真的太舒服了！！

Cheers!

Overnight at Smiths Falls Combined Lock

44°53′47″ N 76°1′16″ W

Today I traveled from Merrickville to Smiths Falls. The journey took about four hours with no waiting time at any of the locks.

The lockmasters at each lock commented that traffic had started slowing down quite a bit since the end of the Quebec construction holiday.

I tied up in the basin at Smiths Falls, adjacent to the docking area for the LeBoat fleet of charter boats. Catherine & I are planning to charter one of their boats in France sometime next year or the year after.

Scattered showers kept me inside for the balance of the day. Things calmed down a bit around dusk.

Hopefully this will be the end of rain for a few days because I have some friends coming tomorrow (Monday) to spend some time on the boat with me.

Cheers!

Aylings Boatyard Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

It rained most of the day today – a good excuse to sleep in & then take a long nap later in the afternoon.

Just before noon I managed to drum up a bit of ambition. Steve Flewitt, the owner of Aylings Boatyard was getting ready to custom cut some hardwood lumber for one of his customers so I lent a hand as his apprentice pile it. Steve cut the wood & I piled it for him. Sorry, no photos to show you because I was keeping a close eye on my fingers 🖐 🤚while working around the monster saws & planers.

Just before bedtime I received a text message from my friend Glenn with an inspirational poster.

I am looking forward to impressing my guests on board with a platter like that.

Yummmmy👍

Santosha Project Day in Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

I decided to stay at the marina for a couple of extra days to complete a few projects. Simple stuff first & then on to the tougher jobs.

First on the list was to install the new pantry curtains that Catherine made. They went on in a snap & look great!

Next on the list was to install a new power cable for the Garmin chart plotter on the flybridge. Thankfully the connection point was very close to the upper helm station so this job went pretty quickly too. I mostly use the sonar setting on this device so I can “see” bottom & the depth of water.

It’s a good compliment to my Tiki Chartplotter.

Finally on the list was to reinstall the aft deck cleats on the port & starboard sides of the boat. They had to be removed when I was having the deck repaired & could not be put back on until the bottom of each fitting was trimmed a bit to accommodate the higher level of the new decks.

Steve Flewitt, the owner of Aylings Boatyard was kind enough to trim the fittings for me in his shop. These fittings are made of heavy stainless steel so there was no way I could trim them with any of the tools that I have on board.

I’m glad to have that job done because it is tricky to secure the stern of the boat when I am going through the locks.

Reinstallation setup:

Job done!

Next in the list… oh yes, a big G&T to celebrate my accomplishments!

Cheers!