Overnight at Newboro Lock

44°38′46″ N 76°19′16″ W

Glenn & I got up around 7:00am & headed to the Roosteraunt – the best place in town for breakfast & lunch.

After a hearty breakfast we walked over to the local grocery store for provisions. Top of the list was lots of meat accompanied by a few “token” veggies so we could tell our wives that yes, we were eating healthy.

Our trip to Newboro was pretty easy & Glenn quickly became an old hand at managing the lines as we passed through the first series of locks.

Glenn also got to experience passing through the locks with a few boats from the “Quebec Navy”. The lock was full of boats with fellow travelers all in good spirits!

Each year the Rideau System gets very busy with hundreds of boaters from Quebec who are taking advantage of the Quebec Construction Holiday period from the beginning of the last week of July to the end of the first week of August.

Many boaters from Quebec do a “mini-loop”, starting in Montréal & then up the Ottawa River to Ottawa, through the Rideau system to Kingston & then down the St Lawrence River back to Montréal. Other boaters do the mini-loop in the reverse direction. Convergence usually occurs a few locks on either side of Smiths Falls. That results in lots of traffic at the locks but no one cares – we are all on vacation & out for a good time!

Once we were settled in Newboro we had a late lunch & then brought out the backgammon board. Glenn & I & his wife Jay passed many a long winter’s night in Field, BC playing countless games of backgammon while drinking gallons of Jay’s excellent coffee! Oh, those were the days!

Cheers