Home in London

42°58′21″ N 81°14′48″ W

It’s hard to believe but I had been away from home for almost 2 months! Catherine had planned to come & spend some time with me on the boat but she was held up due to “competing priorities” – primarily Emily’s move to her new apartment, painting the living room & bedroom, followed by an epic adventure with Ikea furniture!

Emily needed furniture for her new place so she & her mom went to the Ikea store in Hamilton & Emily bought pretty much everything she needed from that store. It was supposed to be delivered a week later but there were multiple delivery appointments set up by Ikea only to be missed with no explanation from them. Very frustrating. One week turned into two, then three & four. At that point we were all very frustrated!!!!

Finally the furniture was delivered & Catherine & Emily started assembling. They got a few pieces done but there was a lot left to do. So I decided to come home for a few days to lend a hand. It was also a good opportunity to visit with Catherine’s mom Jeanne & some of our friends.

The next few days involved a lot of unpacking, reading instructions & assembly.

Its all done now & looks great. Nice shopping Emily!

And now, back to the boat where I have a number of small jobs waiting for me there too.

Cheers!

Docked at Aylings Boatyard in Merrickville

44°55′2″ N 75°49′51″ W

This morning I headed to Merrickville because I needed to go back home to London for a few days & my car was at Aylings Boatyard in Merrickville. Also, I can only leave the boat at any particular lock for two days in a row, so that requires me to go to a marina where I can tie up the boat for as many days as I want.

Going from Smiths Falls to Merrickville required me to go through 2 locks in Smiths Falls, a triple lock at Old Slys, a single lock at Edmonds, another single lock at Kilmarnock and then 3 more locks in Merrickville.

On the way to Merrickville I went past this fixer-upper. Right on the water! I wonder if I can convince Catherine to take a look at it with me? 🙀🔨

I ended up traveling in a group through all the locks with 4 other boaters. Once you are set up in each lock you have some time to chat with your “neighbors”. Jeff & Deidre were on my port side through each lock. They were looking for a marina to stay at for the night & decided to go to Aylings as well. Once we were securely docked I went aboard their boat “French Toast” for a quick drink & some gamming before hitting the road to London. French Toast is a beautiful 41 foot Sea Ray. Twin diesels & lotsa room on board this baby!

I left Aylings around 5:00pm & arrived back home in London at 1:00am. It was a long day but I was glad to be home.

Cheers!

Overnight at Detached Lock in Smiths Falls

44°53′41″ N 76°1′15″ W

I left Poonamalie at about 9:30 this morning & arrived at the Detached Lock in Smiths Falls around 10:30.

This particular lock is in a very convenient location with lots of stores & restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk & the Roosteraunt is truly only a 1 minute walk from the boat.

Today I made a trip to Canadian Tire & 2 trips to the grocery store. Tomorrow I’ll visit The Beer Store & the LCBO! I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity to get more provisions ‘cause there are no other stops like this along the way.

The weather was very unsettled again today. It must have rained about 10 times through the morning & afternoon. It just rains for 10-15 minutes & then clears up for half an hour & then the rain starts again. Very frustrating!

When its wet outside I cannot do much to the boat even if it stops raining. Most little projects I want to do require the boat to be dry & there has to be no chance of rain for at least the rest of the day.

So, when the weather is uncooperative I resort to other activities. I have no one to play backgammon with so the Solitaire game on my phone gets a good workout (I won’t tell you how many games I have played this past week but its a lot!).

I am also listening to a lot of podcasts & audiobooks. I’m currently listening to “A Good Year” by Peter Mayle. (borrowed online from London Public Library). I saw the movie years ago starring Russell Crowe & Albert Finney.

The movie was very good & I’m really enjoying the audio book too. The only problem with the audio book is that if I lie down while listening to it I inevitably fall asleep & then when I wake up I have to try & figure out what I missed.

One small job I got done today in between the raindrops was to install new LED blue lights for the side decks. The original incandescent (automotive) bulbs & fixtures were rusted beyond repair so I took the opportunity to make a bit of an update.

Pretty cool, eh! And they make a big difference for walking along the side decks at night.

This lock location is also easy to identify because it is just in front of an out-of-service Bascule railway bridge that is permanently in the “up” position. It makes a nice silhouette against the last bit of light in the sky after sunset.

Cheers!

2nd Overnight at Poonamalie

44°53′34″ N 76°3′20″ W

I had a very nice spot on the grey line here so I decided to stay another night. It rained on & off throughout the day so I was glad I made this decision. Poonamalie is only a few kilometers away from Smiths Falls so I will go there on Saturday.

In spite if the rain there was lots of boat traffic in both directions. During one of the sunny periods a really nice classic woody went by. Well kept wooden boats are so beautiful & it’s easy to appreciate how much effort the owners have to go to in order to keep them that way.

Last year as we were cruising the Rideau Catherine spent a lot of time reading the “Ports Cruising Guide” for the Rideau Canal & the Ottawa River. I remember her telling me that Poonamalie Lockstation was named by one of the British Royal Engineers who worked on the site & it reminded him of Poomalee in the Tamil Region of India where the name means “cat hill” so he christened this location in Canada by the same name.

I wonder if he saw a stray cat hanging around the construction site. I’ll keep my eye out for one.

Cheers!

Overnight at Poonamalie

44°53′34″ N 76°3′20″ W

I left Newboro shortly after 8:00am. It was a beautiful sunny morning & a good time to be passing through the narrow downstream cut before a lot of boating traffic got started. This first few kilometers through the cut is spectacular but I wouldn’t want to meet anyone who was going too fast coming the other way.

Here’s a link to a short video that I took towards the end of the cut: https://youtu.be/6YSmhf27auQ

The Rideau System from Newboro to Ottawa is all “downhill” – meaning that every lock from this point on takes you down to a slightly lower elevation. Locking down is much easier than locking up, especially if you are by yourself.

Rain was once again forecast for later in the afternoon so I was hoping to make it to Poonamalie Lockstation before the weather turned bad.

After passing through The Narrows Lock there is a long passage through the chain of Rideau lakes: Upper Rideau Lake, Big Rideau Lake & Lower Rideau Lake.

I really like this part of the passage & because the water is wide, deep & weed free there are lots of great places to simply stop the boat & jump in to cool off on a hot day. There are also lots of cottages plus some pretty substantial homes to admire.

This place (below) has two float planes & a huge motorhome. Talk about having all the toys! But think about all the work that has to be done to look after all of it. I think I will remain content with Santosha.

I arrived at Poonamalie shortly after 12 noon & the rain started around 2:00 & continued on & off until about 8:00pm. I was glad to not have to travel through the soggy weather but was a bit surprised as to how many other boaters did not stop.

Cheers!