Home Again

We put the boat in bristol fashion, ready for our check-out inspection by 9:00 AM.  We managed to book 22.3 hours of engine time, broke one soup bowl, and filled the gray water tank to capacity.  George had a poutine breakfast while the rest of us watched in horror as we ate somewhat more conventional breakfasts.  By 9:30, we had said our goodbyes and promised to do this again…sometime.

We backtracked our trip to Smiths Falls, coming close to Montreal.  Deb thought it would be interesting to actually stop at “Habitat 67,” the condo complex designed through the inspiration of a McGill graduate student’s masters thesis.  There is a website that

offers tours of the buildings but not on the day that we were there.  Scrolling further down in the website reveals an interesting fact, and one that might help to explain Deb’s fascination with the building…it was originally designed using Lego’s!

Back home by 6:00 in the evening, one more dinner out before stepping on the scale to assess the damages!

Smiths Falls - Rideau Canal , CN

A little over the top!

 Our last day,  a 30km motoring back to the rental base.  The weather for the past week has been mostly hot, but today is decidedly cold.  The boat can be steered from inside or up top on the fly bridge.  George, likes to drive from the fly bridge, but after about half an hour decides to check out driving from inside.  After about another half hour, I can feel my fingers again, but not for long, because George has decided to drive from the fly bridge again.  All in all, a nice, but cool, trip back.  

We bought two boxes of wine, one white and one red.  It would be a shame to waste it…so we pretty much finish it off along with the rest of the cheese and crackers.  Deb has made marinara with the left over tomatoes and turkey.  It appears that we still have a bottle of salad dressing left, but that’s about it.  

Our bags are packed and we are ready for our 9:00 check-out tomorrow.  I haven’t decided whether or not to confess to breaking a bowl.  Maybe, I’ll just leave $3 CAD on the table and call it even.

The Narrows (redux) - Rideau Canal, CN

 As planned, we left the Narrows to go to Westport, ate lunch, and returned to exactly where we started but  facing the other way.  We started the morning with pea meal bacon, apparently the real deal for what we refer to as Canadian bacon. (it’s thin slices of pork in corn meal). After “locking-thru” we motored to Westport.  The most exciting part was not noticing the channel markers as we were coming into the town dock, but fortunately there were enough people screaming at us that we didn’t go aground before getting into the channel.  Westport is a lovely town, the ice cream parlor was closed for school break(?) but the local brewery was in full swing.

Now that we are on the fall schedule, the latest that we could “lock-thru” was 4:15, but we made it back and managed to “lock-thru” with 5 of our new best friends.  

Tomorrow, despite the chance of rain, will be our last day on the channel.  We motor back to Smiths Falls so we can be there before 9:00 AM the next day.  Back to the math problems, there is a lock just before Smiths Falls that doesn’t open until 10:00, so you need to get there the night before! I’m sure there is some sort of cosmic logic to all this, but if it were me… you shouldn’t make all our customers start their trip after all the locks were closed and end their trip before all the locks were open.  There, I’ve said my peace, I feel better…well not actually.

The Narrows - Rideau Canal, CN

 

We got to Perth yesterday, in shorts and a t-shirt…left with long pants, long sleeved shirt and a rain jacket.  Needless to say the heatwave has broken.  The day was half navigating the 12’ wide Tay Canal and half being on the open waters of the Big Rideau Lake.  We have three reference manuals, our topographical MacBook, our info book on the locks, and a general interest book about the canals and the towns.  With the three combined we have decided to spend the night on the downstream side of the Narrow Lock, which is the only side that has power, tomorrow we will go through the lock when it opens at 9:00 because it is a week-end and on the fall hours and go to Westport…eat lunch and return by 4:15 to get through the lock again to be back on the downstream side.  It’s a little bit higher level math than just dealing with tide tables.  

Canadian wine and cheese followed by the local speciality for dinner, pork wrapped in bacon and beef steak.  My fishing has yielded nothing but sunfish, but I still have a few more days.

Perth - Rideau Canal, CN

 To get to Perth, just go down the Rideau two lock and take a right on the Tay Canal.  The “Le Boat” instruction video says that the Tay Canal is only for experienced boaters.  So does a week on a boat make me “experienced.”  Apparently it does, since I didn’t hit anything or go aground! 

Perth is a really nice place. Since it is still in the 90’s, we stopped at a tavern for a quaff of ale.  We met some locals who confirmed that Perth is nice, Smiths Falls is not, and Merrickville is just a tourist trap for Toronto urbanites to squander their money.  So now we know all the local gossip.  It is important to note that the town closes at 7:00 PM.

Dinner at a German restaurant, and back to the boat. Next to us at the town dock is a small wooden boat with a Virginia registration.  They did not motor all the way from Virginia, which would have made a much more interesting story.  By 3:00, the rain started, officially ending our September heatwave.  We, of course, have a detailed plan for tomorrow, we are going to the downstream side of the Narrows Lock.  The people in the Virginia boat are headed north, probably.  They are going to spend the night…someplace, which should get them somewhere, sometime.  I’m in a boat full of type “A’s”. We all wish we could be so carefree, and someday, we will carefully plan a carefree trip!

Smiths Falls - Rideau Canal, CN

 

Todays voyage was from Merrickville to Smiths Falls.  There are several locks on the way.  No matter how slow or how fast you travel, the lock masters call ahead to the next lock to let them know you are coming, and you and your two new closest friends will join up up at each lock to rise or fall together.  

Smiths Falls is the boat rental headquarters and we take the opportunity to rid ourselves of sewage and take on more fresh water for our final five days.  Although a break in the heat is forecast, it’s definitely not here yet.  My pick-up truck is at Smiths Falls for the close of the trip, but we use it to make a quick dash to Walmart for a few items.  The air conditioner doesn’t seem to be working well until I realize that six days before, the weather was in the 50’s and I had the heat on!  

Dinner was pure Canadian with deep fried cheese curds (yes, the same thing that poutine is made from) with kimchi egg rolls (you can’t make this stuff up).  Wash it down with some local craft beer, Calabogie IPA (which was better than the Confused IPA that I had in Merrickville).  

Merrickville - Rideau Canal, CN

 From Burrit’s Rapids to Merrickville there are a series of six locks, a few swing bridges, and not much else.  The Labour Day week-end is over and there is no boat traffic on the river at all.  The people manning the locks are more relaxed, and all is serene.  Today is my first attempt at entering and exiting a lock.  Watching boats in the locks is a great tourist attraction in town…NO PRESSURE!

On our final set of locks, our lock mate says he is trying to get home, so I graciously let him go first, but instead he turns and steals our spot at the small town finger dock.  His mission is to save some money by carting 700 liters of gasoline from the local gas station back to his boat in 95 degree heat.  

With the sweltering heat comes a sudden desire to find an air conditioned spot for lunch, afternoon snack, Christmas shopping, before dinner drink…the list goes on!  Tomorrow is the last hot day but with a possibility of thundershowers!

Burrit’s Rapids - Rideau Canal, C

 Finished the Long Reach.  As planned, we arrived at Burrit’s Rapids at precisely noon.  As we were in the middle of lunch we were offered the opportunity to “lock-thru.”  As a further incentive, we were informed that none of the electrical outlets on this side of the lock worked.  So we moved to the upward side of the locks for the night.  Trying to avoid the standard birthday belittling, I asked Deb not to divulge that it was my birthday, but calls from both my children caused concerns that there may be troubles afoot.  Deb finally confessed and all was, for the most part, well.

For Canada, today was particularly hot, so we opted not to use the hob (Canadian for stove).  We cooked sausage, with asparagus, carrots and potatoes on the outdoor BBQ.  We have planned the rest of the trip in minute detail.  Of course, by mornings, things will have changed.

As a little birthday present to myself, I obtained a sport fishing license for the day.  I got to do some fly casting, while the rest of the part stayed on the boat to heckle me.

Hurst Marina, Rideau Canal, CN

 Our plan is to visit Manotick, then get a head start going down the Long Reach by spending the night at a commercial marina six miles south of town. The Long Reach is a 40km (26 miles) section of the Rideau Canal between two locks, which is where we would normally tie up for the evening.  Since we move fairly slowly, it takes about 8 hours to traverse the section.  We are somewhat concerned that there won’t be room at the city dock, so we get a fairly early start.  Fortunately, the dock is empty except for a few kayakers who were easily intimidated by our massive size.  After touring the local mill, in this order: ate a donut, ate a poke bowl, and ate a dish of ice cream.  Six miles down the Rideau, we pull into the Hurst marina, only 20 more miles to go.

Diner at a restaurant next to the marina.  Although we are in Canada, it’s in the 80’s and feels more like Georgia.  I just can’t get into the Canadian mind set.  So there it is, a choice…a pulled pork sandwich (might as well be in Georgia) or pulled pork poutine (nothin’ says Canada like poutine!).  I go for the poutine…next I may get a Maple Leaf tattoo!

So it’s Labour Day in Canada…  Canadiens put “you” in Labor Day!  That’s my dad joke for the week.

Long Island Locks - Rideau Canal, CN

Our sailing buddies, Therese & George 

On our first night, the water pump would come on, then the bilge pump would come on…over and over.  The result was half a tank of fresh water and half a night of sleep lost.  Turned out to be a switch left on for the “hot water cylinder.”  With that resolved, we set sail on the Rideau.  The boat we have looks something like a bumper car at the amusement part with black rubber strips wrapped all around it.  On the canal the rubber bumpers are a clear identified that we are clueless tourists.  

The boat can have a mind of its own swerving to the left or right, sort of like steering a pie plate, further enhancing the opinions of the locals that we a menace on the water.  The people who run the locks give us lots of friendly advice and work hard not to laugh hysterically as we try to navigate getting into and out of the gates.  

Rideau Canal - Ottawa, ON

 Up early in Montreal, no breakfast, out by 8:00 to meet our Virginia based friends in Smiths Falls, ON.  Deb made it 9:00 with no food, but then…Tim Horton’s to the rescue (a cross between McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts).  

The meet-up was successful.  We left our car and rode with them back to Ottawa where our 30’ Motor Yacht was awaiting us.  We had the all important walk thru at 3:00, so we were on high alert to accomplish  all our tasks ahead of time, including eating lunch and going grocery shopping for the items that we could not bring through customs.

Arriving with 10 minutes to spare, we offload the luggage and food, got the car parked in the designated parking lot and presented ourselves to the staff at the charter company.  They had felt that it would be easier to do the walk thru with another couple, who were decidedly more interested in a romantic evening

alone before being joined by their three children, then receiving detailed instruction on the use of a fire extinguisher, the location of windshield wipers, and how to flush a marine toilet.  After two hours of excruciating details, we each had to drive and dock the boat.  Each of us had a few hiccups and took about 5 minutes to dock, except for young wife who accomplished the task with perfect fashion in about a minute.

We all decided to have a congratulatory glass of wine, topped with a mexican dinner and safe evening still tied up to the same slip.

Auberge du Vieux Port - Montreal, Quebec (Day 2)

Today, we explored Montreal.  We are not really cathedral people, but they say that Notre Dame in Montreal is not to be missed.  

Deb has an aversion to cranes.  As we approached Notre Dame, there was a huge portable crane being used to disassemble a building tower crane, not what she needed first thing in the morning.  They are doing a large restoration project on one of the towers of Notre Dame.  As we got there, they were lowering a porta-potty right next to the entrance.  As Deb so astutely pointed out, there would be little reason for lowering a porta-potty unless it was full!  Fortunately, we made it inside without any problems.  The interior of the cathedral was ethereal, with deep blue ceilings and a massive altar. The lighting made it spectacular.

Back in the sixties, I came to Montreal to see the Expo.  Of all the pavilions, really, only the Biosphere remains.  We decided to take the ferry over to the island with the Biosphere and Habitat 67, a strangely shaped apartment complex designed by a McGill University architecture student.  As we rode the ferry, we realized that the Habitat 67 was not on the same island as the Biosphere.  The next time that we are here, we are definitely going to check out the Habitat 67!  

As we explored the Expo, I stepped on something that made a loud crunch!  Unfortunately, it was my reading glasses.  The rest of the afternoon, we were in search of a drug store…what an exciting way to tour a city…with a mission.

Back to the hotel, up to the rooftop for a before dinner cocktail, down to the street for alfresco dining, back to the bar for an after dinner drink and back to room to get ready for an early start of the rest of our trip.