Peterborough to Orillia

Monday - Tuesday, June 25-26

We left Peterborough Monday morning in time for the first opening of Ashburnham lock (#20), just a mile or two from the marina. The lock after that was the Peterborough Lift Lock (21) a half mile away. This is a unique lock- it has two "tubs" of water that counterbalance. Boats and water are lifted up (in our case) as the other side comes down. The top tub is filled with 11 extra inches of water to make it heavier, and therefore it goes down while the bottom tub rises. We were raised 65 feet! When exiting the top tub, that 11 inch difference gave us a little bump as we pulled out. For a better explanation, Google "Peterborough Lift Lock."

Tub on the left is up while the right side tub is down

Meeting midway

That was a fast, fun ride!

We moved on through more "normal" locks- Nassau Mills, Otonabee, Douro, Sawer Creek, Lakefield, Young's Point, Burleigh Falls, Lovesick, and Buckhorn. We tied to the upper wall of Buckhorn for the night and met a friendly couple from Bridgenorth traveling the opposite direction. We shared docktails and stories.

Tuesday we had a few longer intervals between locks. We left at 0615 to make it to Bobcaygeon for the 9:00 opening. We got off the boat briefly in Fenelon Falls for an early lunch at "On the Locks". We traveled the rest of the day with "Contentment", a Michigan Looper, as we transited more locks- Fenelon Falls, Rosedale, Kirkfield, Bolsover, Portage, and Gamebridge. Our goal was to cross Lake Simcoe today because tomorrow's winds could make for a bumpy ride.

Wonderful scenery today- narrow in some spots

The Kirkfield Lift Lock is very similar to the one in Peterborough.

We crossed Lake Simcoe with no issues and arrived in Orillia at 7:15 p.m.- 13 hours, 80 miles and 9 locks. Needless to say, we were exhausted. Port of Orillia is a friendly marina with beautiful new facilities. We will be exploring Orillia until Friday, June 29.

Sunset in Orillia

We have been in Canada exactly 21 days, of which 14 were travel days. On those 14 days we transited through 98 locks! (4 more to go) We have our reasons for moving at this speed- family, friends, home, a baptism, Kids' Camp, and a very small boat.

Riding the Rideau

Wednesday June 13 - Friday June 15

As we left Ottawa and continued up the Rideau Canal system, glorious sunshine was replaced by drizzle, thunderstorms and plummeting temps- a good two days to travel in our snug little tug. We spent Thursday night at Hurst Marina in Manotick, Ontario, in a rain storm. We had hoped to do our laundry, but their only washing machine was out of order. Another Ranger Tug pulled in next to us, but we weren't able to visit much with Dennis and Peggy on "3 Cheers," as we left very early the next morning.

The Rideau is made navigable by locks- many, many locks. Lots of locks. On Thursday we traveled all of 16 miles and went through 8 of the historic hand-cranked locks. As I've said, the lock workers are all very friendly and helpful. They always ask where we are headed and then call ahead to let the next lock operators know we're on the way so the lock can be ready for us. Sometimes a bridge must be opened for us as well- a common occurrence. But we were not quite prepared for this "bridge"!


What???

This did not look passable, but yet it had to be.....

Soon two men showed up and- unbelievably - attached two trolling motors to the bridge. As the small motors worked, one man pulled on a rope to swing the bridge open. Crazy!

Attaching 2 trolling motors to the "bridge"

The novelty of the picturesque locks has worn off now, and we have many, many more ahead.

Thursday night we tied to the wall on Merrickville Pond, just above the Merrickville set of locks. I took off on a walk and found a nail salon and decided to have a spur of the moment pedicure- a great decision! We met two other local boats here and traveled part of the way with them on Friday. More locks- a total of eight for us.

The sunshine returned on Friday, perfect weather. We stopped in Rideau Ferry Harbor for a pumpout and fuel. I am puzzled by the Canadian insistence on keeping their waterways clean (understandable) but yet pumpout facilities are few and far between. Many marinas do not offer fuel, especially diesel, or pumpout service. We have a small boat with small tanks- 100 gallons of diesel (held 600 on our former boat) and 40 gallons in our holding tank- so we have to be intentional about where and when we stop for these things. To add insult to injury, the charge for our pumpout yesterday was $25.

We are currently in Westport, another cute little village. Eight "le boats" are also here. Le boat is  a European company that rents boats to people who want to cruise the Rideau. The people are given basic instructions, but may or may not have any boating experience. They pay $5000 a week to do this! The boats here are carrying foreign journalists who are experiencing the Rideau on le boats and will write about their experiences. The 44 foot model has 4 cabins and is designed for 4 couples without much privacy. The boats hold 400 gallons of water, and the current occupants use it all it a few hours- they don't realize that water usage on a boat is different than at home. In comparison, we hold 40 gallons, which can last us 4-7 days depending on how we use it. Theses boats are new, but have no chart plotter, radio, depth finder, etc. We have no idea how the renters navigate! Le boats are equipped with a governor limiting their speed to 6 mph, and have built in fenders all around the hull. Our policy is to stay away from these boats, much like rental houseboats on the Mississippi.

Today, June 16, is chore day. Laundry, groceries, refilling our propane tank, cleaning an engine filter, baking a batch of breakfast muffins, etc. Laundry is a .4 mile walk each way, as is the grocery store. We did go out for lunch. Fun times!

Part of the le boat fleet

Showers are in the Visitor Center a few blocks away- $1 for 2 minutes, $2 for minutes- and no way to regulate the temperature. Give me a break! We both opted for showers on the boat!

A Loonie is a $1 coin (has a loon on it) A townie is a $2 coin.

Ottawa

Ottawa is great! Its is the capital of Canada, it is in Ontario, and English is the predominant language here. It is much smaller than Montreal and feels more English than French. We arrived here June 11 and spent 2 nights.

Ottawa skyline

To get here, we had to climb the steps- Locks 1-8 of the Rideau Canal. These locks are literally stairs steps for boars. They are small, hand-cranked, and were constructed in the 1820's, and remain pretty much unchanged. We were the only boat in the locks.

Looking up at the locks before we entered

Looking down the locks after our lockage

After locking through, we were right on Parliament Hill, a 10 minute walk to this historic building. Of course we had to take a tour! After this summer, tours will be unavailable for the next 10 years as this national treasure undergoes extensive renovation. Having been warned that the English tour tickets go quickly, Mark decided to get in line an hour before the 9 a.m. opening of the ticket office. He was the first person in line!

Parliament Building with the Peace Tower in the center

The tour included the Memorial Hallway, the Library, and the Peace Tower. We could not enter the House of Commons or the Senate since both houses were working. The library contains over 1,000,000 volumes, many of which are stored elsewhere.

Queen Victoria statue in the library 

The plaques in the Hall of Memory list every member of Parliament- if you look closely as we accidentally did, you can see the Mather, B. was an MP for several years in the 1960's!

The view from the Peace Tower was impressive.

The East Office building - the West Building looks pretty much like this one.

Fairmont Hotel

War Memorial

One of these men in the foreground is a member of the Scottish Brigade. 

The Guard changes every hour at the War Memorial

We checked out the By Market District of shops and outdoor cafes, and sampled a Beavertail- a tasty pastry with about 30 grams of sugar.

The Rideau Canal wall where we are moored, behind the larger boat. In a few weeks both sides will be lined with boats, but we are here a little early in the season.

Today, June 13, we continued up the Rideau. We went through another 8 small, hand operated locks in the space of 16 miles. We also had to have 3 low bridges opened, and the first one made us wait about 45 minutes. This is as far as we could go today, since the next set of locks would be closed for the day by the time we arrived. So we are in Manotick, Ontario, at Hurst Marina for the night. They have a pool and hot tub, but we  rain and thunderstorms kept us inside. Oh well- tomorrow is another adventure.

Mallets Bay, VT to Chambly, Quebec

On Tuesday June 5th we left Mallets Bay, VT at 0700, topped off our fuel at Gaines Marina near Rouses Point, NY, and easily cleared customs a short time later. The agents did not come aboard and only asked if we carried weapons or tobacco. Piece of cake!

We arrived at the entrance of the Chambly Canal at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in plenty of time for the 1:30 p.m. lockage.  They are currently doing 2 lockages a day until summer officially arrives. These locks are tiny! The ladies running the operation carefully arranged 4 of us, a 40’ boat, a 35’ boat, our 27’ boat and a pontoon boat into the chamber.  The fifth boat had to wait another day to get through. The locks are about 24’ wide and 100’ long. The operators crank the gates open and closed by hand after handing each boat 2 lines to hang on to.

Discussing the lockage procedure with the lady in charge

Locks 9 and 8 were about 10 miles apart, and the speed limit throughout the entire canal is 6.2 mph. The canal is very narrow, and we stayed in single file all the way. The pontoon left us after the first lock and the rest of us continued.

We were second in line, and these two followed us in and out of the locks.

The lock tenders drove the route, stopping to open several 3’ high bridges along the way. What a hoot!

These locks are small!

Locks 7, 6, 5 and 4 were close together, a few tenths of a mile between each.  Another set of lock tenders took over, driving golf cart-like vehicles between the locks. All spoke excellent English and were very helpful.

The waterway is extremely narrow 

Locks 3, 2 and 1 were really crazy! Each one opened directly into the next one, like stairs. Amazing 19th century technology, considering these locks are operating just as they were in the 1840’s.

Each lock has a little house like this one.

We finished the lockages around 5:15 and tied up to the wall just outside lock 1. There was no power, but we didn’t need any. We purchased both a lock pass and a mooring pass for the season before we started our trip, rather than paying for each event separately.

Looking back at the gates of lock 1

View from the top of the locks 1-2-3 and the Bassin Chambly

We walked around the town and Fort Chambly after dinner. I was asleep before 9 p.m.

Chambly Library

Mark at Fort Chambly

Our little tug and the Bassin Chambly