Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): July 27

Just Beautiful

Morton Bay - Anchorage

Today we did the first seven locks of the Rideau Canal, we locked up 79.5’. The Rideau Canal was completed in 1832 and was one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19^th century. It was built as an alternate military route between Lake Ontario and Montreal in case Canada’s enemy to the south (America) ever captured the St. Lawrence River. It consists of a system of beautiful rivers and lakes connected by 45 locks. Today, the Rideau Canal is primarily used by pleasure boaters. All of the locks on the canal are operated by hand using various systems of gears and pulleys. Everyone working at the locks was very friendly and helpful. The lock stations are like small parks with nice grassy areas, flowers, picnic tables and bathrooms. Boaters are permitted to dock overnight at most of the locks. At many of the locks, there were crowds of people watching the boats lock through. Everyone seemed very interested that we had brought the boat all the way from Texas…some didn’t seem to understand how that was possible!

We left Kingston in time to make the LaSalle Bridge opening at 9:00. The first four locks were about five miles away. We docked on the lower wall and walked up to the lockmaster’s office to purchase our seasonal locking and mooring passes. The first three locks are a flight, meaning you enter one lock, lock up or down and immediately enter the next lock. To enter the fourth lock we had to move forward about 100 yards and have a small bridge raised. The whole process took about 1 ½ hours to complete. The lock at Lower Brewers has a swing bridge that they open with a hand crank just like they open the lock doors; the lock tenders get a real workout each day.

Some areas of the river today were only 100' wide…I've never been on such a small river in such a big boat. The scenery was breathtaking. We are anchored in a beautiful bay with granite cliffs on one side, one of the prettiest anchorages we have ever stayed in. We spent the afternoon enjoying a swim and relaxing on the boat.

Leaving Kingston - Kingston City Hall