Kingston and the Rideau Canal

 



We arrived in Kingston, Ontario on Saturday, June 24 and stayed in the city's Municipal Marina.  The city was bustling with visitors, sites to see, ice cream shops to locate, and the coolest used book store I've ever seen.  Great restaurants and friendly people were everywhere - a very nice place to visit!!!













On Sunday morning, June 25, we left Kingston and headed North along the renown Rideau Canal, which is a National Historic Site in Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is the oldest operating lock system in North America (and likely the most beautiful).  The Rideau Canal stretches across a total of 126 miles between the cities of Kingston and Ottawa.  It was constructed just after the War of 1812, and most of the 49 locks still use hand-crank mechanisms to operate.  Some wonderfully friendly (and fit!) university students typically staff the locks throughout the summer season.  There are small towns speckled along the way, as well as a plethora of gorgeous anchorages.  We have been taking our time moving along, as we want to steer clear of Ottawa this coming weekend (July 1 is Canada Day - which is apparently a very festive and popular celebration).  It's been difficult to capture the serenity and natural beauty in this area, but hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of what we are seeing.




Parts of the Canal are pretty narrow!  The area has many lakes which are relatively wide, and the lakes are often connected via smaller canals and locks.  We're glad it's still relatively early in the boating season here - two boats would not be able to pass each other in some areas!!!







Tied up for the night at a lock wall



Going through yet another lock!!!



Notice the workers hand-cranking the lock doors to open them on the left side of the picture.  On the right side of the picture is the next lock we will need to go through.



Near Chaffey's Lock

The flowers in Canada have been spectacular!  I'll probably do a post later of all the pics I've taken




View from our marina in Westport, Ontario - beautiful!!!

We are moving out of Westport this morning, hoping to get to Smith's Falls (where we hear there are some great grocery stores so we can restock).  However, we've ended up directly behind several other larger boats for the past couple days (which has resulted in us having to wait extra-long at the locks and the big boats getting the best tie-up spaces for the night).  We may intentionally dawdle a bit to let them get a day or so ahead of us!

Be well, dear friends - we'll talk again soon!!!!!


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