First thing I set off to the shop to buy some milk for breakfast as we had run out and the shop opened at 8 am.
I was only able to buy milk and newspaper from the shop as they didn’t have any fruit or veg
Walked past this village community hall
and this stone that was apparently rejected from the original building of the canal
A cold morning but not as cold as predicted and not raining as predicted so it meant that we could go for a bit of a bike ride before we needed to leave. Bill headed off to explore the walk that went through the bush to the cemetery
and Miki, Helen and I set off on an exploratory bike ride.
Set off to find the Cataraqui Trail and we did. A bit surprising that there were no sign posts directing to it, in fact we went the wrong way at first hoping to do a loop ride but found the we couldn’t get up onto the bridge so had to go back around
We passed a library exchange where Helen and Miki picked some books
and I found a notice about Guides that I took a photo of for Heidi
We did enjoy our ride
We didn’t get far as we ran out of time but we did find the trail and cycled along it as far as the iron bridge that went over the canal. A few surprises there, we think the bridge was an old rail bridge, We discovered a cute bike pumping station with a book that we could write comments in,
Whilst we there, the lady from the house that we had walked passed came by walking her dog
She told us it was her husband that had put the bike station there. He was the troll. She also told us about the old boat that he had restored and encouraged us to go down and check it out, Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time, but we did see it later, on the water as we motored past
On leaving Chaffeys Lock we passed under the iron bridge where the troll was
Our first point of interest that we passed was the old manually operated ferry
One of a few sharp bends where we were given warning about it
Out into the open lake cold and windy
Next lock we reached was Newboro, the highest point in the canal
Where the water flows south to Kingston and north to Ottowa
We passed through a narrow part of the canal and passed another Le Boat coming the opposite direction
then out into open waters again with the marker buoys back the opposite way again
next lock The Narrows
where there was a cute little blockhouse
and a manually operated swing bridge. This photo shows the locksmith with the turnstile in the middle
Passed by some expensive looking properties along the way
The sun started to come out
Some of the views across the water made for good photo subjects
so calm and peaceful but still pretty cold
passed some houses under construction
The last lock of the day for us was Poonamalie, our first stop on our way out over a week ago.
With a cycle track beside it
We got to this lock just in time before it closed at 3:30. Jim had very cleverly worked out time frames to make sure we got through this lock in time so that we could spend the night moored at the top of Smiths Falls lock
a pretty narrow section of the canal
before Smiths Falls came into view
After tying up at the lock we headed out to the shops to stock up on supplies again.
Admired this display set out for Halloween
Stir fry for dinner, cooked in a saucepan but delicious all the same. Followed by yummy fruit pie and cream purchased by Lynne at the markets at Kingston
The reason we needed to be at Smiths Falls today was because under discussion we worked out that we could still get to Merrickville and back to Smiths Falls in the time frame that we still had the boat. At the start of our boating adventure we agreed it would be more interesting to do the trip south to Kingston and back. However we did decide that if we had time we would also like to go up to Merrickville. Clever planning on Jim's part and co-operation by the team, meant that we did have time
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