Most people here get up in the morning and go to work. We
get up in the morning and get into a lock! Today we traveled through another seven locks, making it 23 that we have negotiated so far on the Rideau
Canal . We were first on the blue-lined dock overnight, and thus were
invited first into this lock and all subsequent locks today. Three other boats
joined us for the trip, and it went very smoothly.
Merrickville is about 40% of the way through the Rideau and
is a recommended stop in the guide books. It is also very popular
with local boaters, as the town has a number of good restaurants and many
shops. Our concern was that there are a very limited number of boat tie-ups on
the lock walls, and we were arriving on a weekend night. We anxiously pulled in
and were very lucky to get the last spot, which was admittedly an overflow
area. We were across the dam tied to a floating work raft covered with weeds,
and in the middle of a patch of thick algae with no electricity or water. "No
problem," we said. "We’ll take it!"
On the way we encountered an unusual swing bridge in that it
was operated by a young man turning a crank by holding a long handle and
walking in circles around it.
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| Manually operated swing bridge |
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| Great Laker in the overflow area (:-( |
The Rideau Canal is the oldest continuously operating canal in
North America . The British military decided to
build it after the War of 1812 as a safe way to get supplies to their outposts
in southern Canada and the Great Lakes . They feared that in the future, American aggressors
might try to close off their only shipping path along the St. Lawrence River . Col.
John By was brought over from England
to engineer and build the canal, and he completed this substantial and risky
task in just six years, with the opening in 1832. There were a series of
blockhouses built to defend the locks, and we visited one of them that remains here
in Merrickville.
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| Merrickville blockhouse |
We walked the main street, explored restaurants for dinner,
found a coffee house with free wifi, and went back to Great Laker and returned
with our computers to catch up with the digital world.
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| The Goose and Gridiron, circa 1856 |
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| One of the many country stores |
We ate at the Baldachin Restaurant, which featured European-style cuisine and a band.
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