I woke at 4.30 am. What's with this. Couldn't go back to sleep. May as well start the day. I need to go back a few days. We left Kingston and made our way to Kingston Mills Locks. Only about 4 miles away. As if locking isn't challenging enough at times, they threw in a swing bridge that has to be opened before the boats go into the lock. Just another one of those boating things. Kingston Mills locks is a series of 4 locks in total. Three together "in flight" as they are called, then a small turning basin before the fourth lock. We planned to stay at the top of the lock for the night. Makes for an easy get away if we decide to leave early in the morning before the locks open.
The Rideau Canal locks operate with a much older manual system for most of the locks. There occassionaly is a lock that is automated, but more often they are manual. Working with chain systems. Quite interesting.
Here is a lock attendant opening up the gates to allow more water into the lock. Quite the system. So very simple.
There was quite a good little museum right at the lock with a TV video presentation about the construction of the Rideau. I did not know that so many people had died of malaria from the mosquito bites. I thought malaria was only a tropical disease. 50 people died during the construction of the Kingston Mills lock alone. And while we were in Kingston there was a water fountain dedicated to the 1000 Irish men who died during the Rideau Canal construction. The Rideau Canal was built to protect against a possible American invasion. And the Americans never invaded. But they do enjoy the Rideau now.
Peter, Josh, Leah and Linda Murray at Kingston Mills lock. Cocktail hour before we begin our dinner. I made sweet and sour chicken meatballs with pineapple. Yummy. You are going to begin to think that all we do is travel around on our boat, fix the boat, and then eat. That pretty much sums it up tho'.
This is one of 4 block houses that were built along the system. They were used as a home for the lockmaster and family, and as you can see they were defensible. This block house had an addition put on top in later years, originally it only was the lower block portion.
Leaving Kingston Mills on our way to Jones Falls, the first part of the Rideau reminded us of the Trent shoreline.
Docking area was a little tight at Jones Falls. We docked first and then Bob masterfully backed his boat in behind ours and tied to a floating dock. Not much room between the boats. Well done Bob. Gotta love those bow thrusters. The lockmaster told Jim and Linda that they could tie to the dock opposite us at the very end of the blueline for the night.
This is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. We saw our first one in Florida and fell in love with it. We met our second one at Jones Falls. They are such a delightful dog. I can see one of these in our future when we are not travelling so much. That being said, both of these dogs were on boats and they seem to travel well.
On our trip from Jones Falls to Smiths Falls the terrain changed again. We spent a lot of our time travelling on lakes. Lower Rideau Lake and Big Rideau Lake are just a few. The lakes are connecting with narrow winding channels. And I do mean narrow. Couldn't help but think that we were the African Queen. Symmetry and Waypoint following us. Yes, that's right, Peter was leading. Comes as no surprise to me. He always says that "if your not the lead dog, .... the scenery never changes."
We had a wonderful day on the water travelling to Smith Falls. Another night that we can meet at a picnic table for dinner. Linda M. has pork chops for all, Linda W made a tasty pasta salad, and I came with potato salad and a rice salad. That's right another day of boating and eating. Josh and Leah seem to be enjoying their time with their grandparents. They are so fortunate to have great grandparents like Jim and Linda. So good to see everyone having a good time.
There was a large dark cloud looming over us as we finished dinner. It wasn't too long until the rain began and chased us all back to our boats. The night was cooling down, and the heat from the Perkins Ladies was keeping the cabin warm. Tonight we are thankful for that heat.
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