Compared to the nearby Chambly and Richelieu canals that were built by the Canadians for trade in the mid 1800’s, the Rideau Canals were built by the British in the early 1800’s to link upper (the St Lawrence) and lower (Lake Ontario) Canada as protection from an American attack in the wake of the War of 1812. Like the other canals, including the American Erie Canals, the Rideau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At about 125 miles in length, it includes 47 locks that go up from Ottawa to Newboro Lake, then down to Kingston on Lake Ontario. The Rideau Lakes are its feature waters that are a summer haven for boaters with rocky, remote anchorages and quaint seaside villages where you can always find fresh bread/butter tarts and an LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario).
Our cruise down the Rideau is memorable for three other reasons.
Tower Island. Pat spent a summer at her uncles "island" and it was quite a unique combination of tracking down a long lost cousin in Montana and some der googling to find out that this place was along our cruise route. Pretty special.
Two, we started having another issue with Sheila, the starboard motor. Sheila started using coolant. Never ran out and never ran hot, but it took an extended period of closely monitored running time, much online boat tech talk and finally an expert and convenient mechanic to help. Is it fixed yet, don't know, that will be another installment soon of for "Les Motorheads Seulement - Mon Ami!".
Third, the rains........................ After a year of record drought last year, Ontario (and the NE) has had a record rainy season this year. We narrowly missed getting "held in" a couple times along the upper Hudson River and then later the Chambly, but our luck ran out here. Ottawa got a record 4 inches of rain in one day and all the locks on the Rideau except for 3 were closed for a couple days and then the ones we needed to transit on our way to Kingston remained closed for the better part of a week. We were lucky to find some beautiful anchorages and a few more villages with ice cream to suffer through the extended delays.
In the end the Rideau was very much the wild, remote and beautiful place we'd heard about and would go there again..... and again.
Hogs Back Falls, a good reason to have locks for boats to get around them.
2 of 47 locks on the Rideau.........................
One of Happy Happy's more interesting tie ups in Merrickville, after the Burritts Rapids lock walls were full.
Most of the locks have provincial parks surrounding them and we can stay for "free" with our season's pass.
Downtown Portland, Ontario..............groceries, ice cream and an LCBO!
Tower Island, a childhood summer remembered.
The marina at Rideau Ferry Harbour had an expert mechanic to work on Sheila and "girls that grab you" when you come in to dock.
The marina at Westport turned out to be a good place to wait out the lock closures.
........and finally a taste of the legendary canadian butter tarts!
Back on the river after"some" of the locks reopened, we quickly ran into a backlog of boaters making their way down the system.
We sheltered a canoe party during a rain storm at Davis Lock.
...........and saw continued signs of high water/flooding along the way.
