Fort Plains, NY

The morning of Friday, October 5 was as cold as predicted with tempatures in the low forties! Fortunately we were able to run the generator to warm up the cabin. We got a nice early start at 7 a.m. and locked through the first lock in New London immediately since we were docked at the lock wall. The day was cold enough that Lynn spent most of it in the saloon and Jonny spent a good part of it with her except when it was time to enter or exit a lock. We continued to cruise through attractive, mostly rural countryside but it was not as pastoral as the western end of the Erie Canal. 

It was to be a long day of cruising because we wanted to make time and get south of Albany a day before we were due to fly to Miami.  We went through seven locks in all and each time bundled up in coats to go on deck for the locking.

During this long day of cruising we went through the highest level in the canal at which point we started to lock down rather than lock up.  For several of the locks we traveled with another boat that was headed to Islamorada having come from Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands which we had visited earlier in the summer.

At one of the locks we  had to tie up outside of the lock and wait for about 45 minutes because the lock door was jammed shut with a log and other debris.  A westbound cruiser was stuck inside the lock and was unable to exit due to the stuck door.  Several workman were trying to dislodge the debris and after several thwarted attempts they were finally able to fix the situation and we all locked through. We have been encountering quite a lot of floating logs and similar debris in the last couple of days. 

Little Falls was home to Lock 17 which at 40 feet is the highest vertical lock in the canal system. Rather than opening with large swinging gates, this one looks like a guillotine and moves up and down.  It is quite impressive.

We considered staying in Little Falls which the guidebook touted as a charming village but decided to push on and dock at a lock wall further along. 

Lock 16 looked like an attractive place to stop in a pretty, park-like setting.

When we learned from a lock tender that the pedestal there didn’t work and the lock 10 miles beyond it had a working pedestal, we decided to go there instead.  If it was as cold as the previous night, it would be nice to have power!

We arrived at Lock 15 in Fort Plains, NY which was not nearly as pretty as the earlier lock.  It was within sight and sound of a highway but it had power and it was too cold to be outside so we were OK.  We were toasty warm with the heat on and had a cozy dinner and evening on board watching one of the movies that Andy had supplied for us.