Smiths Falls, Ontario

The first thing Jonny did on Sunday, July15 was go paddle boarding in the beautiful rural  setting at our Nicholson Lock Wall.  He was so excited when he returned having seen what he thought was a beaver and river otter!  He followed his paddle with a spin in the dinghy because it hadn’t been used for awhile.

By 9:00 we met Bucket List at the lock wall.  Ron and Debbie are the only boat going through the locks with us which has been great.  We have our routine down with them and we don’t have to spend time negotiating who goes first and who is on the starboard or port side. Their home port is Long Boat Key, FL and they are doing the Great Loop as are so many others who we’ve met along the way.

This was a long and very warm day.   At mid-morning we stopped in Merricksville which is touted as the prettiest town on the Rideau.  It was too early for lunch so we just walked around and looked at the cute shops.  It is a pretty village! 

Part of the time Lynn was on the phone with Stephanie who was telling her about the awesome Taylor Swift concert she had gone to the night before.

When we passed a sign that said it was national ice cream day and the flavor of the day was salted caramel toffee with cashews.  Lynn couldn’t resist so we each cooled off with a delicious ice cream cone.

After our two hour sojourn in Merricksville we continued on our journey with Bucket List in the lead.  We were planning to stay in Smith’s Falls, the best town for provisioning midway on the Rideau.  We cruised through varied landscapes including a winding trip through numerous S curves interspersed with wide open bays passing some lovely farms and homes along the way.

We went through ten locks in all, each of which has a small historic stone structure as its lock house.  One of them, a two story building, had remnants of gun shot holes in the walls.  All of the lock masters have been well informed about the historical aspects of the Rideau as well as the towns along the way.

Jonny had been communicating the last few days with the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) local harbor hose, Francis who had arranged to meet us in Smiths Falls.  In fact Francis had saved a spot for us on the lock wall there. He and his wife Helene invited us to join them for cocktails and we chose to sit at a picnic table in the shade next to our two boats.  We then walked to a local pub for dinner and a pitcher of beer. Later on they invited us for a glass  of  port on their fly bridge.  We had fun getting to know them and had a lively conversation.  They are very experienced boaters having spent a lot of time cruising in Canada, the U.S., and Europe.  In fact they were currently in the process of finalizing the purchase of a river boat in France!

Merrickville, Ontario

Upon leaving the Ottawa Lock Wall on Sat., July 14, we had to wait for the Pretoria Ave. bridge to open. Unlike any other bridge that we’ve seen so far in Canada, on this one the entire span of the bridge rises up vertically. We followed Bucket List in line waiting 30 minutes by the lock wall for the bridge to open.  

We would be traveling on the Rideau Canal Waterwayfor the next couple of days which has a total of 49 locks for us to go through.  We had already gone through the first eight when we did the staircase locks coming into Ottawa.  Within 6 miles we had come upon our first set of twin locks and we were lucky because just our two boats went through together very smoothly.

It was a stunning day, sunny and warm but not hot.  The Rideau is absolutely beautiful.  It’s a winding waterway that alternates pastoral vistas with pretty homes lining the banks.  There are lots of weeping willow trees that remind Lynn of the backyard of her childhood home.

We passed Mooney Beach where there must have been hundreds of people participating in what looked like all kinds of sports competitions.  On the water there were scores of kayak type races going on. It was quite the lively scene!

We proceeded through another seven locks.  It seemed like we were the only cruisers on the waterway until we went through the Burritt’s Rapids Lock where we were joined by two canoeists and a small motorboat. 

We planned to stay at the lock wall just above the next set of locks.  The lock tenders are very helpful and chatty.  They checked to see if there was room for us at our preferred stop but the lock wall was already full so apparently there were several other cruisers out on this glorious day.  

Towards the end of our journey after going through a swing bridge, we saw this interesting vehicle.

We opted to stay at the Lower Nicholson’s lock wall which turned out to be a beautiful pristine setting.  Lush parkland surrounded us and the waters were very calm except those next to the nearby falls!

We each went for a walk after dinner - Jonny’s being much longer than Lynn’s.  He was fascinated by the mechanical workings of the locks here.

The only activity around us were a couple of sets of people fishing, two cousins who had just reconnected at a family reunion that day and a nice family with two little ones who were very excited about catching tadpoles and fireflies.  This is one of the quietest and loveliest natural setting we have stayed at in a while.

Ottawa, Ontario

The first thing we did on Thursday, July 12 was go for a brisk trail walk along the water on the grounds of Montebello.  The resort is quite beautiful with miles of well-maintained trails surrounding rustic and historic buildings.  We wanted to take full advantage of our splurge at this historic resort.

It was then on to Ottawa, a visit we were looking forward to.  We left at 9 a.m. and cruised along the pastoral Ottawa River on a sunny and warm day.  As we saw more development and yacht clubs we passed a beautiful set of twin waterfalls from which the Rideau gets its name.  When Samuel Champlain first encountered them he thought they looked like curtains and named them Rideau which is French for curtains.  

Immediately after that we came to the rigorous eight lock staircase where there were six boats waiting to go through.

We were very lucky to get in because we were small enough to fit in with three others.  Two larger boats were ahead of us but they had to wait for the next opening because they were too large to fit with the smaller ones.  They had already been waiting for over an hour and now they were going to have to wait even longer!  Going through eight successive locks is quite an experience, especially in hot weather.  It wasn’t difficult for us, but it’s definitely a workout for the lock tenders and their staff who went from one lock to the next to crank them open and shut.  The eight locks brought us up a total of 80 feet rising from the Ottawa to the Rideau River.

Looking up from the lock walls we could see the imposing architecture of Ottawa’s Parliament Hill.  

Upon exiting  we tied up at the lock wall located in the center of the city and behind Amazing Grace and its owners Dick and Sandy and their sweet granddaughter Maddy..  We met them in St. Anne-de-Bellevue and have been tracking with them since then.   Sandy and Maddy kindly helped us tie up.

That evening we explored our neighborhood which included Canada’s Parliament, the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the Supreme Court and many other important edifices.

We could see all of these from Zendo.  The setting was outstanding!  On our walk we learned of a nightly light display on the walls of the Parliament building, so at 10 p.m. (to guarantee that it would be dark) we walked back to watch this interesting lesson and accompanying light show on the history of Canada.  There must have been a thousand people sitting on the lawn watching appreciatively.

On Friday we went off thinking we would do one of those on-again off-again bus tours to get an overview of the city.  But after consulting with the helpful staff at the visitors center we were convinced that armed with their numerous brochures and guides we could do it on our own with most of the highlights within walking distance.  We were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the changing of the guard in front of Parliament so we could check that one off our list.

From there we walked through lovely parkland where interesting art work and displays of historical and environmental information were featured.

Crossing a bridge to Gatineau, a town just across the river from Ottawa, we visited a special topiary display in a riverside park.  We had seen some of this work when we were in Atlanta a few years ago and we were eager to see more of it. The displays were quite amazing but then it started getting so hot that an ice cream cone was required - yum!

Afterwards we walked to the ByWard Market, a cool open area filled with restaurants and shops where we had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant called Play, Food and Wine.  It was definitely one of our best meals so far.

There was a great farmer’s market there as well so of course we stocked up on more fresh vegetables and fruit. It was getting time to recover from our busy day so we walked back to Zendo for a rest.  

Later on that evening (we skipped dinner), we decided to venture out for a stroll to see Sparks Street near Parliament where there was more interesting statuary.  

From there we trekked to the nearby well-appointed mall for Jonny to buy some sneakers.  We made one last stop for the day, this time for a cold beer at what happened to tout itself as one of the oldest bars in Ottawa.  On our way out, we passed this bakery/restaurant that Barack Obama visited when he came to Canada as President.  Clearly the Canadians liked him much more than Donald Trump who seems to be widely disdained by 99% of the Canadians we met.  

This was our last day in Ottawa.  We feel like we made the most of our short stay and  we’ll save what we missed for our next trip!

Montebello, Quebec

The first thing we did on Wed., July 8 was to stop at a recommended marina in Hawkesbury so we could have someone look at a small fuel leak that we still have. We were lucky to have a good repair marina so close to where we were staying.  However, after consulting with their mechanic, all that could be done was to do more screw tightening.  That hasn’t completely resolved the situation but it is much better than it was.  Later that morning Jonny talked to the mechanic who installed the injection pump at Rouses Point and he recommended another adjustment which Jonny has yet to do.

Since we had done all that we could at this point, we made another quick stop to top off our fuel tank and get a pump out.  Finally by 10:30 we were on our way to our destination for the day, Montebello, Quebec.  While on the Ottawa River, towns that are on the north bank are in Quebec and towns on the south bank are in Ottawa. We are going back and forth between the two.

At first we weren’t much interested in going to Montebello but so many people we met insisted that we must see the famous and beautiful resort,  Chateau Montebello,  that we decided to go and stay at their marina where we would be eligible to use this all the resort’s facilities. We arrived there after lunch and were assisted by the very gracious dockmaster.  The building that housed the marina office was most attractive, a log cabin structure with bright red trim.

 As soon as we arrived, we set out to explore this Greenbriar-type resort.  The main Chateau is reputed to be the world’s largest log structure.

It was built in 1930 in record time, just three months! This remarkable log chateau is shaped like a 6 pointed star and made of 100,000 hand-cut and set red cedar logs.  The design was inspired by chateaux in the Swiss Alps.  This is a true year-round resort with activities that include swimming in both indoor and outdoor pools, hiking, biking, fishing, cross-country skiing, of course a spa, and even a Range Rover racing course.  The resort has played host to world leaders including the G7 economic summit, a North American leaders summit and more.  Though not our usual style of vacation it was recommended by so many people we met that we decided to splurge. Staying at their marina was more economical than one of their hotel rooms!

That afternoon we explored the grounds that included some historic buildings and sat by the pool overlooking a gorgeous view of the river.

But instead of going for a swim in that pool that was filled with kids, we opted for the more sedate indoor pool.  It was an Olympic sized pool under a vaulted skylight - quite impressive.  We took advantage of their showers and accompanying amenities before heading back to Zendo.

Our other splurge was to have dinner at their nicest restaurant where we had a wonderful dinner served in the traditional continental style.  We sat by the patio overlooking the terrace where the huge nightly barbecue buffet was taking place. It was amazing how many families were guests at the hotel.  After dinner we explored the Chateau with its huge fireplace surrounded by several floors of open lobby space and decorated in a comfortably rustic style.  

We’re glad we treated ourselves but this is neither our preferred style of vacation nor one that is generally compatible with our wallet!  The next stop on our journey is Ottawa.