On the morning ☀️of July 18th, we departed Kingston aboard Thistle with our buddy boat Tyre-Less. Our friends have a week vacation, and we plan to travel together along the Rideau Canal. They will turn around at some point, and we plan to traverse the entire Canal to Ottawa at a leisurely pace.
The Rideau Canal Waterway connects Canada’s old Capital, Kingston with Canada’s new Capital, Ottawa. Both are wonderful cities!
The Canal is 202 kilometers in length. There are 45 Locks on the Canal and two additional Locks on the Tay Canal. Most of the Locks are still hand operated. The name “Rideau” is French for “curtain”, derived from the curtain like appearance of The Rideau Rivers twin waterfalls near Ottawa.
The Canal opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the 🇺🇸 United States.
Today the Canal is primarily used for pleasure boating. It is operated by Parks Canada and open from mid May until mid October. It is the oldest continually operating Canal system in North America. In 2007 it was recognized as a UNCSCO World Heritage site.
The Rideau Canal is a very scenic Waterway …we enjoyed every day of our journey.
Thank you, Parks Canada 🇨🇦 for preserving and maintaining this unique treasure ♥️.
The Rideau Canal Waterway
Kingston to Ottawa.
Our stops were:
Kingston🧡, Morton Bay🧡, Westport🧡, Opinicon Resort🧡, Chaffey’s Lock🧡, Colonel By🧡, Portland, Perth, Smith Falls, Merrickville, Burritts Rapids & Ottawa.
🧡=With our Buddy Boat Friends aboard Tyre-Less.
Every Lock has a Parks Canada Sign and beautiful flowers
(Maintained by the Lock Crew.).
Thistle entering a Lock.
Going down😱!
Almost all of the Locks are operated manually (Cranked by 🖐 hand ).
Lots of bridges on the Rideau.
And more bridges…all different?
Our first night on the a Rideau we anchored in Morton Bay.
Went for a nice swim and little fish 🐟 nibbled our toes (it 😝tickled)?
“Yikes”... Lots and lots of 🤢 weeds on our anchor the following morning!
Westport for two nights…
Unknown to us (ahead of time) there was a local 🍷 event during our stay :)
Scheuermann Winery.
Fun 🎼 at the winery.
One night at the historic Opinicon Resort.
We stayed aboard Thistle on their dock👍.
The Opinicon♥️.
First built as a private residence in the 1870’s.
It’s prime location on Opinicon Lake made it a draw for fishermen and tourists.
The Opinicon property became a popular Resort and restaurant in the 1920’s.
It was managed by the same family for more than 90 years.
Some of the buildings were in need of repair and the Resort was sold in 2015.
The new owners, a couple (the husband founded Shopify and the wife from Eastern Ontario had found childhood memories of the Opinicon) have revitalized and modernized the Resort, while keeping its distinctive character.
Chaffey’s Lock.
The Lock name comes from Samuel Chaffy, who founded the Mill here in 1820.
Our view of the Chaffy Mill from Thistle✌️.
We anchored at Colonel By, managed by Parks 🇨🇦Canada.
One of our favorite 🛑 stops on The Rideau.
Our buddy boaters, Jim & Lesley joined us for dinner aboard Thistle.
Colonel By (hence the Parks name) supervised the Rideau Canal construction.
“ Wag’s Lodge” is located onshore in Colonel By Park.
The Lodge was built by Danny Arnstein, the co-owner of Yellow Cab NY in the 1950’s.
(Back “in the day” it was rumored to be quite the rich and famous 🎉 party house .)
Next stop Portland🇨🇦 .
(A “one and done” night town🤔 .)
But, the bathroom signs 🚹🚺were the the best🤣 ???
Rideau Canal, island homes.
Perth 🇨🇦.
Arr...🏴☠️Here we Come!
Thistle on the Tay Canal (Very “Skinny” water) shallow😱.
We were fine, but heard stories of
fellow boaters (“Kissing” ) hitting the bottom.
Beautiful home on the ~ 6 kilometer Tay Canal.
In Perth we docked at the Last Duel Campground and Marina for three nights.
Appropriately named we had a view of the 👻cemetery.
(Actually 🌼very pretty.)
There was a Rib and Music Festival at The Last Duel Park during our stay.
(Canadian’s take their Ribs 🍖very seriously.....😋Yummmmmmmmy!)
Interesting flavors🍁!
What???
Music 🎵 headliner 🎻at the Festival.
The Perth Brewing Company has a Thistle in their logo
(The town has a lot of Scottish heritage).
“Wet Your Thistle” ... OK ♥️we will :)
Last Duel Lager… Our new 🍺favorite beer !
Departing Perth on the picturesque Tay Canal.
Smith Falls Lock wall for one night.
Until recently Smith Falls was known for it’s Hershey Chocolate factory.
The factory closed and two entrepreneurs purchased the huge abandoned factory.
It is now the largest cannabis growing facility in Canada,
licensed to produce and distribute medical 🚬💨marijuana❗️
Merrickville town wall for one night.
There was an interesting recycled craft shop...☕️tea cup 🍷wine glasses.
We enjoyed lunch at The Yellow Canoe 💛Cafe.
Captain Greg studying the charts 🔍for tomorrow.
Merrickville sunset on The Pond .
Burritts Rapids for a night.
We had dinner at the Lock 17 restaurant …
Let’s just say, it would be a perfect selection for the next TV episode of Restaurant Rescue 🦠🥵?
Up at ⏰sunrise, Ottawa bound !
Ottawa, the vibrant Capital of Canada.
We got some rain☔️.
Thistle looking good...docked right in downtown ♥️Ottawa.
The famous staircase Locks of Ottawa.
Thistle on the Blueline (start) waiting for the Ottawa staircase 🙂Locks.
Hmmmmm both of are thinking…🧐
“Should we stay or should we go”❓
We Really 🧡Love The Rideau Canal…
