We left Campbellford town dock at 8:45 and proceeded to the flight lock at Ranney Falls.  We were through this pair and 4 others arriving in Frankford Lock 6 at 1:30. We met several loopers headed up the TSW, the first group would have been the people that stayed at Frankford during the lock closure.

My favourite spot at Frankford, under the big tree was occupied by a boat that had broken down, so we parked in front of it, and moved a picnic table under the tree, and stayed in the shade as it was a hot day. The weather on Saturday was hot as well so we walked over to the camp ground for some Kawartha ice Cream to cool down.  On Sunday we locked down at 9:00 and continued our descent to Lake Ontario.  We had 6 locks to go and everything went fairly smoothly until we hit Lock 2, we waited for more than an hour before the lock was ready for us as boats were coming up from Trenton.  We were though Lock 1 at 12:40 and went out into the Bay of Quinte headed for Crates marina in Belleville. We arrived there at 2:00, pumped out and added 200L of fuel.  We were just tying up in our assigned slip when the rain started. 

I did some laundry and Andy had a visit with his friend Enno, who had moved to Belleville from Winnipeg about 10 years ago.

On Monday, we planned to leave however the winds were gusting to 50 Km /hr, so we paid for another day.  Around 10:00 we decided to walk to the closest grocery store to reprovision. So, we set off with our knapsack and bags, and walked to the rear of Crate’s building and looked over and saw a familiar boat-    S. Dan blocked up.

  This boat belongs to Sylvain and Celine Brasseur from Montreal, who we had met several times in 2021.  Andy asked one of the workmen if Sylvan was around and were told that he was in his vehicle behind the boat.  We waved at him through his window and he came out to greet us.  He offered us the use of this SUV to get our groceries, which we gratefully accepted.  This was the first time I was every in a vehicle where all the instructions and navigational system were in French.  I guess it never occurred to me that this would be an option.  Around noon, Sylvan, Andy and I went to the Boathouse seafood restaurant which was on the other side of the Moira River.  The guys had fish and chips and I had the shrimp trio.  In the afternoon, Andy went over some charts with Sylvan, as they will be starting the loop within the next month.  As we were talking, we learned that Gene from Orillia had done some work for Sylvan in Belleville.  Andy relayed the story of our interactions with Gene in 2019. 

On Tuesday we left Belleville at 8:30 and followed the Northern route towards Kingston, passing by Picton and the car ferry at Glenora.  We went a total of 47 miles and anchored in Kerr Bay at 1:30, off of Amherst Island. 

   The wind picked up throughout the afternoon.  By 7:00 it had calmed down a lot and we were joined by 5 other sailboats in the bay.  We weighed anchor the next morning at 8:00, lots of weeds were cleaned off the chain and anchor.  We headed towards Kingston; it was a little choppy once we were by Amherst Island.  We arrived at Cedar Island, the first island of the thousand islands at 10:00, both docks were completely empty, we choose the dock near Whiskey Island and tied up on the outside.  

Being near Fort Henry, we heard the cannon ball blast every hour until 5:00.  We had a quiet night as we were the only boat on the dock. 

Thursday morning was busier at the dock, Andy caught a bass,

and we had a deer swim to the island from Cartwright point. 

We also saw some muskrats,

another deer and ducks and geese.

  We pulled out all of our anchor chain and spread it over the dock, we wanted to mark it off in 10-foot intervals, after the initial 45 feet was marked. 

By late afternoon all the docks had filled up except for one.  For dinner we enjoyed the fresh bass- yummy!

On Friday, Canada Day- our 155^th birthday, we just lazed around. It was hot so I went into the water off the back of the boat, a couple of times to cool off.  Andy only chilled his toes.

Being a holiday, with lots of boats on the water, we saw both the Park warden and the Canadian coast guard boats.

 Andy refilled some of our small green propane tanks from the 20-lb tank.  Andy showed some other boater the adapter that he uses.  That evening the Kingston fireworks display occurred at 10:00, because we were on the side of the island, some of the view was obstructed but we could see the very high ones.

On Saturday morning Andy filled the remaining two propane bottles, that had spent the night in the freezer.  He also replaced a clip on one of the solar panels that had broken off, likely during the storm at Healy falls earlier in June. We left at 9:30 so that we would make the 10:00 opening of the Bascule bridge.

We arrived at Kingston mills by 11:00 and locked up   through the four locks (#49-46) by 11:50.    We crossed Colonel by Lake and River Styx and arrived at Lock #45 Lower Brewers at 1:15, and tied up on the lower side, where we plugged into power.

  It became quite windy, so we were happy to be at a lock station.  We disposed of our garbage and recycling, and then just relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon.  We visited with Pete and Laurie, who were on the boat parked behind us.

Sunday was our 12^th Wedding anniversary.  Around 10:30 we went through the lock at 45, and moved the 1.8 miles to Upper Brewers flight locks 44 and 43.  We tied up on the dock with 3 other boats where power was available.  We did not plug in as it was a sunny day and we wanted to use only our solar. For dinner we had BBQed steak and veggies, wine and dark chocolate.  On Monday, it was still quite sunny so we continued to stay off the grid.  We watched some kayak campers pack up and then paddle away with their border collie in his own spot in the kayak called- menagerie.

We went for a short walk to the dam, relaxed, read and cleaned. Andy put up some fish net, so that my cucumbers have something to climb up. As the day progressed, we were joined by 6 other boats, some came from Ottawa and others were like us headed to Ottawa.

Several couples came for a tour of our boat, and they were amazed by the room and woodwork.

On Tuesday, the rain started around 6 am, so we plugged in as very little power would be generated without sun.  I made a batch of pasta sauce, enough for supper and to freeze a container for another rainy day.  In the afternoon, some boaters came over to ask us questions about our great loop trip. It continued to rain off and on most of the day and night.

On Wednesday, we left just before 9 and went 10.4 miles to Whitefish Lake where we had planned to anchor in Morton Bay. There was a parks dock at the end of the bay and we decided to tie up there at 10:30.

About an hour later we were joined by a run-about with a family who had come to the dock so that they could swim.  They left around 3:00, and we were later joined by Just Wright, Roy and Dalaina from B.C, who we had first met at Hastings lock on the TSW.   Andy spent some time rowing around in the dinghy searching for a fish or two that could be enticed by his hook selection.  He went out several times but besides a small perch, that he threw back, he was unsuccessful.

   On Thursday we left the dock around 10:00 and went the 3.5 miles to the Jones Fall flight locks.  We had to wait about 45 minutes until we were able to enter the first lock with two other boats. We were through the last lock by 12:40. The lock was very busy we met several boats in the turning basin between 40 and 39.  Both the blue and grey line above lock 39 were full, so we went on to the finger docks by the falls and power plant and tied up.

  Not a lot of water was flowing over the rocks. 

  We walked back about a mile to Jones falls, and went to the ice cream store for a cone (Nestle’s is NOT as good as Kawartha). Later in the afternoon Dalaina and Roy stopped by for a beverage and visit.  They had tied up on the grey line at lock 39 as there was room when they came through.

  On Friday morning we left at 10:00 and moved 4 miles to the Davis lock.  We met several boats as we were crossing Sandy Lake, so we assumed that there would plenty of room, and there was.  We tied up at one of the finger locks at 11:00, and plugged into power.

At the locks we visited with two boats, which we had met in the past, Richard and Jill from Jill Kristy, that we me in Brewerton NY when we were doing our first loop.   We also met Glen and Lorraine from Plan Sea, who we had met at Rosedale back in 2020.  Around 5:00 we met up with most of the boaters at Davis lock for drinks, many of them were loopers.

On Saturday morning several of the boats left down- bound to Jones Falls.  I walked around and took a few pictures, here’s Everette, the boat cat from Plan Sea.

  Here’s a picture of the Lockmaster’s house which is rented out by Parks Canada. 

The dam at Davis, has quite a bit more water than what I had seen at Jones Falls.

 We started up our engines around 10:15 and left at 10:25. We travelled the 2 miles to Chaffey’s lock and were through it and tied up by 11:00.

We did some exploring at the lock and walked by the Opinicon Resort, lovely landscaping, flower beds

as well as an ice cream store. 

The ice cream here is made on the premises, and could compete with Kawartha. I had the coconut bounty- coconut ice cream with chunks of bounty bar in it—very good.  Andy had the rum & raisin, and he was impressed as well.   We then walked down to Brown’s marina general store for essentials- more red wine and a couple of pear ciders.  It was very busy at the locks with lots of boats going through in both directions.  There were a lot of runabouts and pontoon boats tied up on the blue line, who were stopping for lunch or ice cream.  They were not following park’s Canada rules, so at times the were impeding the movement of boats through the lock.

On Sunday morning, I saw this turtle hanging out around our boat.

  In the morning Andy and I went to the Lockmaster’s Museum for a tour and watched a short video of early life in Chaffey’s.  One scene showed the men cutting blocks of ice from the lake, to be used throughout the year to keep foodstuff cool.  Andy said he had experience doing this out at their camp many years ago.  We left Chaffey’s at 9:55, and went 4.8 miles crossing Indian, Clear and Newboro Lakes.  There were a couple of very sharp and narrow turns that had to be followed to move from lake to lake.  We tied up at the Newboro Lock around 11:00, but moved the boat once a boat that was in the shade under a tree left.  To get there we spun the boat around using ropes and the wash from the lock. We were under the tree before noon. Newboro is the summit of the Rideau canal, so we will now be locking down until we reach the Ottawa river.

  We then walked into Newborn to Kilborn’s general store.   They have an amazing assortment of clothes, kitchen items, furniture, as well as this horse. 

I bought an aluminum straw for my wine glass, as well as a pair of earrings.  We stopped at the Stagecoach inn for a sandwich and beverage. They also have a store attached with food items, and I noticed Smak Dab mustard as well as Bothwell cheese—two items that are made in Manitoba.  When we got back to the boat, I saw my second turtle of the day, this one walking across the grass. 

A little later there was a third- a huge snapping turtle in the water near the lock door.    There were only three boats on the top of the lock-Minnow Paws, Just Wright and us.  We got together for some snacks and a beverage around 5.  Sue from Minnow paws gave us some local advice about the area. 

On Monday morning, I did some cleaning, and got together any clothes that need to be washed as we were headed to Westport, where there is a laundry and shopping.  We left Newboro at 10:35 and arrived  at the Village of Westport at 11:15 and tied up. 

I then went in search of the laundry, which was about a 20-minute walk at the edge of the village.

In the afternoon we went looking for Ice cream, because it was so hot, and we were delighted that the Vanilla bean cafe and creamery served Kawaratha. 

We then went and made a reservation at the Cove Inn for dinner, as the brew pub closes at 6:00 on Mondays, and several other stores in town closed at 5:00 or were not open at all. We had docktails with Mark from the Tuscarora, a gold looper, and discussed the Rideau.  We went to the Cove Inn for dinner and  it was great on the patio.

I had a reuben and onion rings Andy had chicken wings. There was a country singer entertaining. The forecast for Tuesday was suppose to be rain showers for most of the day, so we decided to spent a second day in Westport.

Tuesday morning we were awoken by a thunderstorm with rain and wind at 5:30. I couldn’t see anything on the lake. Around 8:00 it had started to clear, and I went for a walk around town to see what time everything opened, as I wanted to check out the stores. It seemed there was no consistency, some opened at 9:30, others at 11:00 and others at noon. Here’s a view of the harbour from the bridge that connects the island to land.

We did a little bit of maintenance and cleaning on the boat, around noon I did another walk about town and checked out a store or two. Andy met me about 30 minutes later and we stopped at the LCBO for more wine. Maybe I should change the title for this post to the wine and ice cream tour. Andy returned to the boat, and I went to a couple more stores, around 1:30 the skies opened and we had our second huge rain for the day. Luckily Andy got back to the boat in time to close all the windows. Once I returned we caught up on a few episodes of Coronation street. For dinner we plan to try out the brew pub or another restaurant.

The plan for tomorrow is to leave early and be at Lock 35, the Narrows at 9:00, we want to go as far as Smith Falls Lock 31 That would be a 20 plus mile day crossing the Big Rideau and Lower Rideau Lakes and 3 locks- long day for us. Smith Falls is about halfway up the Rideau- we would still have another 60 miles before reaching Ottawa. It has taken us 11 days to do the first 40 miles, we plan to go a little faster on our approach to Ottawa, and hope to be there next Monday- July 18th. The Quebec construction holiday starts on July 25th, and we would like to be out of the national capital before that, and working on our return trip to Kingston. We hope to stop at every lock for a night, and revisit the locks we enjoyed on our way to Ottawa. I should be able to blog update my blog more often as we head toward the big city, in some of the places we’ve been over the last couple of weeks, cell phone coverage was very weak.