July 31, 2011 - Noble Bay on the Rideau to Merrickville, Ont., also on the Rideau

Crew here again.

We leave early Sunday morning in order to get a good position to lock through at Poonamalie.  In Canada, there is a "blue line" wall where boats are tied up and wait.  The lock master is the all-powerful who will decide where you will go in the lock and when.  As we proceed to Poonamalie, we are struck by the idyllic setting of the Big Rideau Lake which we are leaving.  We are almost becoming immune to all the natural untouched beauty around us.  Luck is on our side and we are the only north-bound boaters at the Poonamalie blue line.  (This is eerily starting to sound like a train station on the Boston MTA.) 

The lockmaster brings through the southbound boats and we are on our way, destination Merrickville, Ont.  There is "touchable" history in every town we stop at and Merrickville promises much of that.  We traverse both wide and narrow waterways.  In the very narrow waterways, you can almost reach out and pull limbs from the trees on either side.  Tarzan wouldn't even need to swing.  There are "whistle point" places where you are expected to blow a horn or a whistle to let oncoming vessels that you are just around the bend.  When you occasionally do come bow to bow without another boat out of the clear blue, it is a "holy s---" moment.  The boats come to a sudden slow and back off like cats and dogs on their haunches not quite ready for the big battle, and then each proceeds ever so slowly. 

Park at Merrickville

Biggest Canoe I've ever seen

Party on in Merrickville

Along the Merrickville wall

Merrickville, Ont

Postcard like photo going back to the marina

The good news/bad news at Merrickville when we arrive is that there will be an hour wait at the blue line as the lockmaster completes the 3-lock cycle with southbound boats.  The good news is there is a street fair right by the blue line wall with vendors of all sorts.... leather crafters, woodworkers, rug hookers (could that be the right term? ) and pottery people (cripes!  are they potters?).  It is something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  There is a band playing quasi-Irish music, children are dancing and except for the ungodly heat again, it is a very nice break in our day.

We crawl back into town once we take a slip at an old boatyard and again the heat is winning.  There are lots of craft stores and shops in town.  The most popular spot is the ice cream place.  Crawl back to the boat, shower, then head back for dinner.  At the recommendation of the boatyard, we go to the Main Street Family Restaurant.  The food was just okay, but that was alright.  We sat out in the restaurant's backyard where a trio of guys about our age played guitars and sang.  They were consistently off-key Willie Nelsons, but were very likable and we enjoyed listening to them.

When we get back to the boat we conclude that we are only about half way through the roughly 100 locks this trip entails.  It is far, far more than we anticipated.   It seems no matter how long we travel each day, we are stuck in the Rideau Canal.  Maybe it is the Willie Nelson guys that remind me of the group Bert likes so much, the Kingston Trio, who sang "Charlie on the MTA."  To paraphrase, "But did he ever return, no he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned.  He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston (replace with "the waters of the Rideau.")  He's the man who never returned."

No cards tonight.  Someone doesn't want to chance losing his very temporary lead.  Tomorrow we will head to Ottawa.

Full set of pictures are at: https://picasaweb.google.com/golphinut/201107BlueBelle02?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Click on any of the photos above to enlarge them.