We got up early as the dock was jammed with boats so we could move to the blue line and be ready to lock through. Luckily most of the boats were heading south and had locked through last night.
Smith Falls lock #29A is a 26 foot drop. This lock had been updated to replace three locks previously at this location. We locked through with a Canadian cruiser who gave us the lowdown on Ottawa and it’s marinas.
There are a string of locks close together in this 5 mile stretch of the Rideau Canal. Old Sly is a dual lock #27,26 with a 16 foot drop; Edmonds #25 with a 9 foot drop; and Kilmarneck #24 with a 2 foot drop. Kilmarneck also has a swing bridge that the lock staff have to push by hand to get it to open.
The shoreline is mostly homes as we leave Smith Falls, but quickly changes to rural farmland- corn, soybean, and dairy cattle. The channel in the Rideau is narrow and the shore is filled with grasses so you really have to watch the marks to stay in the channel.
We approached Merricksville and found the lock wall filled, so we had to lock through the three lock series here. The lock was open and as we approached we realized that with the three boats in the lock already, we would not fit in the lock. We then tied up to the blue line to wait the 90 minutes it would take to lock these boats through and turn the lock around again. Since we had the time, we left the boat and walked through the quaint town of Merricksville. Folks we met highly recommended we stop here and I can see why. The town has old limestone and brick buildings housing shops and restaurants all along the Main Street. We went into several antique shops and local art stores and enjoyed the beautiful park and flowers.
Merricksville is known at first as a farming and mill town- saw mill, flour mill, carding mill and distillery; like so many of the towns on the Rideau. But Merricksville also had a iron works and logging operations.
As the mills became less profitable, phosphate mining and dairy product, especially cheeses became a vital part of the town’s economy. The Rideau provided Merricksville a shipping route to get their goods to Ottawa and to Toronto. Today the town is also a magnet for tourists and boaters.
Would have loved to stay in Merricksville longer but we had no space to stay the night. We returned to the lock area and walked through the 1832 Guard house and the visitors Center housed in the old depot on the river. We got back to the boat and soon it was our turn to lock through. We negotiated the three locks in succession and headed further up the Rideau. The staff at the lock had phoned ahead to make sure we could tie up for the night at Burritts Rapids.
We need to go through three more locks grouped closely together in the next three miles to get to our destination tonight. Clowse lock drops us 7 feet, Upper Nicholson drops 8 feet and Lower Nicholson drops us 6 feet. We had an 11 lock day today. We must now be experts!
A sign told us to sound our horn as we entered the narrow channel which leads to the Burritts Rapids swing bridge which is opened by manual cranking of levers and gears. We then traveled the short distance to Burritts Rapids lock and tied up at the lock. The lock staff promised us and spot and they squeezed us in on the wall stern to the dock wall, but we fit!
