Turf to Surf

 Lots of swans nesting or with little ones in this area. 7 locks today before arriving in Kingston, traveling alone and going down keeps us moving along at a good pace. Nice to see them in such great numbers. Coming into Kingston….. We timed our arrival for the hourly opening of this bridge. Docked early afternoon for a 2 night stay here.  We were assigned the furthest slip from the gate….google earth has me at 6 minutes to land, 🤣🤣 We did a little walking, shopping 🛒, cleaned the boat and went out to dinner. View from our back deck, water is very calm inside the break wall.

  Cloudy day, with a bit of a wind….still humid. First lock this morning, Davis Lock…..friends Gary, Connie and Phil are overnighting on that Lock wall. The Jones Falls locks are a flight of 4.   Lots of narrow maneuvering in tight channels and around islands. Met up with Will and Joy and their buddy boat at this lock wall for the night.  Docktails in the shade of the boats.  An uneventful day, which is always a good day.

Lock 35, Narrows lock up 3 feet. We are now at the highest level of the Rideau Canal System. Narrow passages to open lakes then back to winding canal…loving the Rideau;  right up on my favourite of the loop list…beautiful. The Newboro lock, going down now, all the way to Kingston. We docked above the lock at Chaffey’s.  Beautiful park area with picnic tables, garbage and recycling drop off plus clean bathrooms and sometimes showers….and if there is power, which there usually is, it’s $10.25 per day. A short walk to a grocery/LCBO/marina store, all in one, a block down the road….my supplies are getting low.  This Mommy turtle was digging to lay her eggs.  Looks like park staff drops mesh boxes to protect layed eggs from being trampled. We enjoyed docktails with the friendly group we met last week, it was nice to see them again.  We enjoyed dinner on the back deck watching the rain fall, cooled things down a little.

 Beautiful day on the water, hot and humid so clouds are a welcome relief. No locks today, that is a very nice treat. Parks Canada owns the island, they have a few docks here that are included in our mooring pass for the season…the island is on Big Rideau Lake. Walking trails on the island and the water is refreshing….clear, clean Canadian lake. We spent 3 nights here.