Dear Flies and Beer Drinking Teens

I suppose I should celebrate the fact that we managed to leave Hurst Marina before noon. Hurray! The goal was to make Smiths Falls but seeing as how we didn't leave 8 o'clock sharp, the goal was quickly revised to make it somewhere where we can swim. It's not an easy task on the latter half of the Rideau, however the consensus from the lock masters was that Edmonds lock was the place.

The stretch of river between Kars and Edmonds lock is a fairly wide, shallow swampy course dotted by houses and farmland.

 Bald eagle sighting!

Last time I saw this boat it was looking a lot worse. Someone is beautifying.

Roan watching the world go by


Important note: for gods sake have a fly swatter handy if you are boating during dear fly season because they are fast and hungry.

The horror

When I was younger I often was on the 416 crossing the Rideau river thinking to myself I wish I was down there instead of up here.

Glad I'm down here not up there!!!


In the middle of this trip you will find Merrickville, a nice place to stop for the night because it's a quaint town with nearby pubs, artsy shops, gourmet mustard makers and, if you have little ones, a candy and ice cream store just up the Main Street. We didn't stop here because in the busy time of year they are full by noon plus we have visited this town several times and so we were keen to keep going


 On the western front we could see a storm coming up and the lock master told us that if we wanted to bring the boat up on plain the make  Edmonds lock and beat the storm we could….yeehaw!

 

Dad and roan storm chasing


Edmonds lock is a nice spot with picnic tables and well manicured park.there is no power though so we had no fan to temper the heat for sleeping.  The swimming was great at the bottom of the lock and apparently the locals agreed because we were joined by a bunch of beer drinking teens jumping off the top of the lock. It was all good as they left before bug hour.

Beer drinking teens...