Burrit’s Rapids to Merrickville – July 19

Off our wall at 10:30 am, allowed time for the lock to clear.  Spotted this unusual sight yesterday, couple of folk practicing their polo shots in rural Ontario,

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Moved a big 6 miles today but had to run 7 locks and 3 bridges.

Lock 18 at Burritt’s, plus the swing bridge,

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 then 3 miles later Lower Nicholson’s closely followed by (you guessed it) Upper Nicholson’s with it’s own swing bridge,

The bridge is hand operated by the operator walking crank around a central gear, in this case a female.

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half a mile later Clowes lock

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then two miles of narrow canal and into the flight of three locks and a bridge at Merrickville,

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The canal side is a picture of tranquility…..

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The river side is something else.

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All together a days work.

Did a deal with the lockmaster to stay on his upper blue line (reserved for locking boats) but must be off by 9 am

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Next stop Smith’s Falls.

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Author: Low Wattage

Expat Welshman, educated (somewhat) in UK, left before it became fashionable to do so. Now a U.S. Citizen, and recent widower, playing with retirement and house remodeling, living in Delaware and rural Maryland (weekends).

9 thoughts on “Burrit’s Rapids to Merrickville – July 19”

  1. Pretty locks. Memories of a narrow boat holiday down the Grand Union to the Avon, up the Severn and back.

  2. A question for you – who built the canals/locks you are navigating? Where did the labour force hail from?

  5. Hello Janus: The Rideau system was built by the British army (did they have Sappers in 1830?) in charge was a gent named Colonel John By (Ottawa was originally named Bytown by him). He had a couple of good surveyors with him, one was John Chaffey who did much of the exploratory work (he will get a mention later)

    The area was almost completely uninhabited and a source of much disease (malaria).

    It took By and his men, supplemented by local recruits, six years to build 120 miles of canal and 40 locks in the wilderness, in 1998 it took the Canadian Government 5 years to upgrade part of the system.

    By returned to Britain, was never recognised for his feat and retired a Colonel of Engineers.

    The Rideau Canal has a good website, lots more information there.

  7. Just for reference, here’s a map of the Rideau Canal, the northern part pretty much follows the Rideau River, but when it reaches the lake region there are multiple choices of route by joining lakes, none look particularily easy, the route chosen in 1830 is still considered the best.

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