Author: Low Wattage

(Been out of touch from all but smoke signals for the last two days, Just found a public wharf with a half decent cell phone signal, catching up from here)

 Short trip today, stopped before Lock 9 to get locking pass and mooring pass for the Chambly, Ottawa and Rideau systems in preparation for continuation of our downward steps to the St. Lawrence and Montreal.

Docked on a free wall in St. Jean sur Richleau, very pleasant little town with a French flavor.  Quite a few good restaurants (a review tomorrow perhaps).

A pleasant enough waterfront..

Continue reading “St. Jean sur Richleau – July 6, 2013”

Left the nation on her birthday, not deliberate just worked out that way.

 Decided we could not reduce our on board alcohol to the level required by law so had to jettison a gallon of Vodka, a pint of tequila…….

Continue reading “Into Canada, July 4, 2013.”

Got back last night around five.  About a five hundred mile drive each way, good country for the first half then into metro NYC and Philly.   About eight hours driving each way.  Rented a little Kia Forte from Enterprise, duly impressed, large trunk (boot) and good mileage, comfortable seats and plenty of pep for the hills.  Seven days for $250.  

 Plan now is to take off tomorrow (July 4) and head for Rouses Point (Canadian Crossing) then into the Chambly Canal/Richleau River system. Next major destination, Montreal about five days by boat.

 Still raining here on and off,  and our first choice route (Erie Canal) has still not reopened.  We are trusting it will by the time we arrive at the Western end (about August 10).

 Cleaned ship all day today, mostly mold of various kinds due to all the damp.

 Fueling and watering in the morning, next stop Canada.

Partridge Harbor is a tight little hurricane hole of a size a little hard to judge but probably about one hundred and fifty feet across, almost circular with a fifty foot wide entrance, like a little meteor crater carved out of a cliff.

Google Earth might show it  (it’s right about N 44.12.10  W 73.23.45 by my GPS,  just to the NE of Hunter Bay.

Great little spot for one boat and one partridge brave enough to surf in with a following wind, I did beat the usual afternoon thunderstorm to anchor by about ten minutes.  Settled down nicely now and the wind is forecast to drop overnight.

Made about fifty miles today, cleared lock 12 at 8:30 and with the following wind made good time up into Lake Champlain proper.

The approach to the lake is more and more like the lower Wye valley, cliffs and trees with a railroad running along the bank

Continue reading “Whitehall to Partridge Harbor – June 25”

Like the sound of that, eating in the Members dining room etc.

This Whitehall is a little different.  Claims to be “The Birthplace of the United States Navy”  according to the records a fleet of twelve ships were commissioned and built here during the Revolutionary War.  A footnote states that just up the lake and less than a year later they were burned to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy (enemy, what enemy?).  We do seem to have trouble getting it right the FIRST time.  Of course the previously mentioned Benedict Arnold was in charge of things then and that may explain a lot.

 Whitehall is in a deep river valley a notable stone home/castle? overlooks the town.

Continue reading “At Whitehall – June 24, 2013”

Short day today, Sunday innit.  Made it to the end of the Champlain Canal (lock 12).

Just below us here is the start of the lake, it starts off as a narrow winding cut through high hills but opens out into a decent lake, about two hundred miles long North to South and twenty miles wide.  We need to get to the Northern end at the Quebec Border.  Rouses Point, might take us several days to get up there.

Memories of my time  in Canada even down here, I did sail Lake Champlain a bit but it was an awful long time ago, probably all changed.

Also  a triangle of towns on the lake,  Plattsburg, North Pole, Burlington one of the few US TV stations we could get in Ottawa  pre-internet days “WPTZ – Burlington, North Pole Plattsburg”   Hard to believe we lived hundreds of mile North of the town of North Pole.

Continue reading “Fort Edward to Whitehall – June 23 2013”

 High point of the trip so far, in sea level terms, from here on to the St. Lawrence River we will be going downhill.  Locking down to Lake Champlain and points North.

 Tied up tonight just North of Lock 8  listed as “Quiet rural setting.  We do have an audience, but they seem quite friendly.

Continue reading “Mechanicville to Fort Edward – June 22”

Out of Albany at low slack water 10.00 am headed for the Champlain Canal and hence Lake Champlain.

 First the federal lock at Troy

it’s about a fifteen foot lift.

  Continue reading “Albany to Mechanicville – June 21, 2013”

Thursday

Erie Canal locks E8 through E15 still closed.  We had some pretty appalling weather but upper New York State has had much worse, very heavy rains and mudslides.  The control dams have been opened to release all the excess water which explains the amount of debris in the river, whole trees and docks in some cases.  It has been fine for almost a week now so the flooding is probably subsiding rapidly.

We took the opportunity of this stay catch up with laundry and groceries, good services close to the marina, including a nice little breakfast place.

We have replanned our onward  route as there is no definite date for the Erie Canal reopening.

We will now travel on up the Hudson to the Champlain Canal and through into Lake Champlain and up the Richleau to the St. Lawrence.  In effect running round the loop in an anti-clockwise direction (the reverse of that originally planned).

That should put us back at the western end of the Erie Canal in late July, if the canal is not open by then we will have to reverse direction and do the loop clockwise to get back here.

In order to get up to Champlain we will have to lower our mast and the bimini top over the helm station.  It also means driving in the wet if it rains for the next few days.

  Continue reading “Albany, NY, June 20 and 21.”