Transport – Page 9 – Boadicea's Chariot

Whitehall to Partridge Harbor – June 25

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

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At Whitehall – June 24, 2013

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.

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Fort Edward to Whitehall – June 23 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.

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Mechanicville to Fort Edward – June 22

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.

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Albany to Mechanicville – June 21, 2013

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.

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Albany, NY, June 20 and 21.

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.

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Sauguties to Albany, Tuesday June 18.

Out of our little creek at 8 and upriver towards Troy, quite a stretch from here.

Not much in the way of photographic materials today, colder and windy with showers.

So here are a couple left over from yesterday, saw this sailing vessel at Croton-on-Hudson where the Pete Seeger concert was going on, it may be his ship, anyway the name was Mystic Whaler, and obviously on a day trip with sightseers.