We were looking forward to a great day moving west on the Ottawa River which is the border line between Quebec on the north and Ontario on the south. Peter and Rachel on ” TNT Kiss” were scheduled to meet us at 0900 and lead us on the river to Ottawa. He showed up on time and he made contact with the lockmaster who he has known from many transits through the system.
The St Anne de Bellevue Lock was the first lock we have gone through that had a floating dock inside the chamber where you up and down tied to cleats and the platform floated with you. The tenders were all young highschool or college kids doing summer work. The transit was real easy and we were on our way in 30 minutes.
It was a 25 mile run to the Carillon Lock through the Lake of the Two Mountains then into the Ottawa River. The Carillon lock was another interesting lock. The was a rising lock again but inside there was a metal staircase that allowed the lock tenders access to the floating dock inside the chamber when the chamber is in the down position. When the chamber is filled and the water rises above the stairs they slowly disappear. when the water lowers occasionally fish get caught on the stairs and the workers hopefully free them before they die. We rafted up along Peters boat and took the easy ride up. As we had on the prior lock we gave the kids a gift of candy bags to show appreciation. They are not allowed to take tips but willingly take the candy.
After exiting the lock it was off to the west to our overnight stop at the free wall in Hawkesbury Ontario. The river banks were covered with beautiful farms and homes. We only had another 10 miles to go for the day and the wind was picking up out of the south west giving us a slight chop. Arriving at Hawkesbury we tied up along the free wall which had metal rails to run your lines through and back to your boat. There weren’t any facilities here but it was a good stop where we had a light dinner and docktails with Peter and Rachel.
