Rideau Canal July 4 - 6

We left Ottawa on July 4 in spite of an offer from the US Ambassador to visit the Embassy. Well at least the tour guide said there was an open invitation to US Citizens on July 4th. We, however, were ready to tackle the rest of the Rideau Canal.


As we left our Canal wall in downtown Ottawa we moved through a park setting with paths and parks on each side for quite a distance.



At one pair of locks we were delayed because they couldn't close the water gates on one side. They had to drain the canal to see what was blocking the drain. I got a unique opportunity to see the bottom of the canal (and one confused catfish trapped in the small remaining pool.) The metal gate mechanism (one on each side) lets water move from one lock out through a channel in the side and into a downstream (lower) lock. Whatever was blocking this gate probably got flushed out when they lowered the level.













We spent the night tied up at a canal wall in Merrickville. Downtown Merrickville, had many old buildings, some excellent restaurants, ice cream stores, and flowers. We sampled them all!





The Merrickville locks look tranquil before traffic starts in the morning.