Day 3 of Rideau Canal- Smiths Falls to Jones Falls, Ontario

Remi, the lockmaster at Smiths Falls Combined, told us about the Garden Market in town, where we should buy some maple syrup at a good price. It was a 20 minute walk, first thing this morning, and was much hotter and further than we anticipated. We were told to buy the maple syrup in Lanark County (Ontario's maple capital), and this was our last stop in the county before moving on, so we got a giant bottle. 

On the walk back, we stopped at Tim Horton's for breakfast and coffee- another check on our list of Things to Eat on Our Way Through Canada. It was just before 11 when we got back to the boat and were underway. 

We were already mostly at the first lock of the day- Smiths Falls Detached (1), then made it to Poonamalie (1), before a long stretch on Lower Rideau Lake and Big Rideau Lake. Moose got to drive quite a bit (this was a free Father's Day coupon for Ben) while Ben, the girls, and I sat on the deck in the beanbags. 

We locked through Narrows (1- the last up lock of the Rideau), Newboro (1- the first down lock on the Rideau. By the time we got to this one, we had such a system for locking up, that locking down became more of a puzzle for us, and our self-sufficient locking had us asking for help from the lockmasters with getting our lines on the cables.), Chaffeys (1), Davis (1), and figured we were pushing it to make it to Jones Falls (4). They like you to arrive at the lock, with an allotment of 30 minutes per lock before closing time, which today was 7 pm. We figured we had to be there by 5 pm to get locked through, otherwise we'd stay on the dock at the top of the locks for the night. When we got there, it appeared that no lockmasters were onsite, so we tied up and walked up to see what we could find out, as we arrived around 5:45. The lockmasters said we would definitely have time, and that they just had to reset the locks which would take about 10 minutes, so we walled back to the boat and locked through each of the 4 locks and then tied up on the dock at the end of the last lock. 

Moose decided that since we wouldnt let him take out the fishing poles, he'd use a small Home Depot bucket with some clams inside to catch fish. Whaddya know?! It worked. 

10 locks today. Trip total: 64 locks.