Tuesday June 27: Burretts Rapids

We left Ottawa under beautiful blue skies with a look backwards toward the downtown area. Many of the attractions that we had had the opportunity to see last time around in July 2011– changing of the guard in particular – didn't begin until mid-July of this year. The light show on the Parliament Buildings was phenomenal but doesn't start until mid-July also.

It was still a great stop but it was time to move on. Canada Day (July 1 with it's expected 2 million visitors) was coming!

The bike/walkway along the canal is crazy! So many people taking advantage of the opportunity for biking/walking. And such a beautiful venue.

Rahn de Vous can be seen with the Greek Orthodox Church in the background.

On the way out of town we passed the beach area where the Dragon Boat races were being held. Sadly we were just a bit too early for the start of one of the races.

After a relatively short day of 9 miles and 4 locks we ended up staying at Black Rapids lock. The rain arrived just as we pulled up to the locks...... seems to be the way :-)

After a pleasant night, we were up early and off again. Rain was due later in the day and our destination of Hurst Marina was only 14 miles away. The marina had a laundry and a hot tub! I'm not sure which we needed most :-)

Finally – I can ride my bike again! Steve pumped up the tires and I took a spin around the parking lot. First time I was able to ride since we stopped at Cayo Costa last November :-)

Work for the day: string a new wire from the dashboard back to the engine compartment to replace the broken one on the engine outdrive motor (to raise or lower the outdrive). Not a terribly hard thing to do but it requires removing everything in the cupboards along the starboard side of the boat.

A nice soak in the hot tub and by then it was happy hour time :-)

Tuesday was not a nice day – but it wasn't raining at least :-) Quite cool though – what the heck – it's almost July! So I'm in fleece and jacket with gloves – seems a bit extreme but it was 17 miles to the next lock. The fun thing? I could actually put my fingers in the gloves :-)

I definitely have a renewed appreciation for what a hand with 4 working finger can do …...

And we almost made it before the rain started! Again the timing is just a bit off as there was docking in the rain.

This is Burritts Rapids lock. There isn't much of the town left but Steve and Craig made the mile and a half trail hike to the bridge and what remains of the town.

The history of the bridge is interesting. It was probably built in Peterborough – one of our favorite cities on the Trent. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

We'll stay another night before moving on toward Merrickville.