Burlington, VT. to Ottawa, ON 2024

 After our extended stay in Burlington we were able to get underway with new bikes on June 25. We went to the last town before the Canadian border (Rouses Point, NY.) so we could get an early start the next morning. We arrived at customs about 20 minutes after they opened and the door was still locked...guess we were their first customers. It was an incredibly easy process and we were shut down for only 4 minutes!

Customs

Once underway I was able to take down our yellow quarantine flag and replace it with the Canadian courtesy flag.

We had finally made it after all the delays and were feeling pretty good about our short day to St.-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. Have I ever mentioned how much Murphy loves boating?? A few miles up the river we came to a railroad bridge that was closed. No problem, I see people on the bridge...Toot-Toot...we'd like you to open please. After about 40 minutes we went to the marina next to the tracks (thankfully it was there) and asked about the bridge. It had apparently broken the day before and they were working on it. Just tie up and it should be open in a few hours.

2 days later...

With the delay we had to bypass St-Jean and head straight up the Chambly Canal to the town of Chambly. The Canal is narrow and bypasses the Richelieu rapids for several miles.

Chambly is a lovely town and has everything a boater needs in easy walking distance. This was the first use of our Parc Canada mooring pass where tying up is free and we only pay for power. 

Right as we leave the town there is a flight of 3 locks to lower us to the lake. These locks are also tight but they usually squeeze several boats in if the demand is there. The park setting makes it fun for people to come watch the excitement.

You never know what you will see along the way. Here is an example of a unique 1 whistle pass...

After Chambly we stopped at a marina/campground after the St Ours lock so we could get an early start for Montreal. Unfortunately I stayed up most of the night waiting to see Rufus....

 The approach to Montreal is fun as you see the Olympic stadium, city and Mt. Royal come into view.

 Traveling on the St. Lawrence river reminds us that we're not the big boat anymore.

The last mile into town we were faced with an incredible current and were making only 2.5 miles an hour for the last bit before the marina. Once inside and tied up the view was worth it.

Montreal is a fun town and we did the hop-on-hop-off bus tour to see more of the city. The tour took us up Mt. Royal past a cathedral and to an overlook where we could see back down the river where we had come from. Keep the cathedral in mind as you'll see it again when we leave the city.

The area near the marina is Old Town and there are many walking and shopping streets.

Too soon it was time to leave but we hope to get back next year. We have to transit 2 of the big ship locks when leaving the city. They have 2 pleasure craft locking's per day so we made the early one with several other boats.

These 2 locks are connected by a canal that again, bypasses the rapids. This is an area where we were glad to have AIS to eliminate any surprises.

 

Once out of the locks we made a turn off the St. Lawrence river into the Ottawa river. This picture was taken about 7 hours after we left the marina but very few miles. Remember the cathedral? Here it is from the other side of town.

We stopped in St.-Anne-de-Bellevue for the night on another lock wall. 

The next day was a short run to the Carillon lock. This is the largest lift we will see all year and has a guillotine door that lifts for you to pass under. It also has a floating dock inside that you tie up to and simply ride up without having to tend your lines.

From the top of the lock

Inside

 Next was a stop in the town of Montebello to see what is reported to be the largest log structure in the world. The Chateau Montebello is indeed impressive.

 

It was even more impressive the next day as we passed by on the river. You could really see the size of it.

This day we traveled to Marina du Hull across from Ottawa. We wanted to spend a couple of days and get a look at the flight of 8 locks we would transit to get into Ottawa and the Rideau canal. (2 are on the same level so you pass through and only lock 7 times).   Just before town we passed a rather large home flying the American flag which surprised us until I looked it up and found it was Lornado, the US ambassador's house. Must be a great job!

We next passed the Rideau Falls and the reason we have to take the flight of 8 locks.

Once in the marina I walked up to see the locks from this side.

And the next day we rode our bikes over to get a better view.

So that's the trip to Ottawa in a (long) nutshell. We are currently in Trenton, ON. and I will try to get another update out on how we got here.

I know that I mention to check the bar on the right of the page to get updates on our location between blogs. I was just informed that this bar doesn't show up if you are on a mobile device. It looks like you need to switch to desktop view to see our map and satellite tracker links. Sorry.