Saturday, May 1, 2010

(Day 121) For the 178th time

The Rideau Canal will be opening shortly as it's done for the past 177 years, except no military vessels are expected to come through - it's been strictly for commerce and pleasure for most of its existence. Soon the upper sluices will be opened and the locks will be filled to allow pleasure boats to again take their passengers along the very scenic route. It's notable that all the locks along the 222 km. (125 mi.) are hand-operated.

We are fortunate to live so near to this UNESCO World Heritage site. (see also this post about the Rideau River).

(18-55mm  f8  1/100 sec  ISO100)

the machinery to operate the locks is all manual:





















(18-55mm  f8  1/100 sec  ISO100)

the lower locks at Merrickville:

9 comments:

Katherine said...

Will look forward to seeing some more pictures of these canals when they full of water once more! Hope you've had a great weekend!

Lucy said...

The canal is so interesting to visit. I could sit and watch for hours, but whenever I've had a chance to visit, it's normally for only minutes. One of these days, I'd like to so the houseboat rental and sail it.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed by how these thing were built, a time when man had no machines.

Great heritage and lovely shot! Thanks for sharing.

Scott Law said...

Great perspective throught the gears and how you have the time to get all these photos and add interesting info like this I'll never know. Every time I visit (Almost every day) I'm glad I found your blog.

Kerri Farley said...

Very interesting ~~ looks very narrow.

Rick said...

@Katherine - I'll add that to my 'to do' list :) Hope your weekend was wonderful!

@The Lucy and Dick Show - it truly is a great place and I visit it often (I live less than 15 mins from it fortunately). I've never sailed it but people who have say it's a very scenic and relaxing vacation. Hope you get the chance to try it some time.

Rick said...

@M. Hassan - it really amazes me too M! All that digging by hand through swamps, with (biting) black flies and mosquitoes (which we have in huge abundance :( Thanks for your comments.

Rick said...

@Scott - thanks for visiting and commenting Scott - I'm always appreciative. I took these shots when my wife and I visited Merrickville, which was having a village-wide sidewalk sale ('killed' 2 birds with one stone). I've done a fair bit of reading about the canal and had this link in my bookmarks - hope you enjoyed reading some of its history.

Rick said...

@Kerri - I think the camera perspective on that 2nd shot makes it look narrower than it is - it's actually 33' wide and can accommodate a boat up to 30' wide! Thanks for stopping by.