Rideau Canal

This scene shows our final day paddling down the Rideau Canal into downtown Ottawa. The canal itself varies considerably in width in the section we paddled. For much of that length, joggers, families pushing strollers, and morning walkers waved to us and called, ‘Happy Canada Day’ as we passed.

The scene here shows us turning the final bend in the Rideau Canal as we passed under a bridge at the top of the locks that would let us down to the Ottawa River. We had a reservation for the locks at noon, so we paddled passed dozens of waiting boats to meet the Canal Master and get our instructions. As it turns out, there were extra security precautions for Prince Charles and Camilla, so we had to pull the canoes from the canal and portage them down to the third lock, slip them back into the water and climb aboard for the remainder of the locks (8 in all).