Merrickville

Merrickville:  Adorable, historic village complete with town glass blowing and metal smith.  Much of the original canal town has been preserved as possible although some buildings are no more than stone walls showing what used to be.  We walked through the museum at the lock and then all over town including a trip to Aylings Marina to see if they had a replacement roller for our anchor pulpit.  Seems the weight of the anchor covered in miscellaneous greenery from the bottom of the lakes did it in.  The older rubber gave out under the weight.  The captain found 1/2 a roller so it is no longer even semi-functional.  No luck at the marina but we have now called ahead to a marina downstream who will have one in when we arrive to stay the night. 

The operation to remove the metal rod and bolt that the roller sat on was an awkward exercise.  Both the captain and I had to crawl up on the anchor pulpit, lie on our stomachs, and hang off the front of the boat to reach the bolt.  I held the wrench on the bolt head while the captain took off the nut.  Removing the metal rod after the bolt was taken out proved to be a tricky operation.  It became wedged in place, so we had to knock it out of place without knocking it into the water.  I ended up holding it with pliers while the captain pounded on it.  Finally the captain moved the anchor and chain out to one side so it was not also applying pressure, and the rod finally became dislodged and could be removed.  Hot work!

After walking all over town and then "playing" with the anchor roller, we were hot and sticky so we once again jumped into the water to swim and cool off in the canal. We ate dinner in a cute "Dicken's Eatery" which was decorated with curios associated with Charles Dickens' novels.  We sat near the Great Expectations display.  I had Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Roasted Potatoes and the captain had Cottage Pie. One thing we found in Merrickville that we have hunted for and not found elsewhere is sugar-free ice cream for me.  The ice cream shop in town had soft serve in either raspberry or blueberry, so as the captain ate the "plain jane" vanilla cone (their name not mine), I got to have a cold treat too!

I would definitely recommend a stop at Merrickville.

We headed out after one night in Merrickville to Burrits Rapids for our next night's stay.  This is a very small place.  We tied up at the wall for the night.  The local "Lock 17" Bistro provides laundry and shower facilities as well as WiFi.  That plus the electric provided by the Canada Parks system gives us all we need for a comfortable night on the water.  Even if we were not staying the night the area above the lock provides a very nice picnic area with some much appreciated shade trees!

For some odd reason I cannot get any pictures to upload.  I cannot connect to Google Photos.  Since I can connect to everything else, I wonder if the issue is on Google side.  I'll up load the pix we took in Merrickville as soon as the computer allows.