Dot's Way Cruising Cat: Jones Falls to Westport Harbour Marina, Westport, Ontario, Canada

It was a quiet evening as we were the only boat at the dam dock at Jones Falls. We time our departure at 8:30 am for the first lock opening at Lock 38 at Davis Lock. They opened for us immediately and we then headed to Lock 37 at Chaffeys Lock. We went through a very narrow passage with a ferry crossing into Newboro Lake and Lock 36, Newboro Lock. The red and green markers switched sides as we headed into Upper Rideau Lake and turned off the canal to Westport. This is the biggest town on the canal and not to be missed according to the cruising guides with a brewery and a winery. We will spend two nights here to enjoy the sights. On Wednesday we headed straight to Westport Brewery and enjoyed local IPA beers on the deck with a great pizza. We walked around town checking out the grocery store and wandered n Rosie Yumski's Fine Foods and located Country Kitchen for breakfast. We stopped at the Beer Store for Stella Artois and some German beers before heading back to the boat for an early evening.

Narrow passages

You pull up to blue wall to wait

Rental Le Boats are like bumper boats

Waiting our turn

The crowd we left behind

Unusual boat

Heading into Upper Lake Rideau

Westport Harbour

Art Gallery

Historic church spires

Back to the boat docked on the far right

On Thursday we went out for breakfast and then picked up our backpack and bird binoculars to head out to Foley Mountain Preserve. We climbed the mountain on the road and then stopped at the Spy Rock overlook before taking the maple leaf trail to the exhibits. We followed the Story Book Trail and then took the road back to the entrance rather than the buggy path. We found the Rideau Trail that goes for miles that took us along the ridge top and then down close to Scheuermann Vineyard and Winery. What a gorgeous place with a view and the best wood fired pizza. Glenn had a Cow bell Brew and I had a glass of the Pinot Noir. We finished off a wonderful brownie and then did a wine tasting of three white wines to decide what bottle to buy. The waitress told us to stop for Buttertarts at Vanilla Beans but they were sold out for the day. We did our grocery shopping at Kudrinko's mainly of fresh produce. Because we had power we indulged in potato nachos in the oven for dinner.