Left lock 8 early, Julie was still in jammies. This was a first. The bo ttom dwellers had all cleared below the
lock where they had stayed overnight. By
noon we were at the top of the flight of locks # 6 through #2 all in a row,
which are the last of the Erie Canal. As
we motored along the shoreline changed to vertical limestone walls which was
very pretty. Upon getting through lock
6, 5 and 4 the lockkeeper indicated there was no room at Waterford which is the
town at the bottom of lock 2 but we could stay in the pool along the wall
between lock 4 and 3. We opted to do
this as we would be able to walk into town.
It was quite overcast but the rain had held off fairly well or at least
timed itself not to pore while we were locking through.
We tied ashore to a badly crumbling wall. As our fenders rubbed chunks of wall fell
into the water. Not a great place to be,
however our fenders did their job and we tied extra spring lines so we had very
little movement once secured. After a
quick bite we all headed into town. Part
way to town, we got word that there was room at the town walls so were
disappointed with our choice to stay above lock 3 as often there has been room
when we are told there is none. We were
travelling 4 boats together though so more difficult to accommodate. Chris the lockkeeper also offered us his
truck if we needed a set of wheels and said he would bring us firewood as there
was a fire pit at the park where we were.
The people along the canal have been just wonderful, helpful and very
friendly.
In town we found the visitor centre and saw the available
space and decided we would come down early the next day as there was going to
be a farmers market, and there is internet, power, pump out, showers etc. all
for $10. Free if you don’t want power.
We then walked a couple blocks over to the bridge spanning
the Hudson River. This was cool as it
was the first time we have seen the Hudson on this trip and signifies progress
into a new stage of the trip.
Julie arranged getting a haircut, and Dawson
went to the pub to blog. By now it was
7:00 so we decided to grab a bite to eat in town. The chicken at the boat had not yet thawed
anyways. We like to thaw our meat in the
fridge, but it takes 2 days to do this so unless we plan ahead we are often
hacking away at frozen meat in order to cook it, or we defer the dinner plans
for 24 hours. We chose a nice restaurant
and Julie had her first seafood dinner which was absolutely excellent. Dawson enjoyed his choice but it was not as
special.
A walk back to the boat for coffee and king’s cribbage and
it was 11:00 by the time we called it a night.
Cheers Julie and Dawson
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