July 16 – Monday
Departed Westport harbor in the finest WX imaginable, at 08:30. At that moderately early hour there is very little company on the water, maybe a few fishermen or someone in a kayak. This particular morning you could see the wake of the boat spreading out as far aft as 2 miles. Perth was the day’s destination. We had been attracted to Perth by an ad/article in an area tourist magazine and since it was somewhat off the standard course we decided to have a look. Perth is at the end of the Tay canal which shoots off the Rideau waterway to the NW for a distance of 7 SM. You must lock-up into the Tay at the Beveridge locks (2) that raise you 25 feet. The charts indicate a desolate shore line for most of the distance and VERY shallow water at certain places. When we reached the lock wall we discussed our plan with the lockmaster and while he did not openly discourage us he pointed out that they had only locked up one other larger boat (65’) this season and they had to turn around “by hand” to leave the dock at the Perth end. He also pointed out that because of a low bridge, a boat like ours would have to stop and tie up at a town camp ground and walk 15 minutes to get to center Perth. Armed with this local knowledge and concerned about picking up more grass on the running gear, we decided not to lock FLIGHT into the Tay. Plan B – bike to Perth. We were told that would involve a 15 km pedal on a busy highway – not too appealing. Our friendly lockmaster then mentioned that some have left their boats at the lock wall and taken their dinghy to Perth, hmm.
“No worries mate”. We put the Nutshell down and clamped the 2.5 HP Yamaha powerhouse onto the transom and entered the first lock with 2 other runabout type boats and off we went to Perth. The shore was very marshy and wild and other than the 2 boats that locked up with us, we saw only one other. It was an outboard fishing boat that had a couple of guys from Williamsport, PA in it – we noticed the PA registration and hailed them. About an hour + we were going under the low bridge and emerged into the lovely town harbor where we had to navigate around a large beautiful fountain that was shooting water into the air in the center of the basin. We tied up and stepped onto the streets of Perth. We were pleased with our decision not to take FLIGHT.I forgot to mention earlier that another very strong attraction to Perth was a spiffy ad in the magazine for a very special restaurant that (as listed in “Where to Eat in Canada”) served the very best gourmet burgers on the planet. The Cheerios breakfast had pretty well worn off and we decided to have lunch before checking out the town, so where is this place we had read about. We went to the tourist info office for a map and they advised us we were looking for the “The Hungry Planet” which was not far away, and was closed on Mondays. The next best place to get a $40. hamburger lunch was the Fiddle Head, which overlooked the park and had outdoor tables with a water view. We sat inside, we had seen the water on the ride to town. It turned out to be fine lunch and the half-pint of a Nova Scotia brewed ale set me (RCB) up for the walk around town and ride back to the mother ship