"Low Bridge, Everybody Down" Sept. 5, 2012

We started the day yesterday by getting up early and motoring from the Buffalo YC to RCR Yachts to have the mast taken down. The guys in the yard were very friendly good at what they do. In just over an hour, the mast was down and being prepared to go on a truck to be hauled to Catskill, NY, where it will be waiting for us when we arrive.




Glory Days is now a canal boat. It seems very strange to us to not have the mast up.




From the boat yard, it was on to the Black Rock Canal and our first lock. This was a very large lock and a modest drop of only five feet. The lock tender was pleasant and helpful and we were the only boat in the lock. He saw we were from Michigan and told us he used to have a cottage in Hale (not far from Tawas). After all our anxiety about locking, it turned out to be a breeze.




We spent the next three hours motoring down the Erie Canal. I am not sure what I expected it to look like, but I was surprised it looked like this. I told Laurie it reminded me of going down the Tittibawasse River in Michigan. The woods come right to the edge and it twists and turns.

We went thru locks 34 and 35 at Lockport, NY. Each one has a drop of 25 feet. Again, the tender was helpful and friendly. So, from Buffalo, we have traveled approximately 30 miles and have gone down 55 feet in elevation.




After Locks 34 and 35, we went under one of the famous "lift bridges," and tied up on the wall for the night. Many of the towns along the canal have created these free walls for boaters to stay. We walked around the town and came back to the boat for a delicious dinner of scallops, couscous, edamame, and a bottle of wine (thanks Doug and Jan). Great end to a great day.

Here are a few Canal Facts. The Canal was completed in 1825 and was considered an engineering marvel. It connects Albany, at the Hudson River to Buffalo, on Lake Erie. It is approximately 338 miles long. It has 34 locks, and a change in elevation of 565 feet. There are more than 300 bridges that cross the canal.

I've got a mule, and her name is Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good ol' worker and a good ol' pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

-from the Canal song, written by Thomas Allen, 1905





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Location:Lockport, NY, Below Lock #34