Cruising the Rideau Canal’s ‘in-betweens’
Float along this UNESCO site for small-town charm in Ontario on houseboat
There’s a woodpecker in the distance looking for his breakfast while we eat ours on the upper deck of our houseboat for hire. Sipping my Frenchpressed coffee, I peer over the edge of our 38-foot private yacht, glistening with sunflecked dewdrops, to see a family of ducks swim past.
I’m with my husband and two kids, 10 and 13, and it’s our first time living on a boat. We don’t have any boating experience, or licenses for that matter — neither is required to charter a craft from Le Boat.
The U.K.-based company, which specializes in self-drive boating vacations popular in Europe, launched in Canada on the Rideau Canal in 2018. Now, in pandemic times, a super small, private cruise — with just enough room for two to 12 people — holds more appeal than ever.
Our plan, as we captain the “Horizon 2,” is to spend six days drifting along the Rideau, a 202-kilometre UNESCO World Heritage site that stretches from Lake Ontario’s shoreline in Kingston up to the Ottawa River. Along the way, we’ll moor at several locks belonging to the charming, in-between villages and hamlets.
Meandering the canal by boat brings us to towns we’ve bypassed dozens of times en route to bigger destinations in southeastern Ontario. From Smiths Falls to Jones Falls, it often feels like we’re cruising through history.
Lock staff operate as unofficial tour guides, ready to suggest worthwhile sights. “The Opinicon is just up the way,” one tells us, after we moor at Chaffey’s Lock (Rideau Canal Lock No. 37) in Elgin, Ont., a community of about 300 that swells with cottagers in summer.
An 1870s property with a butter-yellow exterior, the Opinicon is peak Canadiana; it’s evolved from a private residence to a rooming house to a luxury resort, now undergoing a years-long multimillion-dollar restoration before it reopens next spring. We order takeout to peek inside and marvel at the interior, complete with a soaring foyer and grand staircase.
Taking a different route back to our boat, we find the original Lockmaster’s stone house, set high overlooking the waterway — a security measure in the early 1800s when the Americans threatened the canal.
Once Elgin’s social mecca, home to both the post office and the village’s sole phone, the property now lives on as a free museum.
The past seems present at each place we stop, including Newboro (Lock No. 36), where we see one of only four blockhouses ever built on the Rideau. Constructed in 1832 to protect what was then Upper and Lower Canada, the square, two-storey heritage site is still standing with its original stone base and clapboard upper — though the wooden stairway to the top floor, where soldiers kept watch, is long gone.
Newboro is also home to Kilborn’s, a labyrinthian department store that was once the village grocer. We spend hours immersed in the kitschy mishmash of country decor and furniture, and blinged-out cowboy boots. Before leaving, we settle on a motley of souvenirs: artisanal lemonade, locally roasted coffee and flamingo cups.
Less than five nautical miles from Newboro, Westport Municipal Harbour on Upper Rideau Lake is alive with activity both on and off the dock. The nearby 19th-century shopping district has been carefully preserved, and our rewards for exploring include an affogato from the local creamery, and craft beer from the microbrewery across the road. A longer walk brings us to Scheuermann’s Winery, open to families for al fresco dining.
By the end of our nautical adventure, we’re skilled enough to back our houseboat into slips and squeeze into locks just minutes before they’re handcranked closed.
Cruising the in-betweens introduced us not only to boating culture and etiquette, but also to towns we wouldn’t have known to visit. You can drive, of course, to most of the historic gems along the Rideau Canal, but a certain magic unfolds when you find yourself afloat.