Through the Canals and down the Hudson

Our last letter was written in Little Falls, in the evening before we found out the internet access provided was by phone line to your own dial-up provider. Since we don’t have a dial-up provider, that was out of the question. The showers, however, were wonder ful, and Little Fall proved to be an interesting place. There were restaurants and shops within walking distance - and most importantly for us, a laundromat. Everyone was friendly, many clearly proud of their town which is making an effort to establish an attractive area close to the canal with a park, galleries, antique and craft stores and spaces for events.

Left Little Fall early, for a long day of travel, and finally tied up more than 35 miles later on the wall above Lock 11. For us, given the speed we travel at, that felt like a long day of motoring. There we met another couple heading south on their catamaran, April First. We spent the day locking through with them, and took their suggestion of docking with them for the night at a small dock off the canal, in a town called Scotia - which has a very good dollar store, almost the only thing open late in the afternoon on Labour Day. The sign at Jumping Jacks, obviously a restaurant popular with boaters and young people, said it was closed for the season...

The next day saw us going through the final set of locks before one of those towns that cruisers on their way up or down look forward to - Waterford. The locks were amazing - five locks, one almost right after the other, each with a drop/lift of more than 30 feet. While we were in the series we had to tie up in one of the few wide areas to let a tour boat go through - you’ll see it in our pictures. Talk about a close fit - almost as along and almost as wide as the locks it had to go through.

Then Waterford - from which we finally sent our pictures. A visitors centre full of welcoming volunteers, free docking for the first two days, minimal charge after that. Internet access using your own laptop, via DSL cable, or you could use their computers. One volunteer told me that all the tugboat captains retire there, and we passed through just before their annual Tugboat Roundup - when there is no mooring for pleasure boats, as all docking facilities are ma