Through Albany to Waterford, NY

After an early start out of Houghtailing, and our anchorage....Linda and Brian pulled anchor well and simply, and followed us out of there on the way  through Albany, NY to our night at the town dock in Waterford.
We had one slight hiccup in proceedings when we hesitated at a low bridge, which was documented at 24 feet, but looked awfully low to us, and no gauge on the bridge, and nobody answered our radio call. We snuck under with a few feet to spare! phew!.

We arrived at Waterford not long after mid-day, just after the 1st Lock on the Erie Canal system, at Troy. Piece of cake!

We spent the rest of the day exploring the town, washing the boat, do Laundry etc.,


This lovely (once) old home desperately needed some repairs. We found so many in sad disrepair...not just in this town, but all along the way.

So many red brick buildings with wooden add-ons. This part of the country is Dutch in origin, so we see those influences dating back to the 1600's.

The main street...only it was called Broad Street.

Waz with Brian and Linda, on our way to find lunch at McGrievey's Irish Pub.

There it is. They have a lovely Beer Garden out back, but it was too hot to sit outside.

Instead we sat at the bar until they had a table ready for us. I had a glass of very dark 'hoppy' beer with some 7-up in it...we call it a Shandy...the perfect drink to quench  thirst.

After a delicious lunch...Waz had A grilled chicken  sandwich, Brian had the Fish and Chips, and Linda and I both went with the grilled Shrimp spinach salad with  raspberry vinaigrette et al. Excellent and better than all the pub food we have ever had!

After that meal we needed some walking time...Off we went to see what the lock looked like, inside and out. This is the one we would be going through the day after next. Linda and Brian would be going the other way, through the Champlain Canal, the next day.

the run out at the end of the top of the lock. Pretty!!

Looking down to the town level at the bottom of the lock. The old spillway is on the left.

 

 

This bridge is the first one we would be going under after going up in the lock.

Inside the lock, to the right

 

From E (for Erie) 2 to  E3 is only .28 of a mile. It was out of one, and straight into the next.

The gate opening and closing mechanism.

Looking down from the walkway at the top of the lock.

 

Looking down from one of the walkways over the front of the lock.

Looking at it all from the Waterford side, going into the lock on the left.

Boats lined up at the town dock, waiting to lock through the next day. Brian and Linda's boat is the blue topped one.

The brick path outside the Visitor's Center is actually a map of the whole of the New York Canal System, beginning in Poughkeepsie. The first lock is Troy Lock, but the first NEW York Canal System lock is E2, the one you can see in the background. Troy is a Federal Lock.(E1)

We, and two others were the only boats sitting it out for another day, in Waterford. The boat on the outside is owned by a Kiwi fellow with his Canadian Wife. They were rafted with their friends whom they have been travelling with.

The next day we rode our bikes along the old Champlain Canal path. This path was trodden by Mules for over a century...fantastic, when you think about it!

The bridge leads nowhere, now, but the path is the mule path.

The right hand green line is the Champlain Canal. The left hand one is the Erie Canal going west. We came through the city of Albany, into Troy Lock, and Waterford, then on, west to Amsterdam/Schenectady, where we are now.