Great Loop Adventures Aboard Next Chapter: Westport

Westport

On Friday morning June 8th we had another leisurely departure to explore more of the incredible Rideau Canal cruising grounds. Our planned cruise was for a 33 mile trip passing thru the upper, big and lower Rideau lakes. The lakes are dotted with both tiny and mid sized islands with manes like Three Sisters islands, Col By Island and Manitok Island.

There is unlimited little coves and fingers along the way. We nosed up into a couple of them to enjoy the scenery. The day would only have us transiting 4 locks to reach our destination. Westport is located on the west end of a large bay with a large ridge on the north side which has a Conservation area, read natural park full of trails.

We rode/walked/rode our bikes up to the park. Walked them part way because of a very steep road to the top of the ridge. The trail we started on led us to an overlook that looked down on the town and waterfront area. We continued along the trail briefly until the horse fly squadron attacked us. These thing do not sting they bite which feel like they are taking a small amount of flesh with them.

The truly swarmed us. Retreat back to the bikes. We found another trail that led to a beaver pond and a great rock to sit on to enjoy the view. After a bit more of biking thru the park we headed back to the boat and got to enjoy a very thrilling downhill ride. Remember the part of walking the bikes? Dinner was at a local Winery that had a great view of the water.

Special on the menu was Ribeye over wood fired grill. Boy was it good!. Sue thought the wine was pretty good also.

Saturday we went to a small farmers market and walked around the small town. They had a fantastic Village Museum that was full of all kinds of items from the early 1900’s that locals had donated.

There was a lot to look at. We also stopped by a gem stone shop where the owner/chief rock picker was sitting out front talking about the different rocks. He even showed us these special rocks that when hit with a certain laser they glowed different colors. We found the local bakery which had a sign in the window that said”Over 300,00 Butter Tarts Made”. Well we had to try them.

After talking with the owner she said that the sign is old and that the number is closer to 500K! We thought we had already had the best but we were wrong. These were even better. On a sad note she shared with us that before Covid she had a staff of 30. Now she is down to 8 and cannot find anybody who wants to work. She sells out every day by 11am.

Dinner was was at the Cove Inn. Although they were also understaffed and the food was just ok we loved the atmosphere and the live music. We met up with some Looper friends who had us over to their boat for a night cap of “Little Beers”. Little beers are a shot of a liquor called 43 topped off with heavy cream. 43 is yellow in color so with the cream on top it looks like a Little Beer but it tastes like a Milk Shake!