Day 1 - Jeff

Note to self, important not to put up tent under osprey nest (learned last year) equally as important, don't set up beside train tracks with trains blowing horns all night, restless sleep and can't wait to get out of city today.

Got up around 7ish and started breakfast while Julie tore down tent and sleeping gear, eggs and bacon on the menu, gotta like first few days with fresh food. All packed up and ready to go, on the water by 9:30am which is pretty good timing for camp breakdown.

Weather was incredible, hot, sunny and not a breeze, absolutely perfect for getting back into the swing of things, I felt a little rough though, first day is always a bitch although I think Julie found it much easier.

Saw some wild life, lots of blue herons, a few osprey, some big fish (finally one startled Julie not me this time) Saw a HUGE turtle just under the surface and was too slow to get a pic, Julie missed it but later ran over a dead one, opps not a log. Funniest was the water snake that decided to lock with us and made fast friends with Julie, I tried to play all manly but when the thing came at me I was ready to play "whack-a-mole"

Three things I noticed, scenery from Kingston Mills to Brewers sucks, dirty water, weedy etc, pretty much like the otanobee on the trent trip (blah). Hope it improves. Locks on Rideau are brutally slow compared to the Trent and lock staff so far are far from helpful or accommodating, seem more interested in getting their 4.90 camping fee, hope that's isolated to a few locks. Last I noticed very little boat traffic, eerie almost and especially when loons were calling mid-day. Boaters that were there didn't notice us, as evidenced by their large wakes.

Had a short day and got about 18km in before reaching brewers lock. Finished so early, about 2pm, setup camp including hammock and portable shower, spent a great afternoon relaxing and enjoying great company.

All in all was an incredible first day.

Ran out of cigs at 5pm, not a store in sight for 40km, gonna be grumpy!